Line #35 Literature/TheFireUsTrilogy


1	[[quoteright:295:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/303208.jpg]]
2	-->''We're still here."
3
4	''The Fire-Us Trilogy'' is a young-adult post-apocalyptic series by Creator/JenniferArmstrong and Creator/NancyButcher. The books in the series are ''The Kindling'', ''The Keepers of the Flame'', and ''The Kiln''.
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6	In the year 2002, a mysterious illness explodes through the world, spreading panic and killing adults with a horrible, incurable fever. Only children survive the initial outbreak. Most, having lost their protection and being too young to protect themselves, fall to wild animals or hunger. But in Lazarus, Florida, a small group of lucky (or not-so-lucky) children manages to find each other. They form a family, scavenging everything they need to live from the ruins of Lazarus for years, believing they are probably the last people alive.
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8	After five years, their simple life begins to fall apart. Their town has been picked almost to the bone. Two small children suddenly appear on the streets, apparently with no one to take care of them. A teenage boy knocks on their door, saying things no one understands that may or may not be from the "before-time". He uproots the family, dragging them with him on a quest they don't understand, away from Lazarus, in a madman's search to find Washington and the enigmatic "President".
9
10	----
11	!!Provides Examples Of:
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13	* AbortedArc: Mommy finding the car and the book never gets a real resolution.
14	* AllJustADream: Angerman suggests the kids are all imagining things in an institution and the Fire-us never happened, but there's no indication that he's right.
15	* ApocalypseHow: Class 2. Comes dangerously close to Class 3, since most children aren't prepared to survive in a world without adults.
16	* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Teacher has this attitude toward the things she finds in the Book.
17	* BerserkButton: Separating Mommy from the younger children has disastrous results.
18	* BigNo: Mommy's reaction to Angerman making off with some of her "babies".
19	* CampUnsafeIsntSafeAnymore: It takes the kids a long time to decide to leave the mall. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as they ''really, really'' wanted it to be safe, and were intentionally ignoring everything that told them it wouldn't be to hang onto their new illusion of security for as long as possible.
20	* CompanionCube: Angerman's mannequin
21	* TheCharmer: Angerman, but only to the younger kids. Teacher, Hunter, Mommy, [[spoiler:and the Crossroads folk]] aren't convinced and consider him crazy and dangerous.
22	* CheerfulChild: Baby and Doll are upbeat and perky most of the time.
23	* CosyCatastrophe: For the Keepers of the Flame, post-apocalyptic living is pretty good.
24	* CrapSackWorld: The plague may be OnlyFatalToAdults, but the vast majority of Earth's children simply can't survive on their own.
25	* CreepyChild: Angerman is the most obvious example, but Mommy and Teacher are actually just about as screwed up as he is, although it's somewhat less obvious.
26	* DeadpanSnarker: Angerman
27	* DeathOfAChild: It's explicitly stated that most of the children that survived the plague [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath starved to death or got eaten by wild animals.]]
28	* DefrostingIceQueen: Mommy initially hates both Angerman and Cory. The former starts off none too fond of her, either.
29	* DoubleTake
30	* [[invoked]] DudeNotFunny: Angerman gets this from the other kids.
31	* DysfunctionJunction: Just among the FourTemperamentEnsemble we've got [[HearingVoices a schizophrenic]], an {{Hikikomori}}, and a girl who feels her life has no meaning without a special book. Then there are all the younger kids to add in to the mix, and the religious wackos, and [[spoiler:the genocidal president who leads them]].
32	* EnterStageWindow: Action Figure must find doors really boring, because he never seems to use them.
33	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Mommy, Teacher, and Hunter are all introduced performing the tasks that gave them their name.
34	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:President seems to genuinely grieve the loss of his wife and sons.]]
35	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: This is Teacher's worldview in-universe. It's her job, actually.
36	* EvilLaugh: Bad Guy has one, at least in Angerman's mind.
37	* TheFace: Hunter is the least crazy of the kids, and so generally acts as the go-between for other non-crazies.
38	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: If children starving and being eaten by wild animals doesn't freak you out, there's also the descriptions of the Fire-us itself. Boiling internal organs is probably not a great way to go...
39	* {{Flashback}}: And as many of them are to events during the Fire-us, TroubledBackstoryFlashback is also common.
40	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Hunter finds a flier reading "FREE PUPPIES AND KITTENS TO GOOD HOMES" and later, [[spoiler:the family takes in two stray children who speak only in woofs and meows]].
41	* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
42	** Sanguine: Angerman.
43	** Choleric: Hunter.
44	** Melancholic: Teacher.
45	** Phlegmatic: Mommy.
