Name: Zenith
Rating: 2.65 (40 reviews)
ISBN: 9780373212590

Lindsay Cummings

Sasha Alsberg

From a #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author duo comes the first book in a sci-fi new series, full of action, fantastical intrigue, and steamy star-crossed romance.

Zenith

Jamieson

FULL REVIEW WITH RECEIPTS NOW POSTED


god this is a mess I don't even know where to start. With the honestly awful writing? The boring and poorly written characters? the predictable plot? I just don't know it's all a mess. the concept is fine, the execution is terrible Thus, this review may be rambly. I'm so sorry

standard disclaimer: I didn't request an arc of this book so I could trash it. I didn't even go into this with bad expectations. I've genuinely enjoyed Sasha's youtube in the past, and I genuinely enjoy sci-fi and I wanted to genuinely read this to give it an honest opinion like I would any other book. 

that being said: I honestly just think this book is kinda terrible... and I actually feel a little sorry for people who spent money on it. 

The main problem with this book is it's so badly written, full of cliche lines and awkward sentences it's impossible to read it and take it seriously. I don't know what happened here, did this book not even get edited?? 

Some examples: 

First we have stuff that's just awkward and/or doesn't make sense: 

"Everyone became a number in the end. Valen was 306. Deep in the belly of hell incarnate"

"deep in the belly of hell incarnate" it just .. do you see it's just AWKWARD. That line could have been made so much less awkward. It doesn't even make sense

"why do you insist on ruining my beauty sleep, she said in her fluid little voice" HER FLUID LITTLE VOICE ?

"death filled the void left behind" THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE

There's a lot of references to demons/hell and stuff like that, which feels really forced and fake deep. "like a demon emerging from hell", "she was an angel of darkness come to him in the pits of hell", "Androma Racella wasn't an angel, she was death incarnate" another awkward use of incarnate 

There is also lots of cat references "she was angry as a wet feline", "hissing and spitting like cats thrown into water"

"a gruesome creature Darai was" ALSO what I'm talking about, this so clearly is poor grammar why is this not edited 

"it felt as if the weight of a thousand boulders were all forced into it, seeking to torment her endlessly" what lol ? 

So there's one bit where a character says "you dare to approach me in my private quarters? What is the meaning of this?" AND THEN NOT EVEN HALF A PAGE LATER "What is the meaning of this, you dare to speak to me?" Like, this is what I'm talking about. HOW does no editor pick this up and go hmm maybe we should use a different line here 

then we have cliche lines, or things that are out of place

First of all we're introduced to a character who's 'tagline' is "vengeance will be mine". It's such a cliche line and it's said NO LESS THEN FOUR TIMES .... in the first 3 page chapter. THATS TOO MUCH. And worse, every time he appears I need to hear him say this line and urgh. 

"Dex sighed. Use your words" Use your words just feels so weird for aliens to be using but maybe thats me being nitpicky

"we can do this the easy way or the hard way" UM is there any greater cliche

PERHAPS MY FAVOURITE "HOPE, IS A RAGING ASSHOLE" WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN WHAT JGKFJGK

gross romance lines

first of all this book is so painfully straight it hurts, like even the fucking AI end up in a m/f relationship. 

"In her place stood the warrior he'd trained and hardened into something devilishly delicious" DEVILISHLY DELICIOUS DJFHDSJFHSKJD

"You were always one for theatrics, Androma. My bitter little ballerina" "I am not, and never will be, yours" "We'll see about that". Hmm yes romantic


"then he lurched forward and, in one sweeping movement, mashed his lips up against hers" ah, gross. sounds gross, was gross because it was OBVIOUSLY NOT CONSENSUAL. Non-Con kiss was never discussed again



"his lithe muscles on display" explain to me how muscles are lithe

SO CAN YOU SEE I AM NOT JOKING ABOUT THE WRITING and truly I have just chosen out the smallest sample. There are so many awkward, cliche, badly worded and non sensical lines. The overuse of similes, all of which are inelegant and awkward comparisons, just made me cringe. AND I DONT KNOW WHO'S FAULT THIS IS. Because maybe it's the authors, but maybe it's the editors? 

