Zero Repeat Forever

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!

i don’t care for most of the characters, story, or weird representation like the killing your gays trope, but i do care for eighth and if anything happens to him i would kill everyone else (raven first) and then myself. i seriously have not felt this much love for a character since i read TID 6 years ago and yes i did cry every time we got his pov because he is my sweet baby alien and oh my god i just want more of him 😭

Wow. This was crazy. I will say this book took me a while to really get into. But about 100 pages in I was really interested in how this was going to go. The main boy Eighth, needs to be protected at all costs. He is the sweetest thing ever. Can’t wait to read the sequel!

Only finished 80% of book! Struggled through that much.

It started off a little slow, but really took off near the halfway point. Perfect for fans of Partials!

Note: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. A very interesting book. The book does indeed move slowly at times, but that's only because the book isn't a fast-paced action novel. Instead, it's about the struggle of humanity against others that are just as fierce as themselves. I found the plot quite compelling, and I enjoyed that the book tackled some thorny issues and had the two main characters fight. It showed how complicated relationships of any kind can be. I'm not sure where the next book will go, but I am looking forward to reading it.