Lost and Found

Remnants #10

by K.A. Applegate

It’s been 90 days since the Remnants broke the Big Compromise, turning Mother from her course. Now they’ve arrived at the place they called home...500 years ago. But a lot can change in five centuries. Earth has been transformed into a wasteland of ash and debris. And if that isn’t bad enough, while the rest of the Remnants pull together to survive, Yago is slowly pulling away --- concocting a plan to rise to power. With only 13 Remnants remaining, failure could mean the end of the human race...

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Post Apocalyptic, Middle Grade, Fiction, Aliens, Dystopia

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

also published under the name Katherine Applegate

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

  Two guesses where the Remnants have found themselves – not quite home sweet home, but it’s not not home either. That is definitely Violet on the cover, and the center guy should be D-Caf since he’s the same model from Isolation. If we were going by groups, that would mean the third guy should be Roger Dodger, but he looks too old to be him. Meaning that my next best guess is he is Jobs? Not Billy, not Yago, not Edward, doubtful it’s Anamull, can’t be Burroway, really doesn’t seem like Mo’Steel…so process of elimination leaves Jobs as the most likely candidate. Well, he did kind of get them all into this mess in the first place….

  After the climax and solidity that was books #6 Breakdown and #7 Isolation, this book takes us back down to “Where is this going? And let’s switch viewpoints… a lot.” Which also meant that I felt a distinct disconnect from most all of the Remnants yet again, even after all we have watched them go through. Despite being told that the Remnants were in constant danger from Rider and Meanie attacks, I never felt they were actually in much danger, as we never saw much real action. Tamara’s death was sadly anticlimactic, and seems like it was there just to get rid of an extra character. The only explanation I can think of for her actions is that she wanted to commit suicide on her own terms. It’s also a missed opportunity to delve deeper into her feeling of loss at losing the Baby/Shipwright, and explore that entire realm where Tate tries to fill in the space.

  As for the deaths referenced at the beginning: I didn’t realize Kubrick actually died during the Meanies/Riders attack of the previous book. Same with Dr. Cohen – usually Applegate is really good at showing us the deaths of main characters, and it serves a direct purpose. Sure, Kubrick had made it known to the reader that he rather wanted to die, and Dr. Cohen was definitely not the same after the Meanie’s did their invasive mind reading of her, and neither death is exactly surprising given the circumstances under which they occurred…but it still caught me off guard, and like they were hollow deaths. We did not truly see them happen, and they barely seemed more than a blip on the emotional radar of the Remnants themselves.

  Then there is Yago turning to the Troika, betraying the Remnants utterly. And I think him touching Duncan, instead of his Touch having the same effect on Duncan that it has on the Meanies, actually helped Yago instead, since suddenly he is able to better hear the voices from the bugs Duncan planted (page 111-112). And there is Tate’s mutation, which I am not sure anymore if that is actually her mutation, or if it was Duncan Choate’s manipulation of her somehow with his four-times-the-brainpower-superpower.

  Basically, this was a rather lackluster entry to the series, one which seems to be setting up a lot (that ending!), but which is ultimately hollow because it is too busy setting up the frilly decorations.

  Also of note: So far as I recall, without fail, the lines at the opening at each chapter of every single book were taken directly from that specific chapter. However, in this book, at least three of the title headers did not match up – either they appeared in a different chapter, or they were not a direct quote and were rather a succinct summary of events in that chapter. Specifically:

  Chapter 5 It hadn’t felt the way she’d thought it would feel. – page 24 – This line appears in the next chapter, not this one

  Chapter 8 What would happen would happen. – page 42 – This line does not appear in this chapter at all, though it does nicely summarize the events/thoughts presented in this chapter

  Chapter16 Jobs was leaving the ship. – page 96 – This is not actually said or thought in this chapter, though that is what happens.

