Neands 2
Dan Salmon
OneTree House
Pub. 2022

February 23, 2022

Teens who are just trying to survive in a world where they are expected to be adults. A climate change generation facing the consequences. Dead scientists, a pandemic, unpredictable futures.

Neands 2 is a second book in the series by Dan Salmon. It continues the story of Charlie, Pru and Ivy, and tells the new story of Em and Miro. Charlie, Pru and Ivy continue trying to find out what happened to Ngaire and Alan while going back and forth in the North Island delivering blood samples and picking up Neands to deliver back to Bill on the farm, who is attempting to create a vaccine of sorts using the limited notes and studies written, some of which by Charlie’s father, a now dead scientist.

Em and Miro escape from a Neand run Youth Home in the South Island and work their way up the South Island with help from humans unaffected by the virus. They move from place to place, until they find their way to Charlie, Pru and Ivy. When their paths cross, they work together to fight against the Neands controlling humanity step by step.

This book is relevant to 2022, as it deals with a pandemic as well as a fictional consequence of climate change. It is set in a climate change generation and the characters are very easy to relate to. It’s about how to survive in ‘the real world’ as you grow up, and they are very easy characters to get to know and understand. Also, the protagonists are all teens who are just trying to survive in a world where they are expected to be adults.

I particularly like how at the start of the book, it says ‘I’m lucky. I’m lucky because some mornings I feel hope. Those are the best mornings. I’ve learned to cling to those precious moments, to stretch them until they break and the new world and the Neands living in it come flooding back in’. I think this really relates to our Covid-19 reality currently. With our world still unpredictable, I think that it is important to stretch those precious moments, because they can be taken away quickly.

There are a few sentences that sum up the whole book.

‘Maybe we will learn to live together but living together is only half the battle. If we’re going to have a chance, we’ll need to show the Neands that the things that threaten humanity threaten them too. I hope we can show them. We all need hope. I can only guess how this broken planet will try to defend itself next.’

This really relates to our current environment. Maybe we will need to learn to live with the pandemic, but to have a chance, we need to get everyone on board. We will need to show hope and try and mend our broken planet.

Overall, I loved this book. I hope there is a third book, as I would love to hear the continued journey of the protagonists. It is an amazing dystopian, sci-fi novel that is relevant to all young readers. I would recommend it to anyone into these sorts of books. Wherever you might see this book, pick it up and read it, because I promise you will enjoy it.

• Hannah is 13 and a student at Saint Kentigern College.