Over a dozen years after a devastating plague ravages the earth, we meet Stephen, a survivor who runs across a village trying to pretend the plague didn’t even happen. The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch, is a sci-fi read combining real-world elements of deadly viruses with the possibility of a nuclear fallout, which adds a scary element for readers to imagine this scenario in real life. The book paints the picture of a run-down world with only ⅓ of the population remaining. Also featured, is an image of what survivors would be like, some are doing much better than expected.

Hirsch did a great job of setting the stage with realistic possibilities leading up to a sci-fi world. However, the style of the book quickly went from dark and gloomy to a similar tone we’d see in a book about a kid in a new school. The plague setting wears off and an almost new book blossoms. I think the story begins to lose focus on what it’s meant to be about, and it becomes somewhat boring. The book is at an easy reading level, so I think that young readers ages 8 to 12 would enjoy this book the most, but it could be good for much older people, too.