April 15, 2012
A trilogy that began in the recognizable present concludes in a post-apocalyptic dystopic England, 17 years from now. Adam--the child conceived in tragedy in Numbers (2010)--is a father now himself, caretaker to his girlfriend Sarah's daughter Mia. Like so many other former Londoners, this young family lives in the woods, surviving by hunting after the devastating earthquake that destroyed their society. But Adam is different from everyone else in this ravaged England, because he's the wild-eyed prophet who predicted the Chaos. Adam sees the potential death date of everyone he looks at, a curse that makes him valuable to dangerous people. When a paramilitary group kidnaps Mia, Adam has no choice but to put himself in their hands. In alternating chapters, Sarah and Adam describe their experiences, first in the woods and then with their tormentors. Whom can they trust? What is the extent of Adam's power--and perhaps of Mia's? The post-apocalyptic setting has limited realism (with England's woods thick enough to support many surviving Londoners on a diet of venison), and Mia's little-girl babble tends toward the twee. A little violent, a little supernatural, a little mysterious, a lot sentimental; fans of the trilogy won't be disappointed as this story edges toward magical thriller. (Science fiction. 13-16)
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May 1, 2012
Gr 9 Up-The action never stops in this dystopian trilogy conclusion. Having escaped London in the aftermath of the Chaos, Sarah, heavily pregnant, is tired of living rough. She's sick of scrounging for food and constantly looking over her shoulder in fear. She wants to settle down with her young charges, Marty and Luke; her daughter, Mia; and Adam. However, the Adam she knows now isn't the guy she fell in love with. This Adam is paranoid and distrustful. He hates that he can see people's "numbers," the day they're going to die, and he's disturbed by not understanding how Mia was able to switch her number for a higher one, giving her a longer life. ("I don't know what the rules are anymore. I don't know how it all works.") When their small makeshift family comes across a friendly settlement, Sarah begs Adam to stay. Though he doesn't like to be around people, and especially hates to be recognized, he reluctantly agrees, and trouble soon follows. This installment alternates between Adam's and Sarah's voices. As the characters are kidnapped by men working for the government, forced to answer questions, and fight for their lives, readers will be caught up in the multiple mysteries as well as the couple's emotional turmoil. Fans of the first two novels will be disappointed only with the short length of this final volume-Heather Miller Cover, Homewood Public Library, AL
Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 15, 2012
Grades 8-12 Adam sees other people's deathshe looks in their eyes and knows the date of their death as well as how they'll die. In The Chaos (2011), he successfully saved many Londoners by warning them to flee the city before catastrophe struck. Now, two years later, he lives with his pregnant girlfriend, Sarah, and her toddler daughter, Mia, in the country with other refugees. Concern for his familybaby Mia, who should have died but somehow didn't, is being huntedleads to Adam's arrest by a crazed government official who intends to kill him and absorb his unique gift. The tense, action-filled narrative is told through Adam and Sarah's alternating voices, amping up the drama and the stakes of the mind-bending story. While this finale to the Numbers trilogy satisfies, ultimately Ward's complex and thought-provoking premise is a story that resists resolution.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2012
In post-apocalyptic England, Adam's ability to read a person's death-date--their number--gets him captured by Saul, who steals others' numbers. If Adam won't cooperate, Saul will take Adam's girlfriend's number or his adopted daughter Mia's, leaving them to die. In this trilogy ender (Numbers; The Chaos), Ward doesn't create much new momentum, but plentiful action and high stakes will appease fans.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)