Specific examples of the hollowness/lack of depth/accuracy/interest in this installment, and one quote which I simply enjoyed – okay, loved - from the Troika:

  Jobs looking at Earth from underneath Mother – page 36 – But you’re still a MONTH of travel away, I can’t imagine you can see it that well from that distance without a telescope.

   Burroway and Olga’s thoughts – page 45 – I had completely forgotten about Burroway’s superiority/power complex. As for Olga…that was highly underwhelming of a look inside her head and her opinion of going back to Earth. She has such potential, being the last parent with a child who is still alive on the ship, but she’s really not being given any “screentime” to explore it.

   “They are fools,” Amelia said.
   “Idiots,” Charlie Langlow added.
  Duncan Choate grinned. “Hey, I kind of like them.” – page 46

  Yago experienced a flicker of jealousy. Duncan Choate was a good-looking guy. – page 74 – Yago note’s Amelia’s hair & eye color, but not Duncan’s. Guess because he doesn’t care as much about guys? But other than his mutation, we have no idea really what Duncan looks like.

   […] appealed to Jobs’s poetic sensibility. – page 85 -- Here I thought we were done with this little poeticism in Jobs… apparently not.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hm! Man, how do I even compile my thoughts? My rating is so low for this one because it feels like another stepping-stone book -- another prelude to real things happening, a hint of things to come, but not actually developing the plot overly-much itself, despite the fact that we've finally reached Earth itself.

Here follows a series of disjointed thoughts, SPOILERS marked in spoiler text (but I know they don't always work on mobile):
-- It's a sign of how quickly & frantically I read #9 that I... didn't fully realise that both Kubrick and Dr. Cohen were dead??? Oh my god. I am retroactively really bummed about it.

-- It's definitely the Troika on the cover, who intrigue me, and the reveal of the last set of powers is really flipping gross.

-- I don't understand why the hell they don't keep better track of Yago, and why they let him have such free rein of the area. No one seems at all concerned enough about his blissed-out, freaky state; with such an obvious lunatic around, I wouldn't trust him at all to wander off unsupervised??? It obviously bites them in the ass later.

-- The death of Tamara :(((((((((((((( It's ignoble and off-screen and quick. Which you could probably say is for shock value, that not everyone can get an epic death, but considering how little time we've gotten to spend with real!Tamara, I really wished she'd stuck around longer. This series really does do some of the most unexpected deaths I've ever experienced, though. But still, this one really did deserve more time and attention, I think.

-- The 'death', also, of Jobs & Violet's relationship is interesting! I like it. I like that the standard/stereotypical YA romance gets shafted, due to bad choices and serious disagreements between them.

-- Like Stephanie, I'm also starting to get concerned that, like April/Senna's beef in Everworld, we're literally never going to find out what 2Face's deal is with the fire -- or that once we do get it, it's going to be vastly underwhelming because of all this long buildup to it. It's been 10 books! There are only 4 left! When are we going to hear about the fire?? Also, who even cares about a 500-year-old fire any more??? The perfect time to reveal it should have been the earlier book where Billy revealed that he knew her secret.

----

In general, the pacing in this one just feels really off and scattershot, just limping its way to the next development. There was a lot of telling vs. showing when it comes to characters' internal feelings and motivations, which was super clumsy, and important events like the reveal of Tate's power was really vague and ill-defined (like, does she actually turn into a bear-like being? does her head turn into a massive Taxxon-esque mouth? does she grow a separate mouth? does a mouth sprout in her chest? how big is this mouth? THE DETAILS ARE SO HAZY). In fact, it was so sloppy that it made me wonder if this one was ghostwritten... which then led me to research Remnants + ghostwriting in general, and apparently only the first four books of Remnants were written by KAA, while the remaining ten were ghostwritten? If so, I'm impressed, because whoever the writers were, it meant I didn't catch on for 5 books!

I'm excited about the next one though, considering the vast development that has just struck all of the Remnants.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this took a turn. I'd been warned going in that this series nosedives in quality, but it was surprising just how abrupt the transition was between Book 9 (interesting, a few narrative problems but still pretty good) to... this. What the h*ck is this? I think it's supposed to be a book, but well--it has Issues.

1) The pacing in this installment is all over the place. I swear almost nothing happens for the first 80-90% of this book. You know the big thing we've been building up to in books 8 and 9? The thing the Remnants broke their hard-won peace accord with the Riders and Meanies over? That is, their return to Earth? It's pretty anti-climactic here: after a drawn-out part one (which, really? I don't think there's enough book here to justify dividing it into parts), they land on an Earth that's a lifeless wasteland (and honestly, what did they think they'd find?), and kind of... look around for a bit. Then Yago steals the ship, stranding 99% of the Remnants to starve, and the book ends. It felt more like the first third of a longer book, with the second and third acts chopped off.

2) I wasn't expecting hard science fiction here, but holy guacamole does the science in this book stink. We're supposed to believe a planetoid consisting of the Earth and the moon smushed together somehow has less gravity than the present-day Earth. And that a ship several kilometers in length could somehow land on it. And that random pillars of fire come out of the ground because...?

3) Even the prose feels more hamfisted and clumsy than before. There's way too much telling of characters' emotions and thoughts, and what is shown is painfully simplistic; a lot of the time I felt like the characters in this book were cardboard cutouts of their former selves, with the possible exception of Tate. More Tate, please.

So why isn't this a one star? Because there's the potential of an interesting story here, even if it was only glimpses: figuring out the deal with this post-Rock (heh) Earth, Tate's mutation, what the Troika are and where they came from. It had a few nice creepy images too, particularly Violet's powers and the ruined city they find on Earth. Besides, I don't want to start passing out the one-stars juuuust yet...

[Arlenne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although there has been exciting developments, some of the ocurrences that should be impactful came across as underwhelming thanks to how fast they glossed over them like for example tamara died and there was really no impact to it, or 2Face getting Violet's worms but it might just be my own perception.

[Ema]

Definitely the worst of the series so far. Throughout there have been a lot of decisions the characters have made that I've disagreed with, but this one was just filled with really stupid decisions to the point that I stop being able to suspend my disbelief.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice cover and that's it.

[Julie Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three creepy Mayflower survivors Amelia, Duncan, and Charlie are all about using others for their own purposes, but hope is on the horizon: the planet Earth is close. But will it be habitable after the disaster that befell it over 500 years ago? Jobs has to determine the answer to that question, and in the meantime Yago's urges to be king of something are interfering dangerously and 2Face is causing waves. But now that Tate is having weird dreams about the Earth--and how it might be saved after all. Tough thing to do, though--saving a planet that has already died.

Really the highlight of this one is getting to see Earth, and there's a palpable fear and nostalgia from those Mayflower survivors who want to return to it. Some of the odd revelations about the crew members are becoming really, really random-sounding, and that detracts somewhat from the parts that are weird but somewhat sensible; however, I tend to love Applegate's characters while I'm in the moment with them.

[Dexter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not the best Remnants book. In fact, it may be the worst so far. But at least they're finally making progress. Lots of the book is just ambling, but they do finally get to Earth and things start happening again. It's just amazing how stupid these characters still are. You'd think they'd learn something by the tenth book, but they really don't.

A few of the mutations are getting a little ridiculous as well.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the Remnants have decided to return to Earth. When they finally make it there and discover that the planet was damaged too badly to have allowed life to continue they are disappointed. But Jobs won't give up hope.

Another good chapter in the life of the Remnants and I am looking forward to reading the finale as the Remnants return to a very different planet Earth.

[Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing much happened in this one. 2Face is very odd. I can't deal with the names or the ages. Basically, all the same things I've been saying all along about this series.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe that they actually landed on Earth! I'm really curious to see what happens next.

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this kicked ass. Ahh, crazy old Yago. . . .