Writing aside, there's nothing compelling about the characters or plot either. Androma is introduced as "The Bloody Baroness", she's supposedly ruthless and deadly and a notorious space criminal. Androma spends half her time killing people, and the other half reflecting on how she's such a monster and so awful and regrets everything. It feels like she's supposed to be Kaz Brekker and Caelana Sardothien in one but it DOESN'T WORK. Her character arc needed to be so much more tight to actually make me understand the development because as it stands, I don't know if I'm supposed to think of Androma as a sympathetic character fallen into bad circumstances, or a ruthless trained killer

The love interest Dex is so flat and I literally could not name you one character trait he possesses he is literally given ZERO DEPTH. The only bit ofhim I claim if when he allows the girls to paint his nails and he's pretty chill with it which was kinda cool

The crew also needed more depth and work. Breck, Gilly and Lira have a fun dynamic together but no individual depth. Gilly giggles and shoots people, Breck is ... just there. Lira is an alien and she loves her crew and there's some sort of backstory hinted at but we don't get much. Breck is also drawn as a black woman in the character cards but there's literally nothing in the story that suggests she is black. I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER THEM DESCRIBING HER AS BLACK. That representation amounts to a big fat nothing

Other rep: I direct you to Amber's review for the PTSD rep, which she describes as laughable. 

So character wise I was let down. There's nothing really compelling about any of them, even in the villains are poorly fleshed out and never feel like a threat. In fact, nothing feels like a thread because the characters are so perfectly able, so incredibly capable and deadly that there's never a threat. None of them have any traits and certainly no flaws

THE PLOT IS SO BORING. Nothing really happens, and the actual "escape" effort all goes over in one chapter. The rest is jusr ... the characters doing random things. Floating around.The whole concept had potential and I would have loved if the objective of the characters was more clearly layed out. Though, to be honest the plot is the least of my complains. 

this book is not worth your money. It's not even worth "reading for a laugh" because it's not even that it's funny in it's plainness. It's just boring. It's just so intensely mediocre. I don't know what else to say. It's boring and plain, and brings nothing new to the table. It utilises every cliche without making them exciting or interesting, and is trying so hard to be marketable but falls so short. I had to SET THE TIMER TO FORCE MYSELF TO READ THIS ARC whcih is ... not great

Just, don't. Even if you love female space saga's I promise you this isn't worth it. Find something else.

needless to say, I will not be continuing the series. PLEASE, talk to me in the comments about the quotes and assure me I'm not the only one who had to suffer reading them

me @ this entire book

courtney garrison

Trigger Warning Murder and PTSD

I love Sasha’s booktube channel and I’ve had Lindsay’s books on my TBR forever, so this was a no-brainer whether or not to pick up. It deals with space pirates like if that alone doesn’t get you I don’t know what will. The premise of the novel sounded so amazing and when I got approved for an e-arc, I screamed like a small child getting candy.

The story revolves around Andi, the captain of the Marauders. She and her crew are known smugglers and thieves. Andi and the Marauders are sent on a high priority mission and things start getting heated. Andi is soon forced to face her past and deal with things she hoped never to have to see or deal with again. You get to see the crew fight battles and come together in horrible situations.

The imagery in this book was really good to me. You could easily picture in your head where the characters were and what they were doing. This book does have a few flashback scenes to things that have happened in Andi’s past, so if that is something that might trigger you in any way I would skip this book as some of the scenes are fairly detailed, especially towards the end of the book as Andi is having to deal with the issues head-on.

The writing in the novel was great as you flip back and forth between multiple main characters. My only issue was how quickly the chapters flipped, some were just a page and boom on to the next chapter. That wasn’t a huge issue for me mostly just really annoying as I thought some could have possibly made longer or combined with other chapters.

This novel kept my attention and was fantastic. Overall I really enjoyed the story and the writing. Towards the ending, I found myself saying WTF and why a bunch just because I never expected that ending, I never saw it coming at all. It was such a fantastic ride with Andi and her crew getting to see their adventures and battles. I can not wait for the second book *excitedly jumps up and down*.

'A whirlwind out-of-this-galaxy adventure!' Sarah J. Maas, bestselling author of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass. There is darkness sweeping across the stars.

Giulia Pianta

I have been following Sasha for a long time on Booktube, and I got her to sign this book for me, so I was super excited to read this book. And I liked it!

It was not perfect, but I was entertained and I finished it so quickly, I couldn't put it down!
I usually don't read much sci-fi but if it includes a love story and very little technical stuff, I am fine.
I also think the characters were well made, sometimes the characterisation was not the best but I had a clear picture in my mind of what they looked like and their personality.

I think I wished for more world building. The galaxy is enormous, but very little is told to us. Not that it is easy to describe so many different planets without sounding info-dumping, but I surely hope we will get more in the sequel as what I could gather of this universe was of my taste.

