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The Eleventh Plague Jeff Hirsch Books

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The Eleventh Plague Jeff Hirsch Books

I love end of the world yarns and heard positive things about Jeff Hirsch's first novel. So despite being published by Scholastic and targeted to the 14-17 year old crowd, I decided to give it a chance... even though I am many, many moons beyond Junior Year in High School. The good thing about this book is that it has solid plotting and the writing is polished for a first novel. The opening chapters make you feel like you stepped into an alternative version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road except seen through the eyes of the boy, here an adolescent, fifteen year old Stephen Quinn, and minus the cannibals (although the 11th Plague baddies are pretty darn bad). But while the opening sequences are well done and exciting, once the action moves into the sanctuary of Settler's Landing, the novel starts to plod until it becomes nothing more than another boring high school drama with stock characters and artificial, soap-opera like tension to keep it interesting... if you are into that kind of thing. And no one over the age of 16 is. In fact, to call this a young adult novel and include 16 and 17 year olds in the targeted age range is an insult to 16 and 17 year olds who can surely handle meatier reading than this (I would have loved to share this with my sons when they were about 12. They would have liked it then). I lost interest in this book at the half-way mark. I think it would have been more interesting to follow Stephen and his father (and the most interesting character of them all, his deceased grandfather whose memory Quinn keeps evoking) on a trip across the devastated landscape of America after a biological war with China. Oh, well. Such is not the case. This is, at best, a three star novel. But since I am practically a senior citizen interloper here I will grudgingly offer up four stars to the 15 and under crowd who might actually like a high school drama set in the post-apocalypse. Enjoy, kiddos.


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The Eleventh Plague Jeff Hirsch Books Reviews

While the premise of the book was intriguing and showed a lot of promise, the book itself failed to deliver. The war-torn American wilds provided only a brief setting, after which we were brought to the gated community where people liked to do their best to pretend nothing was wrong, down to sending their kids to school every day, and the main character having to deal with the local teen bullies. If I'd wanted to read another high school drama, I'd have bought one.

The things that dropped this from a mediocre three to a give-me-a-break two were the constant inconsistencies. In one scene the author has the character drop his knife as he's dragged away from a scene, and two minutes later he gripping his knife in anger. The school bell rings (I'm pretty darn sure those run on electrical signals), and he drops his rifle in the mud rendering it "useless until he can clean it" according to him, then fires it shortly thereafter.

I was also really unhappy with the way that the main character, who was born after the collapse, seemed to have an intimate and familiar understanding of everything from casinos (he could even name all the game tables!) to what exactly a McDonald's is and how a roller coaster might feel to ride. I would imagine that if you went into deep Africa or the to explain these things, the people there would not "get it" no matter how well you explained. Just like a kid born into a post-apocalyptic world should not instinctively be able to step up to an arcade game and pretend to play. Sorry, not buying it.
This is a story about life in a post-apocalyptic America. Due to a misunderstanding war breaks out between China and the USA. The USA has bombed China and China has used bacteriological warfare against the USA. The Eleventh Plague kills most of the people in the USA and the survivor's civilization is thrown back about 200 to 300 years. Lawless violent roving bands seem to be common while the rest of the survivors scrape out a meager living.

Stephen Quinn is a 15 year old boy who was born after the war. He is surviving as a scavenger with his grandfather and dad by collecting miscellaneous items of small value to trade. Multiple tragedies strike and change Stephen's life drastically. He has to decide the path his life will take. Will he become a builder and a thinker, a scavenger or a destroyer? He has to decide his own path to live his life....

A very good story that is well written and could easily be made into a good movie. It is about a young boy being forced to grow up quickly in a world reborn from the remains of the old way of life. The storyline is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's book "The Road", but this story has its own merits. I have read both books and enjoyed them equally.

This book can easily be made into a sequel of the life Stephen lives and how the world redevelops. The balance of the world is yet to be explored to determine the state of civilization and mankind as a whole. It will be interesting how this new author, Jeff Hirsch, develops and releases his next book. Is it a continuation of this story or a new concept all together? Regardless of what he writes he has good potential and I hope he hits another home run!

This book is really a 4 1/2 star ranking but I am forced to choose 4 or 5 stars. I enjoyed this book and I believe you will also!
I love end of the world yarns and heard positive things about Jeff Hirsch's first novel. So despite being published by Scholastic and targeted to the 14-17 year old crowd, I decided to give it a chance... even though I am many, many moons beyond Junior Year in High School. The good thing about this book is that it has solid plotting and the writing is polished for a first novel. The opening chapters make you feel like you stepped into an alternative version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road except seen through the eyes of the boy, here an adolescent, fifteen year old Stephen Quinn, and minus the cannibals (although the 11th Plague baddies are pretty darn bad). But while the opening sequences are well done and exciting, once the action moves into the sanctuary of Settler's Landing, the novel starts to plod until it becomes nothing more than another boring high school drama with stock characters and artificial, soap-opera like tension to keep it interesting... if you are into that kind of thing. And no one over the age of 16 is. In fact, to call this a young adult novel and include 16 and 17 year olds in the targeted age range is an insult to 16 and 17 year olds who can surely handle meatier reading than this (I would have loved to share this with my sons when they were about 12. They would have liked it then). I lost interest in this book at the half-way mark. I think it would have been more interesting to follow Stephen and his father (and the most interesting character of them all, his deceased grandfather whose memory Quinn keeps evoking) on a trip across the devastated landscape of America after a biological war with China. Oh, well. Such is not the case. This is, at best, a three star novel. But since I am practically a senior citizen interloper here I will grudgingly offer up four stars to the 15 and under crowd who might actually like a high school drama set in the post-apocalypse. Enjoy, kiddos.