Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Camp Zero

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

26 reviews

24carrotgay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Camp Zero begins as a disjointed story told from three vastly different perspectives in a dystopian world we know next to nothing about. It ends as an expertly woven masterpiece that explores identity, family, patriarchy, exploitation, and ethics in a world ravaged by capitalism, climate crisis, and technology. I was more and more hooked as I gathered little nuggets of information throughout the story from each perspective. By the end, I had the entire picture, and it is utterly human. This book is profound in a deeply humbling and real way. Here’s hoping for a sequel!

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colorwired's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I was interested in this book throughout but it felt like there was no ending. I assume that was the intention but so much was left unsaid that I feel like I only read a fraction of a book.

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clovetra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

first and foremost — YO I JUST MET MY 2024 READING GOAL! 60TH BOOK OF 2024 WHO CHEERED!

anyways i need to be real. this book was really confusing for my tiny little pea brain. i will admit i think i might have liked this story a bit more if i had read it at a different time. like im so serious i have no critical thinking right now. changing to a new antidepressant coupled with a cold? yeah i have about zero reading comprehension at the moment so take everything i say critiquing this book with a grain of salt. hell i might come back to this book in 6 months and give it an extra star cuz i did really enjoy this book at times! but idk i don’t think i can give this 4-stars when i was confused for a good chunk of the book 💀

most of my confusion i think comes from what the character’s motivations are and why they’re doing xyz. rose, judith, the barber, the foreman, garreth & merley or whatever the fuck his name was, none of their motivations made logical sense to me. yet again i am not one to talk about logic when i am literally noncoherent in daily conversations & my memory is of a goldfish. like gun to my head i cant figure out what the M guy’s actual goal was, or damien/damian (i’m gonna go with the ‘a’ spelling & if im wrong sue me). i am still confused by that.

i am also confused about the time period this takes place in, as well as the actual setting. yeah i know its in canada and its snowy and shit. but like do the girls live in a mall? where is gareth living? what even was the camp supposed to be?

the ending was lowkey kinda fire, i did not see those reveals coming (but tbh you could’ve given me a mystery novel where the killer literally confessed on the first page & i still would’ve been blindsided at the moment). i really loved the white alice chapters and as things slowly started to make more sense i was having the time of my life. but when those reveals only come with 20% of the book left….. i mean like i said i cant 4-star it.

the characters themselves were….. fine. rose was likeable most of the time. i really couldn’t work out her motivations or her true thoughts by the end. willow was also fine. judith was meh. the other blooms were literally non-characters. garreth was insufferable. the rest of the male characters were fine. i still don’t really get the barber’s motivations by the end regarding him & rose but 🤷 im not mad at it. same applies to M-guy what the fuck was he trying to do at the end. numbskull

the plot was… Ok! the actual story felt like it was going nowhere, but like i said i absolutely loved the white alice chapters. give me an entire book expanding on those chapters & im sold. those chapters kinda remind me of ‘i who have never known men’ and i adored that book so!

the preachy messages about the patriarchy and men sucking got tiring at times. yes i know men suck. they are opportunists and shallow and see women as objects and blah blah blah. sorry you’ve said your message to me, now do something with it. i mean the book kind of did at the end with white alice & rose but… idk more should’ve been done with that.
i really liked the grimy vibe of this book. idk what more to say about that it had a real edgy vibe that i liked.

i have a feeling this review is all over the place (when are my reviews not) but anyways. i had a good time. i found this book average. probably shouldn’t have read this whilst my brain is mush. i defo want to come back to this in the future and see if i enjoy it more when i can actually think coherently. anyways off i go to increase my reading goal now that ive met it with *checks calendar* FOUR MONTHS LEFT OF 2024.

god speed

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lpdx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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rockyc5's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The Hunger Games for adults.

Disturbingly possible view of dystopia.

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amd2001's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

Not what I would typically pick up. This book was very interesting and made me think a lot about the future of the US, society, and the planet. The book started off kind of flow and the moved super quick at the end. I’m still not really sure what I think about the book over all.

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dancefaery's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Several good ideas that don’t fully develop. The author could have done so much more with the characters and settings.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.0

Some of the plot lost me, but I liked the characters.

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noodlebooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous funny sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

3 stars

There are some really strong parts of this novel. But overall the narrative felt a bit flat and not as memorable as I was hoping for.

First of all the premise itself is interesting, the idea that oil is essentially no longer bountiful is a very real reality for future gens. As well as the idea of a female commune that also are kind of vigilantes/kill men to survive, pretty fascinating.

I think the convergence of multiple POVs is also such a great narrative device where we can see so many different sides of the story.

I think in general the writing style was very strong, especially for a debut novel.

Some critiques:
- the middle of the novel is sort of a blur for me, it was just kind of meh and because of that nothing stood out as important to remember.
- the pacing was a bit weird (I understand this may be a series so that could be why) but the first half of the book felt a lot slower paced than the last half
- some of the POVs were much stronger than the other ones and I found myself not as enthralled by each POV

Overall it was a pretty decent dystopian story that had a lot of potential for future books set in this world that could be even better, I would recommend it if you can get over the issues I mentioned above.

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oriana095's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

There were a lot of things that left me confused or disappointed in the end. I have no clue what the point of Grant’s POV was. It seemed to not really add anything at all to the story? I wonder if there will be a second book to tie up the loose ends of this one. I didn’t really care for any of the characters. Rose was alright but not a character I really loved. The beginning of the book was very slow. There were a couple things I saw coming. Overall it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t great. Wouldn’t read it again.

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