The Lives We Lost

Gr 7 Up—Except for her younger cousin, 17-year-old Kaelyn's family is gone. When her best friend, Leo, arrives to tell her that the quarantine of their tiny island off the south coast of Nova Scotia didn't work and that the virus has become a global pandemic, it seems as if all hope is lost. Then Kaelyn discovers that her father developed a vaccine; she's determined to get it into the hands of someone who can replicate it and save the world. She and her friends begin a long winter trek toward Ottawa and hope. But hope is hard to find in this new world ravaged by disease, and their journey soon becomes a struggle for survival. The first chapter of this sequel is a continuation of Kaelyn's journal that made up the content of The Way We Fall (Hyperion, 2012), but the rest of the story unfolds in a straightforward, first-person narrative. The storytelling is choppily episodic as Kaelyn and her friends encounter those who have risen to power as well as people who are willing to help them. The characters are distinct, and many of them experience nuanced soul-wrestling as the story unfolds. The author has made some convenient choices in order to direct the plot, but on the whole this is a readable tale about courage and heroism in the face of a world that is falling apart.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO