The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness

Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: HarperTeen, 2015 (Hardcover)
Length: 317 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction, Fantasy
Started: January 1, 2016
Finished: January 10, 2016

Summary:
From the inside cover:

What if you aren't the chosen one? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness' bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.

Review:
I love pretty much everything this author writes, I haven't been disappointed by one of his books yet. Thankfully his newest one wasn't one to break the cycle.

I love the concept the author worked with: he focuses on the people in the background. While the "indie kids" with names like Finn and Satchel have already saved the world a few times in recent memory, the main characters are other kids in the high school the indie kids attend: siblings Mikey and Mel (and younger sister Meredith), Jared, and Henna. Each chapter opens with a short paragraph on what's happening with the indie kids and the fight against the Immortals, but otherwise readers are immersed in Mikey's experiences of dealing with his workaholic mother who's a politician, alcoholic father, a bad case of OCD that's rearing it's ugly head again, watching out for his older sister Mel who previously dealt with an eating disorder, and trying to have the guts to ask childhood friend Henna out before they all graduate in a few weeks.

Some who have read this book expressed that a book about boring everyday people turned out pretty boring and ordinary, but I was quite hooked by it, so I suppose that's one thing to warn you about.

I for one really enjoyed the novel, especially Jared (yay for more LGBTQ characters in YA lit!). He's such a cool character and very sweet as well...and I won't give away the spoiler for why he's worshipped by all types of felines.

Recommendation:
Even if some find the end result boring (I didn't), this is worth the read purely for the unique concept of focusing on the background characters while the fight against evil happens on the sidelines.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how the drawings of Mikey, Mel, Jared, and Henna are in colour so your attention is drawn to them compared to the other random kids in shades of blue. Also, something I found out completely by accident when looking at the book on my bedside table in the dark, the cover glows in the dark!