The Last Kids on Earth and the Skeleton Road by Max Brallier
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Skeleton Road is book 6 in the Last Kids on Earth series. These books really need to be read in order, so I'm going to assume that if you've gotten this far you've already read the first five books and I don't need to cover things like basic character introductions in this review. The one character note that I will mention is that I enjoyed getting to know Dirk a little better and hearing some of his backstory.

While this story provided a fun adventure, and the characters continued to be engaging, I was a little disappointed with this installment. This was very much a "middle" book -- meaning it didn't feel in any way self-contained. As I mentioned, the books need to be read in order, so it's safe to say you will have the "beginning" of the story, but this book also lacked a satisfying conclusion. Spoiler alert: The book starts out with the team heading out on an epic road trip to find Thrull's tower, but the end has come and gone and they never made it to the tower. Don't get me wrong, the road trip was entertaining... it just isn't over. At the end of the book the kids are still in transit.

The writing continues to be engaging, told from the perspective of self-proclaimed post-apocalyptic action hero Jack Sullivan. The pace is quick and the action punchy. There were, however, several instances of a lack of consistency in the descriptions during said action scenes. I kept getting knocked out of the story because what was happening didn't match up with what had come before. Things like people suddenly being in a different place or position without any transition. These issues were jarring and broke the flow of the story. That said, I didn't have any trouble diving back in after these hiccups and enjoying the rest of the story.

This series continues to be a favorite family bedtime book, and we're looking forward to reading the next installment to finally hear how this road trip ends.

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