Space germs wipe out virtually everyone who has passed through puberty. Abby Leigh is looking forward to watching the moon turn purple. For months, astronomers have been predicting that Earth will pass through the tail of a comet. They say that people will see colorful sunsets and, best of all, a purple moon.
But nobody has predicted the lightning-fast epidemic that sweeps across the planet on the night of the purple moon. The comet brings space dust with it that contains germs that attack human hormones. Older teens and adults die within hours of exposure.
On a small island off the coast of Maine, Abby must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her -- adolescence.
This was a great middle grade dystopian, a genre which is sadly lacking for this age group. I think that this book is kind of a mix between Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and Gone by Michael Grant, it definitely has a Lord of the Flies vibe and I really enjoyed it. I loved the twist that Cramer added on the age-old survival novel formula as the kids are not only having to survive in a massively changed world and find food, water and information and also have to face the knowledge that when they hit puberty they're going to get ill and die. Nothing like a bit of time-ticking drama to build up some tension.
Cramer's writing is fantastic, it's very relevant to the age group, though at times it did seem like some of the kid's dialogue was forced, like Cramer was trying to make the kids sound young and cool but most of the time it was great. I also found that when Cramer was talking about puberty it sounded a bit too informational, a bit like a sex education video.
I really enjoyed the way that this was a book that reminded me of other books of this genre was targeted at a younger age group and caters to that age group very well. The pacing was fantastic and I really felt gripped. I actually took ages reading it despite it being so short but that's because I didn't really want to miss anything.
Overall, an original and gripping book. Despite the writing sounding out of place at some points the pacing and writing was mostly good. A great read for younger fans of dystopian books.
Overall Rating: B+
Book released March 25th
Book received from the author in exchange for an honest review
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