The Last Days

Scott Westerfeld
Razorbill (2006)
ISBN 159514062X
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (10/06)

New York City is being destroyed by a plague.  There are diseased people running around attacking others and cannibalizing them.  The symptoms of the disease are: horniness, intense hunger and the desire to bite others.  It is discovered that these people are carrying parasites.  Their extreme physical symptoms help pass the spores on to others.

Five teenagers join together to form a band.  The vampiric female lead singer carries the virus.  She spreads it to one of the players in the band.  When she sings, she has the power to call up giant worm-like creatures that live deep in the earth.  These creatures rise to the surface to attack people.  But at that time, they can also be attacked.

The band learns that though out time this plague has existed and that the worm-like creatures have attacked people.  They discover that when the parasite invades people’s bodies it turns them into creatures that are able to attack the giant worms.  The teens use their gifts to conquer the worms.

The parasites make people stronger, faster, vicious and fearless.  Those that have been treated become the perfect weapons to fight the worms.  The Night Watch is a group of ninja dressing angels that have been treated for the parasites and are now treating others.   The watchers capture those infected, treat them, and then release them so that they go out and fight the giant worms. 

“The Last Days” is a sequel to the book “Peeps.”  I have not read the first book yet and did not have any problems with getting into the story.  It stands well on its own.  I enjoyed this story so much that I will go back and read the first one.  This book is written about teenagers, yet as an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Each chapter is written from a person in the bands perspective.  This made the story more interesting, because we get to go inside the minds of each person, even the ones infected.

I recommend “The Last Days” to horror fans.  It is well written and really enjoyable.  I also recommend this book to people who have teenagers that they are trying to get to read more books.  The teens will love this one and be looking for more books by this author.

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