The New Order (Young World, #2)

by Chris Weitz

[Angie]

The New Order is another victim of Middle Book Syndrome. I was definitely onto something with my questions involving the first book, because that’s what most of the this sequel focuses on. Well, kind of. The helicopter picks up Jefferson and Co., quarantines them, and then only kind of answers their questions after asking their own. Sadly, most of the answers are super disappointing, and then the characters go about doing stuff before an abrupt end.

What I really wanted to know was, what happened to the rest of the world? The New Order tells us and the answer can be summed up in one word: nothing. Somehow other countries stopped the Sickness from spreading and they’ve just gone about life mostly as normal. Obviously, with American gone world trade is much different and there’s tensions, but overall, the rest of the world is somehow fine. I honestly don’t believe that based on how quickly the Sickness was said to spread through America. I find it highly unlikely that the people traveling while carrying it, somehow didn’t infect others.

The New Order finds our narrators split up. Donna is taken to the U.K. and her chapters are super boring. She doesn’t do anything interesting except think about Jefferson because she thinks he’s dead. There’s really nothing happening there. Meanwhile, everyone else is back in New York and trying to figure out how to approach distributing the cure. Obviously, Jefferson wants to save everyone, but he also knows that everyone knowing they’re going to live is going to change things. Everyone has been living under the assumption that nothing matters and they’re all going to die within a couple years, so who cares? Now they have to care. I did find Jefferson’s chapters interesting because of this. These teens have to essentially rebuild a function society now instead of fighting each other for supplies.

The New Order also adds a few new POVs, and they all annoyed me. None of them really added much in terms of the plot, that was all left to Jefferson. I like Peter but his chapters felt kind of stereotypical. Brainbox’s chapters are literally giant run on sentences and were very hard to follow, so I didn’t bother. Then *beep*’s chapters are just annoying. There were times I just wanted to yell “Okay, you can shut up now!”

I definitely would have liked The New Order more without the three extra perspectives. Donna’s chapters may not have engaged me, but at least we learn some new stuff from her.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.