I liked how we had many different POVs, and the fact that they were short made me feel like I was flying through the book, without it being too fragmentary. I just found Klaren's chapters so confusing at the beginning, I couldn't tell what was going on with the conduit thing and the weird light rite, but the rest of her story was more clear.

All in all I liked it, I realised there is definitely some space for improvement but it made for a satisfying read.

Stephanie

i started this in February but discontinued because my mind was still full of The Cruel Prince and re started it again in March. 

best decision ever. I definitely enjoyed it more because my mindset was just on Zenith. i have to admit, i struggled at the first 50 to 100 pages because there were a lot of characters to really understand and names to remember but afterwards i thoroughly enjoyed this amazing book!

the characters are loveable especially the Maurauder Crew. Dex grew on me as well and so did the little AI. 

this book is such a great galaxy read. I'm not one to really pick up books like these but I absolutely loved it!

laura

* I got this book from NYCC*
I really loved this book. I normally struggle with science fiction but this book was a super addictive read. I loved all the POV characters and the various POV made this such a rich and engaging story. I really loved all the POV characters. I was so captured by the plot and the characters and I had a hard time putting it down. This book was so prefect and even thought it was long, it was a super quick read. This is def a book that I would read again. Very good!

Justine Rose

2.5*, I already cannot remember a single thing I just read.

Paige Green

Rating: 1.5/5

Genre: YA(?) Sci-Fi (more on the question mark later)

Recommended Age: 16+ (tons of sexual references, toilet humor, gore, violence, death, and an attempt at characters with mental health issues)

Pages: 534

Author Website

Amazon Link

Disclaimer: I regretfully got a signed copy of this book with my own money. Bye-bye $40.

Synopsis: Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.
But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past.
Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.
Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

Oh boy. Oh geez. Where do I start? And begin? 

Did that annoy you up there? If so then don’t read Zenith; because that’s what I dealt with throughout the entirety of this book. I normal never tell people to not read a book. A book is interpretative to all. But when a book has a ton of issues in it I start to question if it could even be readable to anyone. But before we go into that, let’s start with the good about this book. I thought the premise was amazing and God bless the poor writer who had to write up that synopsis because that’s the best you’ll get out of this book. 

What happens if you don’t read the synopsis? Well you’re pretty screwed for the whole of the novel. That’s the situation I found myself in when I started this book. The book does a horrible job at world building and presenting this world at all. There are concepts introduced in this book that don’t make sense, like planets or sayings or things that are completely ridiculous statements since the reader has no clue what the authors are trying to say. There is a map in the beginning of the book that I tried to use as I couldn’t get a grip on any of the worlds visited by the heroes. Not to mention that none of the heroes are worried about the air content of any of the worlds they visit on their journey. You know… air… that thing that is needed to breathe. Along with that none of the creatures made sense. When a creature evolves it’s to give them a benefit for the world they have to conform to. Giraffes grew long necks to reach trees their competitors couldn’t. Polar bears grew thick fur to survive freezing climates. Lira has Lite Brite skin because…. Well your guess is as good as mine. Breck also has this issue in that she has bulletproof skin. The word bulletproof does not mean what the authors want it to mean in this context. The word they were looking for was impenetrable. The way bulletproofing works is that it helps absorb the shock of the bullet by spreading the force across the whole of the body or vest or what have you. The bullet still penetrates the object, but it significantly slows down the bullet and reduces the damage done. Henceforth, the closer the target, the more the bullet will sink into the object. The way Breck’s skin is described in this book is that the bullets flatten when it hits her skin. That’s not bulletproof. Not even manholes will make bullets do that. Sure, the nose of a bullet might become dented or flattened, but not to the degree that was described in this book. What really should have happened was that the bullets (for bulletproof) get absorbed by her skin and lessen the impact so vital organs aren’t damaged or (for impenetrable) bounce off the skin like Superman. While the impenetrable would allow for some degree of skepticism, it would at least be better than bulletproof. Andi, Dex, and Gilly aren’t very well described either. Are they human like? How have they adapted to living in space without any protective wear in a galaxy that can’t possibly have the same exact combination of chemicals to make air breathable for them? Your guess is as good as mine. This galaxy and these characters do not make any sense what so ever. 

