_belle's review
2.75
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Setting ⭐⭐⭐⭐
POVs ⭐⭐
Story ⭐⭐⭐
Overall 2.75
POV: First person (2)
Recommended Readers: Teens 13-16
TWs: Hunting, Suicidal Thoughts, Cutting (references)
Solid dystopian YA book for the right audience, probably not for adult readers.
The synopsis makes it seem like this book will open with at least a chapter or few, setting the scene of Nadia and her isolation of being 'the only person left alive.' Unfortunately that doesn't happen, as she has already made contact with Jake in the opening scene.
The beginning struggles with pacing, it feels very rushed. Nothing has time to 'settle'. So much happens within the first 20 pages. At least 3-4 months of time has elapsed but without any sense of time actually passing to the reader.
The characters were pretty standard but the main problem was the narration. The story was told through two people, Nadia and Jake, but their voices were exactly the same! I kept forgetting whose POV I was reading and had it not been for their name appearing before each chapter, I would have been completely lost.
I love the dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting and I absolutely love the concept of the virus. I really like how only a select few were immune and managed to survive.
I thought the reason why they were immune was okay but the book lost me shortly after that with the introduction of Sloan. It was just a little too weird for me and the story didn't go in the direction I was hoping for.
I'd recommend this book to young teens.
Setting ⭐⭐⭐⭐
POVs ⭐⭐
Story ⭐⭐⭐
Overall 2.75
POV: First person (2)
Recommended Readers: Teens 13-16
TWs: Hunting, Suicidal Thoughts, Cutting (references)
Solid dystopian YA book for the right audience, probably not for adult readers.
The synopsis makes it seem like this book will open with at least a chapter or few, setting the scene of Nadia and her isolation of being 'the only person left alive.' Unfortunately that doesn't happen, as she has already made contact with Jake in the opening scene.
The beginning struggles with pacing, it feels very rushed. Nothing has time to 'settle'. So much happens within the first 20 pages. At least 3-4 months of time has elapsed but without any sense of time actually passing to the reader.
The characters were pretty standard but the main problem was the narration. The story was told through two people, Nadia and Jake, but their voices were exactly the same! I kept forgetting whose POV I was reading and had it not been for their name appearing before each chapter, I would have been completely lost.
I love the dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting and I absolutely love the concept of the virus. I really like how only a select few were immune and managed to survive.
I thought the reason why they were immune was okay but the book lost me shortly after that with the introduction of Sloan. It was just a little too weird for me and the story didn't go in the direction I was hoping for.
I'd recommend this book to young teens.
kblincoln's review
4.0
3.5 stars, actually.
This will totally hit your sweet spots if you are in the mood for a teen-focused, clean, post-apocalyptic story with a scrappy band of survivors who coupleup and also find out they're part of a bigger conspiracy.
The first couple chapters totally drew me in. I like the fact that Nadia was a survivor, that the story dealt with some heavy emotional impacts of her survivorship like how she coped by cutting. I felt Nadia and Jake's relationship fast forwarded to quickly for me. The best part of a romantic element is the leading up to it..the early frienship, the banter, but all that was summarized.
Then...the book started to feel a little flat for me once they got to the lab and started learning about the nature of their birth and the other beings in the world. A bunch of decisions were made by the characters that I felt were just to move along the plot instead of true to characters.
Why did Coby and Jake leave ? Even after jake promised the only person he trusts that he wouldn't leave them? And I also had a really hard time with the actions of the being they kidnapped, Vicente, as they only showed him kidnapped. And later when he seemed to change his mind about the gang...it didn't come off as believable since most of the action/dialogue in those parts happened while he was bound in the back seat.
I think I wanted to experience more of the gang's day to day survival and definitely wanted to experience more of Nadia and Jake's early time together because I love relationships. This might be a personal taste thing, as I felt the book summarized or skipped over the parts I love the most!
Still, a fun little apocalyptic story with bonus gene manipulation bits and clean romance. Some heavy stuff related to the cutting.
This will totally hit your sweet spots if you are in the mood for a teen-focused, clean, post-apocalyptic story with a scrappy band of survivors who coupleup and also find out they're part of a bigger conspiracy.
The first couple chapters totally drew me in. I like the fact that Nadia was a survivor, that the story dealt with some heavy emotional impacts of her survivorship like how she coped by cutting. I felt Nadia and Jake's relationship fast forwarded to quickly for me. The best part of a romantic element is the leading up to it..the early frienship, the banter, but all that was summarized.
Then...the book started to feel a little flat for me once they got to the lab and started learning about the nature of their birth and the other beings in the world. A bunch of decisions were made by the characters that I felt were just to move along the plot instead of true to characters.
