Review of "The Young World"

"For the most part, people had done their dying inside."

     In Chris Weitz's The Young World, only teenagers survived the apocalypse. When the Sickness swept across the planet, adults and children alike fell, leaving their siblings and children to fend for themselves. The Sickness isn't gone, though. When someone turns eighteen, or gets close to it, they come down with a terrible cough and soon find themselves dead. Jefferson's brother, Washington, leads a small tribe living in New York City's Washington Square. But Wash is almost eighteen, and when he passes Jefferson knows he'll be expected to take control. So when his friend Brainbox decides to visit a distant library branch to hunt down a lead on what caused the Sickness, Jefferson jumps to accompany him. Accompanied by Donna, the girl he loves, and two other oddball teens, he and Brainbox embark on a journey that may end up saving the human race. Assuming, of course, they survive the first couple of blocks.

     Donna and Jefferson are complete opposites. She's habitual and cautious; he's thoughtful but daring. Though Jefferson's love for Donna appears at first to be a subplot, it quickly grows until it has taken over more than its fair share of the plot. Yet there is something likable about Jefferson. He thinks and acts so deliberately, considering his words and his circumstances before he speaks. Though he does make some incredible mistakes, he is relatable enough that it isn't extremely difficult to forgive him. Donna is a different matter. She pretends she is only tagging along to keep her friends safe, and has no interest in saving the world. In reality, she has much deeper motivations, but by the time they are revealed--or not revealed, as the case may be--she is already so angsty, annoying, and generally unlikable that readers' care-o-meters may have run frightfully low.

     Plot-wise, this tale has little to go on. These Washington Square tribesmen set out on a hunt for a scientific article and end up running from shooters attacking them for the fun of it, battling bloodthirsty zoo escapees, and fleeing from cannibals. There isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to the foes they face, but their journey is definitely well-paced and nowhere near short on action. Everything happens for a reason; there are no superfluous scenes. Still, it would have been nice if the characters had started out with a plan, even if they ended up abandoning it.

     Though there are a great many gunfights and a few fistfights, there isn't a whole lot of gore in The Young World. Aside from a bit of blood and a few broken bones, most characters escape trouble with little more than a few scrapes and bruises. However, the profanity is cringe-worthy, and the protagonists have several run-ins with a large group of adolescents that take advantage of whatever girls they find, even going so far as to purchase more from other tribes. Readers should also note that Weitz's story is open-minded, incorporating a variety of faiths, lifestyles, ethnicities, and sexualities, dealing with them openly rather than skirting around the topics.

     I would recommend this book to teenagers interested in a world where survival is uncertain, hope is scarce, and the future of humanity depends on the uncertain shoulders of five determined teenagers. There's action, romance, and strong world-building galore. What there isn't is a likable love interest and a structured plot--the Washington Square tribesmen wander in the general direction of their destination, unsure what, exactly, they will do when they arrive. Coupled with the language and the antagonists' inexplicit but obvious female-objectification, this knocks Chris Weitz's novel down a points. However, The Young World is built on an interesting premise and hosts a cast of overall fun characters, earning it three stars out of five.