Another thing that annoyed me about this book was the simplistic, repetitive writing. The writing done in instances of developing Andi, Valden, and Lira’s characters, for example, were so repetitive that it basically just tries to hammer in one detail over and over and over and over and over again. This was done to all of the characters (except for Gilly who we never really get to know at all in this book) that I don’t feel like I know anything about them EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE STUPID DETAIL. The writing would have made for an okay middle grade novel except for the fact that every other chapter until over halfway through the book had at least one mention of sex in it. These were not discreet like what usually happens in YA novels. They were very blunt and sometimes a little too descriptive for what I felt is appropriate for most teens. I also feel this would have been a better middle grade novel because there was a joke about a character crapping their pants in this book. Like seriously? What was the last YA novel you read where, for comedic effect, a character crapped their pants and another character pointed it out rudely and directly? 
The other things about this book that made this book horrible was the confusing plot, the unsteady pacing, and the constant POV and time changes. The way the chapters were labeled and composed really irritated me the most. The prologue opens up with no name, just a location. The first chapter is titled with Androma (which by the way is a rip off name from Andromeda. Why not just add the E and the D to the word to make a better sounding name?), and then a few chapters later we’re introduced to a character and a year. Why is this not consistent? What year does the main story take place? Why are we getting all of this confusing backstory? The world may never know. The flashback chapters are all written in italics as well and during one very hard to understand chapter the POV switches 3 times. If each chapter is supposed to represent a POV switch WHY IS THE POV SWITCHING IN THE CHAPTERS? It makes the reader confused and frustrated with the novel when they have to read something like this. Finally, the book has a problem that a lot of duel written novels successfully avoid. It’s really easy to tell that two different people wrote this book. You can tell which chapters belong to Lindsay and which to Sasha. The ones with the less experienced author are embarrassing with short, childlike sentences and confusing metaphors; and then Lindsay’s chapters are well written with structurally sound sentences and flowing words. With this being said, I’m not making fun of Sasha’s reading difficulties. I too sometimes have issues with writing and reading, and I had a close cousin with such a bad disorder that she couldn’t spell “picnic” until she was in her twenties. I think Sasha’s ability to have written a book and publish it is amazing and should be commended. However, I don’t think this book is good and I know she could have done better. The writing is really lazy and seems rushed, like the deadline came too soon for her which could speak to her time management skills. 

I also want to comment on a few other things about this book. The cover states that this book is from “#1 New York Times Bestselling Authors”. While this is true, it’s a white lie. The authors hit #1 not for this book, but for the teaser form of this book in Young Adult E-Book on July 10, 2016. Once this book was published, the book only got as high as #7 in Young Adult Hardcover on February 4, 2018. The cover is a white lie in order to get people to buy the book as statistics have shown that books are bought more often if the affiliation of New York Times bestselling is printed on the cover. It’s a money draw and I don’t like that. I also have a big issue with how Sasha has been promoting this book. On her Instagram stories about a few months ago she asked for her “fans” to help her get Project Red (her upcoming novel) by giving reviews to Zenith. Specifically she approximately stated “make sure to give Zenith a good review so I can get Project Red picked up!” The begging for good reviews on one’s work is deceitful and disingenuous to not only your fans but to all authors. Most authors do not have the platform that Sasha has and by her exploiting it like so only further exploits a major flaw we have in the writing world where the “popular” authors get a ton of attention and obscure those of “lesser known” and “indie” authors. It also exploits her fans. Many of them are young children that don’t know how to adequately review products. When they publish false reviews, this majorly skews the overall rating of the book. This goes for both fake good and fake bad reviews. This book has been the topic of much scandal and debate and the attention, good and bad, that it currently is receiving won’t die down for anytime soon.

Verdict: I’ve got a lot of problems with this book! And now you’re gonna hear about it!

Kristen

I didn't want to hate this.

But I just couldn't like it.

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

Written by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings, this is a space opera that opens with a man in a cell and 4 female space pirates.

The writing isn’t bad, by any means. But the characters just feel very flat to me. This is a book that I think has gotten so much attention because one of the two authors, Sasha Alsberg, is a youtuber in the BookTube verse (for those of you unfamiliar, there is a whole sub group of YouTube devoted to books).

I can be very honest, it was the female characters that ruined it for me. The man in the cell (and this will be a COMPLETELY spoiler free reviews), was interesting. I wanted to know where he had come from, I wanted to know who he was and what he would do.

But the female space pirates? Honestly? It felt like every character was trying to hard. Which, admittedly, could have been the feel they were going for. These characters felt like they were written for the purpose of empowering girls, not because the characters actually made sense or were real.

What do I mean by real? It felt like these characters didn’t make any sense together. It felt like they were all female, some with very masculine traits, because the author wanted them to all be women but couldn’t actually get them to mesh together. And, while there was enough detail that they should have felt like they had a lot of dimension, honestly they felt flat.