Why did Coby and Jake leave ? Even after jake promised the only person he trusts that he wouldn't leave them? And I also had a really hard time with the actions of the being they kidnapped, Vicente, as they only showed him kidnapped. And later when he seemed to change his mind about the gang...it didn't come off as believable since most of the action/dialogue in those parts happened while he was bound in the back seat.
I think I wanted to experience more of the gang's day to day survival and definitely wanted to experience more of Nadia and Jake's early time together because I love relationships. This might be a personal taste thing, as I felt the book summarized or skipped over the parts I love the most!
Still, a fun little apocalyptic story with bonus gene manipulation bits and clean romance. Some heavy stuff related to the cutting.
jferrell526's review
5.0
After the end.
Survivors of world destruction going each other. Then they find the cause. This book has all the adventure you could ever want. It's exciting to see how a teenager handles life without any of the "necessities" they think they need now!
Survivors of world destruction going each other. Then they find the cause. This book has all the adventure you could ever want. It's exciting to see how a teenager handles life without any of the "necessities" they think they need now!
novelistanne's review
4.0
This book was a lot of fun! There are so many things I really appreciate about We Survivors and I'm just going to list them instead of blablaing too much:
- A main character that actually has trouble coping with the end of the world. She suffers from a very realistic depression that isn't just about her personal loss, but about losing humanity in its entirety. We need more main characters like this in post apocalypse books! Not everyone always has to be a badass that doesn't crumble emotionally from watching the entire world die around them.
- A plottwist that felt slightly unrealistic but was definitely unexpected, and grew on me in the end. It made the story unique, in a post-apocalypse MARVEL kind of way, instead of the author opting for a more realistic yet predictable plot.
- Sloan! I love Sloan.
- The philosophical questions this book discusses. Some of them really resonated with my own view on the world and I loved it.
- The character-focused plot. For once, this book wasn't about the constant fight against the environment or zombies, but about self discovery and emotional survival in a dead world.
Anyway, because no book is perfect here's some stuff that could have been better:
- I didn't care much for the romance. I liked both characters, but their love didn't spark off the pages for me.
- The ending lacked the bit of brutality you'd expect in a post apocalyptic world. The Disney level was a bit high. Higher stakes and tougher punishments for mistakes would have made this book more emotionally gripping.
- A main character that actually has trouble coping with the end of the world. She suffers from a very realistic depression that isn't just about her personal loss, but about losing humanity in its entirety. We need more main characters like this in post apocalypse books! Not everyone always has to be a badass that doesn't crumble emotionally from watching the entire world die around them.
- A plottwist that felt slightly unrealistic but was definitely unexpected, and grew on me in the end. It made the story unique, in a post-apocalypse MARVEL kind of way, instead of the author opting for a more realistic yet predictable plot.
- Sloan! I love Sloan.
- The philosophical questions this book discusses. Some of them really resonated with my own view on the world and I loved it.
- The character-focused plot. For once, this book wasn't about the constant fight against the environment or zombies, but about self discovery and emotional survival in a dead world.
Anyway, because no book is perfect here's some stuff that could have been better:
- I didn't care much for the romance. I liked both characters, but their love didn't spark off the pages for me.
- The ending lacked the bit of brutality you'd expect in a post apocalyptic world. The Disney level was a bit high. Higher stakes and tougher punishments for mistakes would have made this book more emotionally gripping.
aoife26935's review
4.0
After each thinking they're the last one left alive, a group of teens discover they have something startling in common after the apparent end of the world.
It's nice to see an end of the world story that deals a little in how people might actually react. (That's still mostly 'a lot better than I would', but that's neither here nor there.) I liked how each individual character's skills were important, but not so important that everything would be lost if that specific group of people hadn't happened to fall together. (I'm pretty sure Sloan is my favourite.) I'd love to read more in this series, there's plenty of room for it at the ending.
I am a little curious about one thing, but it's a spoiler, so don't read the next part if you haven't finished the book yet.
How come none of the teens knew about the survivor compounds before? Nadia and Jake have been wandering around, listening to the radio, for quite a while, but they never picked up these transmissions?
Still, it's a very tiny thing in a well written book. I hope there's more to come.
It's nice to see an end of the world story that deals a little in how people might actually react. (That's still mostly 'a lot better than I would', but that's neither here nor there.) I liked how each individual character's skills were important, but not so important that everything would be lost if that specific group of people hadn't happened to fall together. (I'm pretty sure Sloan is my favourite.) I'd love to read more in this series, there's plenty of room for it at the ending.
I am a little curious about one thing, but it's a spoiler, so don't read the next part if you haven't finished the book yet.
How come none of the teens knew about the survivor compounds before? Nadia and Jake have been wandering around, listening to the radio, for quite a while, but they never picked up these transmissions?
Still, it's a very tiny thing in a well written book. I hope there's more to come.
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