History Literature / Remnants

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first book is the only one where nobody dies violently (unless you count Cordelia, the girl Jobs has a crush on, who gets impaled by a support beam when a chip of the Rock destroys San Francisco Bay), although it technically has the highest body count of any book in the series, since every human on Earth dies in it. It's also the only one where the plot approaches what could be called "normal."

* HumanoidAbomination: Tamara's "baby" is humanoid, but clearly ''not'' human.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Not exactly (since the youngest person in the Mayflower was around ten), but when the Mayflower lands, they note that you were [[OnlyFatalToAdults far more likely to die if you were a teenager than if you were older.]] However, it gets subverted when the vast majority of those teenagers die. [[spoiler:However, all but one of the Remnants to make it to the end of the series are under twenty.]]

* BrainsAndBrawn: Jobs and Mo'Steel, the series' two core characters, have this relationship. One is a teenage science prodigy named after UsefulNotes/SteveJobs, the other is an extreme sports enthusiast who got his nickname because so many of his body parts have been replaced with steel prosthetics; do the math.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Tate has a ''very'' close friendship with Tamara, but it's not clear if it's deeper than that.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Jobs -> Jake, as level-headed TheHero.

* GainaxEnding: Hooooo boy, a classic example. [[spoiler:After returning to Earth and finding that Mother has somehow traveled through time to crash on Earth and become a ruin worshiped by the Marauders, some sort of "ritual" is performed using Echo's baby, Mother, Billy, and "the Missing Five" that Billy somehow carries inside him. Whatever this ritual entails is never clear, but in the epilogue it apparently has restored life to Earth and we have BabiesEverAfter]]. And that's not getting into the many plot points that go unresolved.

* DwindlingParty: They only sent eighty people in the first place, more than half of them died on the way there, and AnyoneCanDie is in full effect for the thirty-some-odd people who made it to Mother. Not ''everyone'' dies in the end, and some more characters turn up when [[spoiler:they return to Earth]], but only seven of the Mayflower's passengers survive to the end. If you're curious, the survivors are Jobs, Mo'Steel, [[spoiler: Olga, Edward, Violet, Noyze, and Roger Dodger]]. D-Caf suffered from ChuckCunninghamSyndrome, so strictly speaking he never died, either.

* ILoveNuclearPower: It is speculated by the characters that the reason that some of them have superpowers is that they were exposed to radiation during the 500 years on the Mayflower, although they also acknowledge that this isn't an adequate explanation.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Some of the survivors have this, as in the future taking a new name is essentially the fashion trend of the decade. Mo'Steel takes the cake; he's not sure if it stands for "More Steel" or "Man of Steel" (he's broken so many bones most of them are made of metal now), but he fits under either definition. His birth name, "Romeo Gonzales," is also cool.

* TheHeroDies: The books don't shy away from killing ''major'' characters, most surprisingly [[spoiler: 2Face and Billy]] in the final book.

* ImprobableAge: [[spoiler: All but one of the Remnants to make it to the end of the series are teenagers.]]
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Not exactly (since the youngest person in the Mayflower was around ten), but when the Mayflower lands, they note that you were [[OnlyFatalToAdults far more likely to die if you were a teenager than if you were older.]] However, it gets subverted when the vast majority of those teenagers die.

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: The Mother, for most of the series. Interfacing her causes instant MindRape; only Billy can survive it.

''Remnants'' is a dark series, with violent deaths in nearly every book. Aside from the art history and group politics, this is what happens when you combine LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters with AnyoneCanDie. The author promised that Jobs and Mo'Steel would survive; anyone else is fair game. And yes, believe it or not, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids this is a kids series.]] That does not stop it from being one of the darkest things ever written.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Thirty-something characters make it to The Mother, and all of them are mentioned on a regular basis. And even more characters show up when [[spoiler: they make it to the EarthThatWas.]]

See also the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series by Michael Grant, which serves as a SpiritualSucessor of sorts to ''Remnants''.

* CuteAndPsycho: Yago is described (by himself) to be one of the most desirable teenagers on the planet, starting all sorts of trends and having tons of fangirls. He's also an egomaniac with a strong ability to manipulate and control others. Doubles for FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon in this.

* DeathWorld: [[spoiler: Post-Rock Earth. For starters, the planet's rotation has stopped, causing it to be divided into two extreme climate zones with a mild Shadow Zone in between. Second, the surface randomly spews columns of flames-which kills one of the characters. Lastly, there are a variety of hellish beasts making life difficult for whoever decides to live on its surface.]]

* EarthThatWas: A later story arc involves them returning to Earth to see what became of it after The Rock hit. [[spoiler:Turns out that Earth is still habitable, if only just barely.]]

* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler:Violet]]'s mutation is the ability to dissolve in a mass of worms that can actually bring back the dead. She eventually [[ContagiousPowers passes it on]] to [[spoiler:Rodger Dodger, D-Caf, and 2Face.]]

* {{Transgender}}: Or something of that nature.
-->"It was [Cordellia's] Great-Aunt Rebecca (formerly Great-Uncle Robert)."