“Hm, I guess I'm in the minority who thought this was actually better than Peeps. I thought these characters were a lot more well-rounded and interesting, and while the romance was still sort of rushed, it didn't really seem to come out of nowhere like in the first book. The apocalyptic overtones are much creepier when the narrators have no idea what's going on, and the Night Mayor's notes between the sections of the book are very, very spooky: "When the last days come, they will come quickly."
I also liked the constant mentions of music -- the perils of getting a band together, getting signed to a label, sound check before gigs -- and every chapter being a band name. It really sounds like Westerfeld did his research for this.
Overall, this works very well as a stand-alone, but if you want to know the ins and outs of the plague and the "angels", read Peeps first.”
