#zero repeat forever

Now Reading: Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

Shelfconfidence BPC January 2019

Zero Forever Repeat - Mini-Review

~This book really reminds me of The 5th Wave,with aliens and all that jazz

~honestly, I really liked Raven, but towards the middle of the book (although it was understandable why she acted the way she did to the Nahx) her anger sort of unnerved me.

~I love August so much sksksksksks

~he’s such a pure boi okay leave him be 

~The very big twist at the end was something I never expected. I was genuinely shook.

~Xander

~love him 

You know how when you think of everything you've ever read and it all starts to crowd up your kind and you really just want to talk about it all but when the chance happens upon you your brain laughs and deletes every detail you've stored away and leaves you with nothing? So you just sit there in all your feelings and theories and suffer? Well, that's me right now. And the things clogging my feels are all of the following:

*ahem*

Empire of Storms

Fireheart (no, it isn't the same as EoS) YOU KNOW ITS NOT

Tower of Dawn (ALL THAT WE'VE LEARNED)

Lord of Shadows (what even kind of ending. What did we do to deserve that?? I've already mentioned this before but I'm still hung up on it honestly)

Zero Repeat Forever (where did this one even come from? I actually liked its a lot)

A Torch Against the Night (when you think all the books are out so you devour them and and realize that you've made a grave mistake)

Stars: 4/5

Okay so I was really interested in the book because the description sounded like The 5th Wave and I did enjoy Zero Repeat Forever a lot, but it was pretty similar to T5W. Don't get me wrong-- this book could stand on its own and it really is a riveting YA sci-fi novel... but as someone who has read and loved T5W series, it's almost impossible to not make comparisons. I'm going to try not to in this review though. Just know that this is a YA books about alien invasions and, at least from my experience, there aren't a whole lot of them out there, except for T5W which happens to be addicting and popular and sets a high bar for alien YA novels, at least for me. Let's start with the good! I was so into this book. I read it in one morning and just did not put it down the entire time. And that's sort of weird because the pace is on the slower side and the book itself is almost 500 pages. So I'm not entirely sure why I found it so interesting... but it does have that X factor of hmm-this-is-fun-why-don't-I-spend-five-hours-out-of-my-day-unable-to-peel-my-eyes-from-these-pages. I thought the whole idea of the aliens was really cool and original. I don't want to spoil the specifics, but I love when an author can come up with something that's so intricate and unusual that I'm just sitting here like what kind of twisted mind came up with this??? Overall, I liked the writing and the creative ideas. I'm going to get into my complaints and it'll look like I didn't like this book that much, but I really did enjoy it. I'm not going to lie-- this wasn't groundbreaking fiction. I just thought it was fun-- I'd probably recommend it to a friend, but I wouldn't consider it one of my favorite books. Now for the elements that I wasn't such a fan of... I know it's strange to like a novel, but just not like almost any of the characters, but that's how I felt. I didn't care for Raven (the main character). I thought she was sort of textbook angsty YA narrator. And I get why-- she's in a really rough situation. And maybe I could have accepted that she is just sort of an unlikable character. BUT then when the love interest(s) describe her it's like she is this sweet, delicate angel. AND THAT IS JUST INACCURATE. I understand that their perspectives were biased based on their own feelings towards her (Eighth's especially, because of his backstory), but I just saw the contrast as more inconsistent and a way of the author trying to make Raven more relatable and likable to the reader, than her making some grand statement about manic pixie dream girls. This also definitely impacted my feelings on the romance aspect of the novel. There was quite a bit of emphasis on it and I just really preferred the whole alien-world-domination plot over the romance bit. I liked Eighth and I liked how he was portrayed as a second main character (even though his chapters were generally much shorter than Raven's). I also liked reading about the scenes when Raven and Eighth were together because they were filled with awkwardness and irony, but I didn't necessarily ship them at all. I plan on continuing on with this series. I'm not quite sure how long it will be, since Goodreads doesn't have the rest of the books in the series up yet, but I'm guessing it will be either a duology or a trilogy. I think this story works well as a series, because there is just no way any part of a worldwide alien invasion could have been resolved in just one book. There are some things I would be especially interesting in seeing Prendergast explore in the next book(s). I'm curious to see the international impact of the invasion. Raven even mentions some of the other characters she interacts with who traveled from different countries and can't return home, so how is everyone else handling it?? The novel takes place in Canada and the characters are in a pretty isolated location. BUT when they do get wifi, I was pretty shocked to see that everyone would just watch gory, alien-murder propaganda. I get that the whole situation is hella traumatic, but why wouldn't they try to reach out to more people?? Anyway, try out this novel if you're looking for a fun yet frightening story about killer (and cuddly?) aliens wiping out the human race. Despite my nitpicking, I really did enjoy this novel and am excited for the next one. Current release date: August 29, 2017 ***I received a free e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review