History Literature / TheLastBookInTheUniverse

%%* BadassInCharge: The latch-bosses.

%%* AsskickingEqualsAuthority

* CrapsackWorld: The Urb, where most of the story takes place. Everything's broken down and smog fills the air, making everything you see grey, and everyone lives in perpetual poverty. Gangs rule specific areas and their word is law.
** CrapsaccharineWorld: ...On the other side of the spectrum, you have Eden, within the Urb, which is exactly as the name implies.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Ryter's dead and The Urb has fallen into chaos after being cut off from mindprobes, which are essentially drugs. On the other hand, Bean has been cured of her illness, Little Face has a new home with Lanaya's family in Eden, and Spaz is continuing Ryter's work.]]

%%* DisasterScavengers: Most in the Urb.

* {{Escapism}}: {{Deconstructed}} with Probes, which are basically fantasy worlds injected into your mind. You might never want to come out.

* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: [[spoiler:It is Eden that supplies the mindprobes, in an attempt to deaden the minds of the normals and make it easier to wipe them out]].

* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: The climax is Lanaya's speech to the Masters and the Proovs at the end. [[spoiler:Sadly, it doesn't work.]]

* WhatADrag: [[spoiler:Ryter is killed this way by an AngryMob, after taking the blame for the deactivation of the mindprobes.]]

* IllGirl: Spaz's adoptive sister, Bean, who is later revealed to have leukemia. [[spoiler:With the help of Eden's technology, she gets better.]]

* KnifeNut: Blades are the preferred weapons of Lotti Getts, the boss of the Vandals.

* InstantExpert: Bean at chess.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

%%* CheerfulChild: Little Face. How cute!

%%* HeartwarmingOrphan: The five-year-old Little Face.

%%* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Billy Bizmo to Spaz.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Ryter's dead and The Urb has fallen into chaos after being cut off from mindprobes, which are essentially drugs. On the other hand, Bean has been cured of her illness and Little Face has a new home with the Proovs in Eden.]]

* CoolOldGuy: Ryter. No matter how dire the situation is, he's always calm and polite

%%* IntergenerationalFriendship: Ryter and Spaz, eventually.
%%* KnifeNut: Lotti Getts, the boss of the Vandals.

%%* AfterTheEnd

%%* CoolOldGuy: Ryter.

* FutureSlang: Zoomed [[note]]crazy[[/note]]. Carboshake [[note]]energy drink[[/note]]. Gummy [[note]]elderly person[[/note]]. And many more.

%%* TheBeautifulElite: Proovs.

%%* ThirdPersonPerson: Billy. Unsettlingly.

%%* WhatADrag: [[spoiler:Poor Ryter...]]

* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have to be Rats?]]: Spaz.

* AfterTheEnd
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority

* BadassBiker: All of the Vandals.
* BadassInCharge: The latch-bosses.

* CheerfulChild: Little Face. How cute!
* CoolOldGuy: Ryter.

* DisasterScavengers: Most in the Urb.

* HeartwarmingOrphan: The five-year-old Little Face.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Ryter and Spaz, eventually.
* KnifeNut: Lotti Getts, the boss of the Vandals.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Billy Bizmo to Spaz.]]

* PluckyGirl: Lanaya.

* TheBeautifulElite: Proovs.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The Great Shake.
* TheMagnificent: Mongo.
* TheOjou: Lanaya, complete with a castle.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Billy. Unsettlingly.

* {{Tsundere}}: Lanaya, a fairly straight example.
* OlderSidekick
* WhatADrag: [[spoiler:Poor Ryter...]]

* TheObiWan: Ryter.

* AuthorAvatar: WordOfGod says Ryter is this.
* BadassBiker: The Vandals are a whole gang of this.

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler: Ryter's dead and The Urb has fallen into chaos after being cut off from mindprobes, which are essentially drugs. On the other hand, Bean has been cured of her illness and Little Face has a new home with the Proovs in Eden.]]

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Towards the end, Spaz states outright that he's not the hero of the story--it's actually [[spoiler:Ryter.]]

* [[spoiler:[[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Eden Drug Enforcement]]]]: It is [[spoiler:Eden]] that supplies the probes, in an attempt to deaden the minds of the normals and make it easier to [[spoiler:wipe them out]].
* [[spoiler: HappilyAdopted: Little Face is secretly adopted by Lanaya's "contributors", or parents.]]

* RebelliousPrincess: Literally Lanaya,

* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: The climax is Lanaya's speech to the Masters and the Proovs at the end, [[spoiler:which doesn't work.]]

->''They call me Spaz, which is kind of a mope name, but I don't mind, not anymore. I'm talking into an old voicewriter program that prints out my words because I was there when the Bully Bangers went to [[spoiler: wheel the Ryter for his sins]], and I saw what they saw, and I heard what they heard, and it kind of turned my brain around.''
-->--'''Spaz'''

* MacGuffinGirl: Bean.

A 2000 young adult novel by by Rodman Philbrick who you might know as the author of FreakTheMighty.

* FutureSlang: Zoomed [[hottip:*:crazy]]. Carboshake [[hottip:*:energy drink]]. Gummy [[hottip:*:elderly person]]. And many more.

** Ryter. Also as a PunnyName and a StealthPun. [[hottip:*:Say it out loud with a long "i" sound.]]

* DeathByChildbirth [[According to Billy Bizmo, Spaz's father, this is how his mother died.]]

->''They call me Spaz, which is kind of a mope name, but I don't mind, not anymore. I'm talking into an old voicewriter program that prints out my words because I was there when the Bully Bangers went to [[spoiler wheel the Ryter for his sins]], and I saw what they saw, and I heard what they heard, and it kind of turned my brain around.''

* [[spoiler:[[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Eden Drug Enforcement]]]]: It is [[spoiler:Eden]] that supplies the probes, in an attempt to deaden the minds of the normals and make it easier to [[spoiler:wipe them out]].
* IllGirl: Spaz's younger sister, Bean, who is later revealed to have leukemia. [[spoiler:With the help of Eden's technology, she gets better]].

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Billy Bizmo to Spaz]]

* RedBaron: Boss Lady. The Latch Queen. [[FemmeFatalons Nails.]] The White Widow. Lotti Getts, latch-boss of The Vandals.

* WhatADrag: [[spoiler:Ryter]]

->''They call me Spaz, which is kind of a mope name, but I don't mind, not anymore. I'm talking into an old voicewriter program that prints out my words because I was there when the Bully Bangers went to wheel the Ryter for his sins, and I saw what they saw, and I heard what they heard, and it kind of turned my brain around.''

* BadassBiker: The Vandals are a whole gang.

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler: Ryter's dead and The Urb has fallen into chaos after being cut off from mindprobes, which are essentially drugs.]]

** CrapsaccharineWorld: ...aaand you have Eden, within the Urb, which is exactly as the name implies.

* DesignerBabies: Poovs, who are genetically Improved humans who live in Eden, cut off from the unwashed masses of the latches.

* IllGirl: Bean. She [[spoiler:gets better]].

* KnifeNut: Lotti.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: In one of the latches Spaz and Ryter pass through, the boss is [[spoiler:a shriveled brain-probe addict who no longer has the physical strength or mental presence to run his territory. His gang stays together by dogmatically following the rules he laid down in earlier times]].
* MarySuetopia: Eden.

* RedBaron: Boss Lady. The Latch Queen. Nails. The White Widow. Lotti Getts, latch-boss of The Vandals.