The New Order (Young World, #2)

by Chris Weitz

[Kelly]

In a world reminiscent of a brutal colony run by gangs, it's always been kill or be killed. A plague wiping out adults and children, leaving the teen population to inherit a now broken New York. Segregation runs rife, gangs are challenged for their supplies, weapons and space. In The New Order, our young group of protagonists have been rescued from the island with a possible cure and now find themselves on board a Navy vessel, still unaware to the state of the rest of the world.

As the storyline progresses, the readers learn more about the new world through multiple points of view. Luckily each point of view has a unique voice and spans across the globe, especially Donna and Jefferson. Jefferson is working with the Patriots who have an agenda of their own beyond saving the New York teen population, while Donna is sent to Cambridge and begins to migrate into college life. New friends, exploring her surroundings while having the occasional drink with her new friend in Rab. In The Young World, I found Donna's character likable but in the latest series installment she's incredibly annoying.

"Who in the what, now?"
"Say what?"
"Within the what?"
"Tutor? Am I, like, that dumb?"

With her new Valley Girl persona, Donna's new surroundings seem to have little purpose to the actual storyline overall. Luckily those chapters are offset by Jefferson, who I enjoy much more as a character despite being incredibly straight laced and wise beyond his years. I would have loved to have heard more from Peter's character, who for me made The Young World much more enjoyable.

Overall, I did enjoy The New Order but the series may have benefited from being a duology as much of the content felt unnecessary. It was Jefferson's point of view that intrigued me most and the only progression within the storyline. The pop culture references were few and far between, but I still feel as though the storyline is clinical and a little too cliche. It needs more emotion to be able to invest in it's characters and their plight. Looking forward to the series finale, but still with some reservations.