West has an eerie way with words, an uncanny ability to conjure the perfect image. Last Things is at once poetic and urgent, evocative and authentic, everything I love in a book.” — Victoria Schwab, author of #1 New York Times bestseller This Savage Song
“I devoured this book in a day. Told in evocative, spare prose through the eyes of two complex teens who ache and yearn and are jaw-droppingly brave, Last Things is the kind of taut, atmospheric thriller that gets your heart racing and sets your imagination on fire. Sensational.” — Claire Legrand, New York Times-bestselling author of Furyborn
“West goes for a slow build while framing her two narrators as one music-smitten teen approaching a realistic stay-or-go crossroads in his life and another who could well be just an oddball....Come the wild, scary climax, Thea turns out to be much more than she appears.... A suspenseful tale wrought from power chords, creeping darkness, and disquieting twists.” — Kirkus Reviews
“West uses evocative language, including song lyrics, to enhance the ominous atmosphere in this updated Faustian thriller; her pitch-perfect depiction of music conjures pulse-pounding concerts and Anders’s passion for metal. A dark and lovely saga, ideal for fans of Brenna Yovanoff and Holly Black.” — ALA Booklist
“The action escalates like the fast-paced chords of a heavy metal bassline. . .What survives in a contest between fame and freedom might be the last choice for the protagonist. Hand this. . .to fans of mystery, music, and horror.” — School Library Journal
West has an eerie way with words, an uncanny ability to conjure the perfect image. Last Things is at once poetic and urgent, evocative and authentic, everything I love in a book.
I devoured this book in a day. Told in evocative, spare prose through the eyes of two complex teens who ache and yearn and are jaw-droppingly brave, Last Things is the kind of taut, atmospheric thriller that gets your heart racing and sets your imagination on fire. Sensational.
05/01/2019
Gr 8 Up—High school senior Anders Thorson is a heavy metal star in his small town, but keeping his music "pure" becomes difficult when a famous reviewer calls him a prodigy and predicts a deal with a major label. Anders knows his skills suddenly improved after an expensive Ibanez guitar was given to him by a stranger, and he senses that something isn't quite right with the way new songs come to him as finished pieces. New to their small Minnesota town and niece of a woman branded a witch by locals, Thea is fixated on Anders, never missing his performances at a local coffeehouse. Chapters alternate between the narratives of Anders and Thea, her superhuman skills and obsession with Anders contrasting with his ecstasy and torture around music. Soon after Anders turns down a lucrative recording contract, a car veers into the river and his girlfriend goes missing. The action escalates like the fast-paced chords of a heavy metal bassline when everything Anders loves is threatened. West's background as a poet is evident in Anders's lyrics that reflect the plot: "Apologies/don't mean a thing/when the injuries don't end/Weigh my heart, tear it apart/Don't forgive me/Don't forget." What survives in a contest between fame and freedom might be the last choice for the protagonist. VERDICT Hand this worthy addition to any YA collection to fans of mystery, music, and horror.—Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library
2019-02-20
A secret war comes to a small Minnesota town as teenagers fight both literal and figurative demons.
Lit up by the inspired writing and axe work of frontman Anders Thorson, the metal band Last Things has begun to draw more than local notice even though its members aren't yet out of high school. But along with uneasy memories of a conversation with a strange visitor who left him with a guitar and a promise that all his dreams of rock stardom would be coming true, Anders is increasingly weighed down with a feeling that his wild talents came out of nowhere and could just as easily disappear. There's something to that insight, it turns out—as in alternating chapters Thea, a peculiarly inconspicuous recent arrival, sees the seemingly ordinary town hemmed in by dark forces and Anders in imminent danger of surrendering to them out of ignorance. West (The Collectors, 2018, etc.) goes for a slow build while framing her two narrators as one music-smitten teen approaching a realistic stay-or-go crossroads in his life and another who could well be just an oddball….Anders eventually finds not only his music, but the very lives of everyone he cares about threatened. Fortunately, come the wild, scary climax, Thea turns out to be much more than she appears. The cast is evidently all white.
A little patience pays ample dividends in a suspenseful tale wrought from power chords, creeping darkness, and disquieting twists. (Fantasy. 13-16)
West uses evocative language, including song lyrics, to enhance the ominous atmosphere in this updated Faustian thriller; her pitch-perfect depiction of music conjures pulse-pounding concerts and Anders’s passion for metal. A dark and lovely saga, ideal for fans of Brenna Yovanoff and Holly Black.
Lisa Flanagan and Josh Bloomberg narrate this story told from two points of view. In a northern Minnesota town, talented Anders and his heavy metal band draw crowds from near and far. Worried about Anders’s safety, Thea hides in the shadows in hopes of keeping dark forces from claiming the teen prodigy. As is sometimes the case when there is more than one narrator, some unevenness in the performance of this audiobook is noticeable. While Flanagan and Bloomberg both realistically execute their first-person portrayals of Thea and Anders—with regard to the secondary characters, Flanagan’s male voices are stronger than Bloomberg’s female ones. All in all, though, this is a worthy listen, sure to entertain. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Lisa Flanagan and Josh Bloomberg narrate this story told from two points of view. In a northern Minnesota town, talented Anders and his heavy metal band draw crowds from near and far. Worried about Anders’s safety, Thea hides in the shadows in hopes of keeping dark forces from claiming the teen prodigy. As is sometimes the case when there is more than one narrator, some unevenness in the performance of this audiobook is noticeable. While Flanagan and Bloomberg both realistically execute their first-person portrayals of Thea and Anders—with regard to the secondary characters, Flanagan’s male voices are stronger than Bloomberg’s female ones. All in all, though, this is a worthy listen, sure to entertain. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
