where does the last book in the universe take place
The Last Book in the Universe The story is set in a post-disaster, dystopic future city, appearing to be somewhere in the United States, called the Urb, which has been disturbed by an earthquake known as "The Big Shake". The Urb is plagued by poverty, thieves, gang warfare, and the use of mindprobes. These mindprobes include variations such as "trendies" (mindprobes about Eden). They are analogous to hard drugs and enable users to temporarily escape their harsh lives through images like movies being played in their heads. Genetically improved people, called "proovs," live in a city called Eden, with a beautiful society, food and water. Eden is separated from the Urb by the "Forbidden Zone," a deadly and dangerous minefield. Spaz is a 14-year-old boy who cannot use mindprobes because of his epilepsy and whose adoptive family has abandoned him because they feared the symptoms of his illness. Spaz runs errands for Billy Bizmo, the latch-boss (leader) of his own gang, the "Bully Bangers," in a section of the Urb. On one of his errands, Spaz is sent to "rip-off" Ryter, a very old man who possesses the lost arts of literacy and literature.