A review by octavia_cade
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

dark sad medium-paced

3.0

This is very much in the same vein as the first book, but I admit to not liking it quite as much. That is entirely down to the protagonist, as Alex is far less sympathetic than Miranda. In fairness, he's a very different kid: from an extremely religious and quite conservative family, and trying to hold his two younger sisters together after both their parents die, so he lacks the support that Miranda does. He can also be, it must be said, a sexist authoritarian little shit, which is why I found it so hard to warm to him. In fairness, he does have many good qualities and he improves over time, and the situation that he's in is of the type to magnify anyone's poorest characteristics as well as their best. 

Despite this, even if I don't appreciate him as much as I did Miranda, I do appreciate that Pfeffer has tried to portray a teen protagonist who is so different from the last. I don't read many apocalyptic narratives that are focused on religious characters where religion is presented as not-evil (as in a dystopian cult, for instance), so that was an interesting change.