46	*** Later on, you can make the case that Mommy is the Supine, with Cory being Phlegmatic II.
47	* FreudianTrio: Mommy is the emotion of the Id, Teacher provides the Superego's pragmatism, and Hunter holds it all together as the Ego.
48	* FunetikAksent: All of the children from time to time, but Action Figure speaks almost exclusively in this manner.
49	* GRatedMentalIllness: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. It may be a young-adult series, but Angerman's fits are extremely disturbing.
50	* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Book.
51	* HearingVoices: Angerman is absolutely convinced Bad Guy talks to him, among other things.
52	* {{Hikikomori}}: Mommy.
53	* AHouseDivided: Angerman causes this in the first book, nearly splitting up the family.
54	* ImAHumanitarian: Luckily not onscreen, but it's suggested as one of the ways orphaned children tried to feed themselves.
55	* InelegantBlubbering: When half the cast is young, starving, and ''really freaking crazy'', you get a lot of this.
56	* TheInsomniac: Teacher very often forgoes sleeping to spend all night writing in the Book.
57	* IWillOnlySlowYouDown: Mommy asks to be left behind part of the way through the trip in the first book, as her {{Hikikomori}}-ness makes transporting her a huge problem.
58	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Teacher can remember the name of the song she played at an elementary school piano recital but not her ''own'' name because...just because. The other kids are the same way.
59	* TheLastManHeardAKnock: The children suspect they are the last humans left. This is not true.
60	* TheLoad: Mommy's crippling fear of being outside turns her into a liability early on, although she improves.
61	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:The President to Angerman; Cory's sister to Puppy and Kitty.]]
62	* LukeYouAreMyFather: [[spoiler: President believed his wife and sons to be dead. Angerman lets him know this is ''not'' the case, eventually.]]
63	* NextSundayAD: The series begins in 2007, five years after the release date of the first book.
64	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted.
65	* OnlyFatalToAdults: [[spoiler:The bomb employed by the president.]]
66	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Most of the character fall under this trope, though some--such as Teacher, Mommy and Hunter--fall under EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep.
67	** Hunter is [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]]. He believes his name in the Before Time was also Hunter. Angerman is not sure.
68	* OnlyOneName: The kids go by single names they chose for themselves. The Keepers of the Flame also do this, although they are named after Bible verses.
69	* PaintingTheMedium: Clippings from the Book are in different fonts and font sizes than the main text.
70	* PathOfInspiration: [[spoiler:The Keepers of the Flame are pleasant, caring...and want to burn all children born since the Fire-us for the sake of finding the new Messiah.]]
71	* PromotionToParent: All of the older children.
72	* SceneryGorn: The covers.
73	* SceneryPorn: When we're ''not'' meant to see Florida as nightmarish, the narrative goes on many small binges describing the flora and fauna.
74	* ShipSinking: [[spoiler:Mommy and Hunter get set up [[LoveInterests romantic interests]], but their relationship takes a beating after TheTalk. There's some implication they may be on the mend by the end, though.]]
75	* ShoutOut: Jennifer Armstrong's first book dedication is to Anne Ginkel. Later on, a book belonging to an "Annie Ginkel" is found. As the book [[spoiler:might have been Mommy's in the Before Time, it may also be a case of WriteWhoYouKnow.]]
76	* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. Not much does, anymore.
77	* SurvivalMantra: Teddy Bear chanting "I don't see no gators, no sir, no gators."
78	* StupidSacrifice: [[spoiler:Cory releasing the virus and therefore ensuring her death and that of President, when Teacher could have done it without dying.]]
79	* TheTalk: The kids get this in the second book. The audience is spared, mostly.
80	* TeamMom: Mommy. Obviously.
81	* TeenageWasteland: Type 2. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in that most of the surviving children end up dying of starvation/disease/wild animals without adults to take care of them.
82	* ThereAreNoAdults: [[spoiler:Subverted. There are, but the ''vast'' majority of them are dead.]]
83	* ThereAreNoTherapists: For good reason.
84	* ThreePlusTwo: The Teacher-Hunter-Mommy PowerTrio eventually collects [[spoiler:Angerman and Cory]].
85	* TroubledFetalPosition: One of the many disagreeable effects of forcing [[{{Hikikomori}} Mommy]] to go outside.
86	* TrueCompanions: The family are deeply loyal to each other.
87	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Or rather, five years.
88	* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: Teacher, Mommy, and Hunter have this dynamic at the beginning of the series since they are essentially in charge of keeping everyone alive, despite the four other people they live with.
89	* WordSaladPhilosophy: 90% of the Book's content.

Context Literature / TheFireUsTrilogy