221:. Ryter, Spaz, and Little Face enjoy the paradise of Eden. Ryter, Spaz and Bean are then thrown out of Eden because the elders who rule over Eden decide they are unacceptable. Little Face is secretly adopted by Lanaya's contributors. The elders disregard Bean's high intelligence and still discriminate against non-proovs. Lanaya reveals to the elders that the mind probes, which come from Eden, cause too much damage to the people who use them in the Urb. As a result, all the mind probes throughout the Urb are deactivated, causing rioting and anarchy outside Eden. Bean is deposited at her home, and Ryter and Spaz are returned to their latch.
213:. Ryter and Little Face accompany Spaz on a journey to find Bean. The trio starts by traveling through "the Pipe," a large, rusted-out water pipe that leads to other latches. In the next latch, the group sees everything burning and finds Lanaya being attacked by very hungry people. Lanaya is rescued by Spaz and Ryter, and she joins them on their journey. The group starts traveling towards the latch where Bean lives and eventually find her as well. Lanaya and Ryter decide to take Bean to Eden, along with Spaz and Little Face. They ride along in Lanaya's takvee to her "contributors" (parents), Jin and Bree's home, which is a castle in Eden.
209:, because he didn't learn how to speak and Spaz first gave him choxbars to eat. Spaz also meets Lanaya, a proov, who charitably gives out "edibles" (food) to Spaz. Ryter understands Spaz's situation and does his best to help him, offering no resistance when Spaz attempts to steal his belongings. Eventually, Spaz learns that Bean, his beloved adoptive sister, is dying of
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Back at Spaz's home latch, Ryter is blamed for the deactivation of the mind probes and is killed by jetbikes. This triggers an epileptic seizure for Spaz. Before his death, Ryter tells Spaz that he is the last book in the universe. Billy Bizmo reveals to Spaz that he is his biological father and that
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At this point in the novel, it is brought to attention that Lanaya is a special proov who has been bred to eventually become a Master of Eden. To assume this title, she has rights and privileges that other proovs do not, which are called "learning opportunities". They take Bean to a proov hospital
202:, causing his family to abandon him. Spaz runs errands for Billy Bizmo, the latch-boss (leader) of his gang, the "Bully Bangers," in a section of the Urb. On one of his errands, Spaz is sent to "rip-off" (steal from) Ryter, a very old man who possesses the lost arts of literacy and literature.
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The story ends with Lanaya sending Spaz a message about things getting better in Eden and how she believes they can fix everything in time. Spaz takes on the name Ryter, continuing the original Ryter's work, writing The Last Book in the
Universe.
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known as "The Big Shake." The Urb is plagued by poverty, thieves, gang warfare, and the use of mind probes. Mind probes are analogous to hard drugs and enable users to temporarily escape reality through images projected in the head.
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pointed out that there are too many distractions that pull the reader's attention away from the main theme. She also noted that the science in this science fiction novel was "vague."
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added that the story was "not fully developed," complaining that some scenes, such as the ones involving the Monkey Boys and the Furies, were "a bit abrupt."
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Major themes include reading, technology, challenges and overcoming obstacles, courage, bravery, heroism, finding hope within humanity, and individuality.
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wrote, " futuristic dialect combined with striking descriptions of a postmodern civilization will convincingly transport readers to Spaz's world."
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has received mixed reviews. Many critics praised the novel for its involving plot. Debbie Carton, a reviewer from
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The novel is an adaptation of a short story previously written by the author in a collection called
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future city somewhere in the United States, called the Urb, which has been disturbed by an
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Spaz soon meets Little Face, a five-year-old orphan who only says the word
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334:. The story was also influenced greatly by
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194:) live in a city called
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173:The story is set in a
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389:Lupine Award
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311:Billy Bizmo
277:Lotti Getts
251:Little Face
159:protagonist
150:. Set in a
696:Categories
405:References
326:Background
283:Vida Bleek
233:Characters
179:earthquake
136:is a 2000
565:(11): 160
471:213934270
442:196897233
347:Reception
175:dystopian
152:cyberpunk
103:Paperback
99:Hardcover
66:Publisher
656:12 April
635:14 April
611:14 April
590:14 April
569:12 April
538:14 April
500:Booklist
467:ProQuest
438:ProQuest
356:Booklist
211:leukemia
200:epilepsy
192:improved
163:epilepsy
155:dystopia
47:Language
476:6 April
447:6 April
97:Print (
50:English
505:3 June
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387:Maine
377:Awards
271:Lanaya
263:Charly
188:proovs
157:, its
61:series
37:Author
391:Honor
293:chess
245:Ryter
144:novel
110:Pages
55:Genre
658:2022
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540:2022
507:2013
478:2022
449:2022
299:Bree
257:Bean
239:Spaz
207:chox
196:Eden
119:ISBN
101:and
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289:Jin
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
