The Last Full Measure

In a YA trilogy like no other, Trent Reedy has raised the most primal questions of our national existence: Do we owe our greatest loyalty to our friends? Our state? Our country? Our party? How do we reconcile our individual rights and common needs? What keeps us all united — and what happens if we fall apart?

Now, in this third book, the Second Civil War has come to an end in Idaho. The Feds have taken the fight to other fronts, and Danny and his friends are free of U.S. dominance. But that freedom comes with considerable costs, from Danny’s disturbing flashbacks to the war, to the Brotherhood of the White Eagle, whose “security” for Freedom Lake looks more like outright thuggery. After Danny makes a shocking discovery about the Brotherhood’s final aims, he and his friends lead a group of townspeople on a dangerous journey across a ravaged Idaho, hoping to build a better society of their own, and fulfill the dreams they had in what once was the United States.

Recognition:

  • Junior Library Guild Selection, 2016

Praise:

“It’s a projection into the not-too-distant future (the 2020s) of the current divisive nature of politics, the nullification crisis of the 19th century, and the legacies of two world wars that seems all too real…and all too scary. Reedy makes good use of political maps, italicized news reports, and lists of death totals to provide political context for his bleak look at a possible future.

An action-packed tale of a future readers will hope never happens.”  Kirkus Reviews