Last things

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Last things

Title:

Last things

Author:

West, Jacqueline, 1979- author.

ISBN:

9780062875068

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

402 pages ; 22 cm.

Subject Term:

Bands (Music) -- Fiction.

Heavy metal (Music) -- Fiction.

Paranormal fiction.

Teenage girls -- Fiction.

Demonology -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Minnesota -- Fiction.

Summary:

High school senior Anders Thorson is unusually gifted. His band, Last Things, is legendary in their northern Minnesota hometown. With guitar skills that would amaze even if he weren?t only eighteen, Anders is the focus of head-turning admiration. And Thea Malcom, a newcomer to the insular town, is one of his admirers. Thea seems to turn up everywhere Anders goes: gigs at the local coffeehouse, guitar lessons, even in the woods near Anders?s home. When strange things start happening to Anders?including the disappearance of his beloved cat, then his sort-of girlfriend, and, somehow, his musical talent?blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him? Can he trust a girl who doesn?t seem to know the difference between dreams and reality? And how much are they both willing to compromise to get what they want?

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Bayport Public Library	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Oakdale Library	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	TEEN FICTION WES	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Everything I love in a book."--Victoria Schwab, author of #1 New York Times bestseller This Savage Song

"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

Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award

New York Times-bestselling author Jacqueline West captivates readers with a dark, hypnotic story about the cost of talent--and the evil that lurks just out of sight. Fans of Holly Black and Victoria Schwab will be mesmerized by this gorgeous, magnetic novel.

When strange things start happening to Anders, blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him? Can he trust a girl who doesn't seem to know the difference between dreams and reality? And how much are they both willing to sacrifice to get what they want?

Told from Anders's and Thea's dual points of view, this exquisitely crafted novel is full of unexpected twists and is for fans of Holly Black's The Darkest Part of the Forest and Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood.

Author Notes

Jacqueline West was born in Red Wing, Minnesota on December 29, 1979. She received a BM in voice performance with a minor in English from the University of Wisconsin. Her works include the Books of Elsewhere series and Cherma, a series of poems about Wisconsin's Bohemian immigrants. Her poetry has appeared in several print and online publications. She won the 2008 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize for poetry.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

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 © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

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 outas 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) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Giving your whole self to something it's huge. I know. But sometimes that's what the music demands.... Sometimes it demands a sacrifice. Teen front-man Anders and his metal band, Last Things, have gone from pretty good to incredible in record time. They routinely pack their Minnesota town's coffeehouse with adoring fans and industry scouts. Anders wants to believe hard work and talent are the reasons, but deep down, he knows it's thanks to a strange conversation he had in the woods two years ago. Since then, songs possess him, pouring out fully formed, and he's become impossibly skilled with the guitar. He's also gained a stalker, Thea. Thea is new to town and has a secret, too: she can see the dark things waiting in the woods. 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' passion for metal. A dark and lovely saga, ideal for fans of Brenna Yovanoff and Holly Black.--Krista Hutley Copyright 2019 Booklist

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

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