The male characters had the dimension, in my opinion, which is not what the authors were going for. I am assuming.

If you are a preteen who enjoys space operas, perhaps you should take a look at this novel. I don’t know if I will be reading the second book in this series.

 

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kathryn

This is more like a 3/3.5 stars because I honestly don't know where it really lies for me. Honestly I both loved this book and didn't. I think the fact that I read this in a day is telling. However, if you can't tell my feelings on it are slightly confused. I loved most of the characters. Dex was a winner for me from the start. He was so complex and had such a great personality. Lira and Lon are great! I loved their relationship and each of their characters separately. Andi, however, was a bit like marmite for me. I really didn't like her that much in the beginning. She felt like two different characters: the Captain of the Marauder and the Bloody Baroness and I didn't like the split. By the end I felt she had developed and become a more concrete character, however by that point I liked other characters better. The plot was definitely what saved the book for me. It was fun and engaging and gave me some serious Guardians of the Galaxy vibes. To be honest there were things about this book that I loved and things about this book I had issues with, but all in all it was a book I enjoyed reading.

Erika Strickland 

This book was such a whirlwind of emotions. I’d heard reviews of people saying it wasn’t a great book or that the storyline was weird/boring but come on...we’re we reading the same book? I found myself dreaming of this book and it’s characters. Of Andi and her swords. Of Dex, of Kalee, of the maurauder ship. I seriously didn’t want to put this book down, i read it whenever i could and I’m sad to say i finished it but happy to know that Zenith 2 is on its way!!

Lorien O'Brien

I actually really enjoyed what I read. However, the prison being pitch black freaked me out WAY too much to continue. It's not that bad, I just can't read it without almost triggering a panic attack. Boo!

I say ignore the hate this book gets and try it for yourself. What I read was a solid 4 stars and that's why I'm rating it.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram

As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via Edelweiss by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way. Also found here. 

(3.5)The first thing you must know about Zenith is that it's fun. Pure, simple, fast paced fun--with fantastic characters and a whole lot of action. The second thing you must know, is a fact that lay in the blueprints of the beginnings of this series--Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings are a dynamic duo both on and off page.

Between the two, when story meets paper, Zenith is as unstoppable as any devoted reader could hope. It is every bits as spellbinding as any sci-fi enthusiast could hope. Both the authors and the characters found in the book command your attention instantly. In short, Zenith is the sort of novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seat in suspense and promise.

Readers who hope to find the perfect combination of angst, intrigue and an out-of-this-world cast of characters, will be satisfied with the roller coaster Zenith takes them on. In terms of science fiction, it is not easy to come by one that is wholly satisfying but Alsberg and Cummings take the genre and make something entirely their own. While there was the occasional miss and pages that felt to drag on, it was still a fun experience to flip through its pages and get lost in the spaces between.

There is so much left to explore in these characters and the rumblings of a well-developed, promising continuation of them is highly appealing. As far as first books in series go, it can be difficult to truly get into plots and characters, and while Zenith has its lackluster moments, it still manages to stand firmly on its feet and make readers want to know all they can about the characters. Surely, this is a promising start to what could be a much-beloved set of novels.

Which leads me to what I hope we can get in any sequels: 

 -World-building. This is essential. There are a lot of gaps in the novel that brought down the rating a bit and made me long for more in terms of the who's, the what's and the how's of the settings. I want some history. I want some intrigue. I want so much more. 
 -Further development of the characters. Because there are so many characters in Zenith, there is a space in each of them that needs desperately to be filled. They are fascinating. But, and I doubt anyone will disagree with me, there is this feeling that they are only just beginning to lay the groundwork for everyone. While I have that feeling that Alsberg and Cummings have much more up their sleeves, should they expand further, about their characters, I do wish we had a bit more to build on in this first installment. 

I understand that there is a bit of frustration targeted towards this novel and I can honestly say I don't know why. From what I gather, this is solely about Sasha Alsberg's social media presence and for that I will only say that it is quite petty for people to be targeting her for merely doing what she loves.

That being said--if Zenith is any indication of what we can expect from Alsberg in the future, with and without Cummings, we are in for a real treat. For now, I'll be patiently awaiting any sequels to further explore the dynamics of these characters, the adventures they might have and all that jazz. I had a fun time reading Zenith and would gladly pick up any sequels in the future.

Liz Griffin

The friendships between the gang of female space pirates are so much fun! The frequent flashbacks threw me at times, but they were presented in a way that dragged on the suspense. Overall, I liked it.

Zenith

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