So This Is How It Ends / Tui Sutherland / 353 pages

Kali keeps a notebook of strange events - violence has stalked her life.  On December 12, 2012, she wakes after napping on a New York subway car to discover that everyone has disappeared.  The subway floods.  Exits have been gated and locked and new walls have been built to cover other exists.  Kali's anger serves her well and she escapes into an abandoned New York City.  At the same time, Venus,  a super star teen idol,  was rehearsing for a performance when a mysterious tattooed man almost drops a huge piece of set on her.  Gus is on hand to help his brother, Andrew, with the lights, and prevents the accident.  An earthquake strikes, leveling surrounding buildings and vastly altering Los Angeles.  People have vanished and a monument to Venus's death is discovered.  Tigre in Chile awakes in a jungle to find weird talking creatures and no people.  Amon in Egypt has stolen a gold pendant from a tomb excavation.  Five teenagers are called together 75 years after life as we know it ended.  This is a most unusual approach to the apocalyptic novel and is somewhat reminiscent of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  Fast-paced, thought-provoking, great characters, and a surprise ending make this first book in The Avatars series a must read.