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A review by sidneyellwood
Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast
3.0
I haven't read much sci-fi this year so I was pretty excited to read this - aliens are cool. And part of the narrative from the alien side of view seemed really intriguing, especially how Eighth was humanized and set apart from the other Nahx. The premise was incredible, but the execution was not as I expected. It's slower paced, more of an exploration of human survival - which I did like, and it was fascinating to watch.
Except - the romance subplot. I could not deal with the romance subplot between Eighth and Raven, because it was definitely instalove, and it was ... kind of weird when you're looking at it from the perspective of Eighth as an alien. I liked Raven, and I liked seeing Eighth from Raven's point of view but not him on his own, especially for the first half of the novel. I feel like Eighth could have been omitted from the first half and nothing would have changed. I don't feel like Eighth was nearly as dynamic as Raven.
One thing I really loved was the setting, because not only is it Canadian, it takes place in and around my hometown, Calgary, something I wasn't expecting at all. The characters are Calgarian. I take trips into the mountains a lot, so I could imagine the setting so much more clearly than other places. Some of the action took place in Calgary itself and the Saddledome and Stampede grounds (I presume, I don't pay attention to sports, so that is the only stadium I know of). Even if I couldn't really connect to any other traits of the characters, I connected to that, because wow, it is so cool to see your hometown in a book.
While I did like this book, I wasn't expecting the slow pace and the romance subplot - but if you like romance and sad characters, go for it.
This review and more can be found on my blog!
Except - the romance subplot. I could not deal with the romance subplot between Eighth and Raven, because it was definitely instalove, and it was ... kind of weird when you're looking at it from the perspective of Eighth as an alien. I liked Raven, and I liked seeing Eighth from Raven's point of view but not him on his own, especially for the first half of the novel. I feel like Eighth could have been omitted from the first half and nothing would have changed. I don't feel like Eighth was nearly as dynamic as Raven.
One thing I really loved was the setting, because not only is it Canadian, it takes place in and around my hometown, Calgary, something I wasn't expecting at all. The characters are Calgarian. I take trips into the mountains a lot, so I could imagine the setting so much more clearly than other places. Some of the action took place in Calgary itself and the Saddledome and Stampede grounds (I presume, I don't pay attention to sports, so that is the only stadium I know of). Even if I couldn't really connect to any other traits of the characters, I connected to that, because wow, it is so cool to see your hometown in a book.
While I did like this book, I wasn't expecting the slow pace and the romance subplot - but if you like romance and sad characters, go for it.
This review and more can be found on my blog!