The Last Judgment
Jonathan Lee questions the future of the human race in this YA science fiction novel, The Last Judgment. It is set many decades after a devastating pandemic where a genetically engineered pathogen was inadvertently released. Once the contagion was contracted, the average human expires in less than 90 days. Malala, a 17-year-old girl born decades after the pandemic, has just buried her father, and she never knew her mother. She leaves her mountain top home overlooking Las Vegas and descends into Sin City where she meets Uriel, a highly sophisticated robot.
Uriel and Malala decide to travel through the Valley of Death and into California to the San Gabriel Mountains surrounding Los Angeles to find other survivors. The virus that devastated humanity left only people living in remote areas, who didn’t come in contact with the disease, alive. Uriel fixes an electric vehicle making the trip feasible and the two head West on their quest for survivors.
Jonathan Lee writes an extraordinary novel about survival that kept this reader turning pages until the somber ending. The plot never gets boring, the characterization and dialogue is revealing, and the setting descriptions spot on. Malala’s story will draw you in until you find yourself holding your breath and praying for her until the last paragraph.
Pop’s Rating:
Sounds like something that could actually happen.