The Last Days

Reader reviewed by Samantha

The Last Days is a sequel to Peeps, but it has different characters and different scenes. The book is about five musicians who want to become famous and who will do anything to reach their goal. They found each other from one unexpected craziness from a women throwing her items out the window. As they become larger in popularity, more things happen that change their lives. People in the band change from one another, people get hurt, and people get angry. Can they save their reputation, but still save the world from the last days of normal?
This book is a breath-taking novel that has exeptional qualities that will capture you until you are done. I love the details of the way Scott Westerfeld describes everything; it is amazing! Read this book and you will not regret it at all!

Reader reviewed by Megan

Pearl and Moz never knew each other before a parasite-positive, or a "peep" --- a person who carries a parasite that can best be described as vampirism --- threw a 1975 Fender Stratocaster with gold pickups out a third-floor window. Pearl turns out to be a talented keyboardist, and Moz, who plays guitar, invites bass player Zahler to join them. Moz recruits Alana --- their bucket-percussing homeless schizophrenic drummer --- from her regular street-corner gig in Times Square. Minerva, the lead singer, is an old friend of Pearl's. But Minerva hasn't been the same since she became afflicted with some kind of weird illness that causes her to hate the things she once loved, crave a lot of raw meat and gain a rather strong attachment to her cat.

Black water is flowing from fire hydrants over streets piled with garbage. Cannibals are in charge of record companies. The Night Mayor, first seen in Scott Westerfeld's PEEPS, knows that time and technology have come together to form the perfect environment for a pandemic. The worms that haunt the subway tunnels of New York are getting stronger and more numerous. Homeland Security can't do anything about the spreading of the parasite that infects Minerva, but the Night Watch --- the organization working to stop the parasite's rapid spread --- can. They're going to attempt to use the band's unearthly melodies as a weapon against the killer worms and paranoid peeps.

If you haven't already read PEEPS, you'll want to do so before starting THE LAST DAYS; even though this gruesome, terrifying and amazing sequel can stand on its own, you'll understand it a lot better if you read its predecessor first. This is not one of those vampire novels with a lush setting and lots of forbidden romance, but that's what makes it such a great read. Westerfeld's vampires are gritty and nasty, dressed in rags, and sweating and screaming amid sewer rats. They will keep you up late biting your nails and hoping they make it through the impending apocalypse just because you want to see more of them in a future book.

Reader reviewed by the book muncher

This is New York City. A strange disease is traveling around. Rats are everywhere. Something sinister is lurking in the subway system. People seem to be going crazy. No one seems to know what is going on.

In the middle of all this, five teenagers meet. They are Moz, Zahler, Pearl, Minerva, and Alana Ray. They are all focused on their new band, from the songs to the name. All they want is for their band to get famous, but when they find out that their lead singer has the disease, that doesnt seem so easily achieved. The disease spreads and others in the band get it too.

What is strange about their music is that it seems to summon some kind of monster from the depths of the earth. The band doesnt understand until the end of the book.

The Last Days is the sequel to Peeps. What I really liked about this book was that you didnt have to read the first book to understand the story, unlike many other sequels. Scott Westerfeld is an amazing storyteller, but I liked the Midnighter series and the Uglies series better than this one. What first drew me to the book was the vampires, and I found it interesting that Scott Westerfelt treated vampirism as an epidemic. I recommend this for all vampire fans.