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 The Young World is acclaimed director Chris Weitz's debut novel and while it isn't the best dystopian novel I've read this year, it is extremely entertaining. Weitz has written such a thrilling sci-fi book that showcases his incredible storytelling abilities; The Young World is a cinematic tale with clear world-building and unique characters that will engage readers from start to finish. Weitz has created a gritty, realistic scenario of what a possible apocalypse would be. 
 It began with the Sickness, a mysterious plague that killed all of the adults and some younger children. The survivors of this plague live in a post-apocalyptic New York City in which teenagers live in tribes who are just trying to survive. Each of the tribes are very insular and relations between each tribe are extremely limited. Jefferson doesn't want to be a hero, but he is forced to take charge of the Washington Square Tribe when its leader dies. All he just wants is to be with Donna, the girl who he has a crush on, but if Jefferson wants his tribe to survive he needs to step it up. 
 There are so many dystopian books being published each year due to the massive popularity of The Hunger Games and Divergent, as a result it is extremely difficult to find unique dystopian books. The Young World doesn't rely on the genre's tropes and it has an extremely ambitious plot-line that is extremely original and realistic. 
 I think one of the most appealing aspects of The Young World for me as a reader is how diverse the cast of characters is. Weitz has written Asian, African American and gay main characters that are in the spotlight for the entire novel; these characters aren't side-kicks or sidelined ever and they have an impact on the novel's plot. Most YA books aren't very diverse and it's exciting to see a famous celebrity recognizing the need for diversity in YA literature. 
 Chris Weitz lets his film roots show in The Young World and it's easy to see that he works in Hollywood. The Young World is filled with film references (some of which are Twilight-related) throughout the novel; immense references usually bother me, but Weitz managed to integrate them cleverly into the plot. Weitz also makes the world-building very clear and I could see the post-apocalyptic NYC so clearly due to the intricate descriptions. I think my biggest complaint with The Young World lies in the fact that the dialogue is written unevenly. Though the dialogue is extremely clever and witty, the formatting of the dialogue is a bit wacky and inconsistent. There are pages where the dialogue is structured in novel format, yet in other sections of the book the dialogue is structured in a play / script format. This could easily have been corrected and I hope that the formatting of the dialogue is altered for the finished copies of this book. 
 My favorite character in The Young World is definitely Donna who is a strong, snarky heroine that readers will love. I was initially troubled with the way that Donna put down some of the female characters by slut-shaming them, but this aspect was addressed in the final part of the novel. Donna isn't afraid to say what she means and I loved how her character addressed gender inequality and how females are degraded in our modern day society. Weitz expertly addresses how society takes power away from females by turning them into sex symbols and how society values males for being "players", but degrades females for doing the same exact thing. 
 The Young World is a solid debut novel that will appeal to fans of Gone and The Maze Runner. Weitz fills TYW with tons of humor, action, and world-building that makes this dystopian novel stand out from the crowd. The plot-line is thrilling and readers will definitely want to have the sequel on hand after reading the shocking cliffhanger. The apocalypse has never felt so realistic and frightening as it does in The Young World.