42 pages • 1 hour read
The Last Kids on Earth and the Monster Dimension
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Background
Series Context: The Last Kids on Earth
The Last Kids on Earth and the Monster Dimension is the ninth book in a long-running series of middle grade novels following Jack Sullivan and his friends as they confront zombies and monsters in a postapocalyptic world. The first book in the series, The Last Kids on Earth, begins during the apocalypse, with Jack living alone in a treehouse fortress that he constructed. Jack is an orphan, and his foster family promptly abandoned him when the apocalypse began. As a child in the foster care system, bounced from family to family, Jack knows how to take care of himself. He eventually finds his best friend, Quint; his former bully, Dirk; and his school crush, June, and convinces them to join him in the treehouse fortress, where they fight zombies and monsters and survive together.
Throughout the series, Jack and his crew face new monsters and piece together the greater cosmic conflict facing Earth. They face zombie foes, human villains, and new monster threats and must eventually leave the treehouse to fight in the cosmic battle. Jack accumulates new supernatural powers over the course of the novels, first with his baseball bat, then his Louisville Slicer, and then his Cosmic Hand, a severed monster tentacle that has merged with his arm, allowing him to telepathically control zombies. Jack’s new powers challenge him to be a leader and step up against escalating monster threats, leading an entire monster city. The series progresses toward a forecasted final battle between Jack and an extremely powerful alien entity named Ŗeżżőcħ whom the monsters hope to summon to the human world to destroy it. In several novels, Jack grapples with the reality that his friends all have families they hope to find while he has nobody to return to if the apocalyptic environment fades. The ninth novel picks up on many of these story threads as Jack struggles with his new powers and faces a new set of obstacles in the monster dimension.
Genre Context: Horror
The Last Kids on Earth and the Monster Dimension combines elements of the horror and adventure genres. Horror is a storytelling genre meant to “scare, startle, shock, or even repulse” readers, often using dread and suspense to add atmosphere to stories that explore the unknown (“What Is Horror Fiction?” MasterClass, 7 Sep. 2021). The adventure genre features stories of an “exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger” (“Adventure, Fantasy and Science Fiction - Classic & Contemporary.” Saint Francis University, 18 Oct. 2023). Brallier blends these two genres to create an atmosphere of tension and suspense for middle grade audiences while maintaining a sense of fun and humor.
Many common horror conventions appear in The Last Kids on Earth and the Monster Dimension. With its depiction of Jack traveling into an unknown, atmospheric world full of grotesque beings, the novel is particularly indebted to the cosmic horror genre; the name of Shuggoth, for example, alludes directly to the monstrous shoggoths of H. P. Lovecraft’s fiction, and descriptions of tentacles and interdimensional travel also owe much to this pioneer of the genre. The looming sense of dread that Jack feels is also characteristic of the cosmic horror genre, as is the strange, terrifying vision that prompts it. The novel also describes scientifically hybridized monsters meant to invoke a sense of shock and bodily horror. However, Brallier combines these horror elements with an adventure story structure, sending Jack on an exciting, action-filled quest across multiple dimensions featuring combat, chase scenes, and frequent humor. The lightness and excitement of the action elements contribute to a more humorous and youthful tone, allowing young readers to engage with horrifying events in the novel. The stakes remain high but manageable: While the protagonists face terrifying monsters and life-threatening challenges, they approach them with humor, clever tactics, and resilience, providing an aspirational model of bravery and camaraderie typical of the adventure genre.
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By Max Brallier
