#The Nahx Invasions

[kookbookery]

Now Reading: Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

So pretty! 🖤

[angelicimpression]

Cold Falling White

Check out Sammie’s review of Cold Falling White by Gabrielle S. Prendergast:

http://angelicimpressions.blogspot.com/2020/02/cold-falling-white-nahx-invasions.html

Lauren is getting better, so hopefully reviews will come out more regularly again.

[adultintheyasection]

I really wanted to like “Zero Repeat Forever.”  It has so much that I love: aliens, survivalism, nightmare-inducing scenarios.  Unfortunately, it fell very flat.  The chapters featuring Raven seemed to drag on in an effort to make the “forever” in the title seem literal.  I also did not find her character likable at all.  The only redeeming parts of the book were Eighth and diversity.  I can’t recommend it to even the biggest of alien invasion fans.

This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

Content Warning:

Language, Sexual Situations, Violence, Underage Drug and Alcohol Use

[bookaddict24-7]

New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (November 19th, 2019) ___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know! ___

New Standalones/First in a Series:

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

Force Collector by Kevin Shinick & Tony Foti

___

New Sequels:

Cold Falling White (The Nahx Invasions #2) by Gabrielle S. Prendergast

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black

Veiled by Desire (Laith #2) by Candace Robinson

From Flame & Ash (Elements of Five #2) by Carrie Ann Ryan

___

Happy reading!

[crushingcinders]

Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast

Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast

Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast   Reminiscent of Stephanie Meyer’s The Host, Zero Repeat Forever features an apocalyptic alien invasion. But this story lacks the rich world building and the characters are one-dimensional. I am obedience. I am malice. I think Eighth’s character is particularly undeveloped and I struggled to connect with him, feeling zero emotional empathy (the…

[sleepy-bookworm]

Congratulations to @gsprendergast + Zero Repeat Forever for winning the Sheila A. Geoff Children’s Literature Prize here in BC! Zero Repeat Forever is one of my favourite books in general. But with that said, Zero Repeat Forever is my favourite alien invasion story! And that’s saying a lot because I’m INCREDIBLY picky about alien invasion novels. I am genuinely looking forward to reading more of the Nahx Invasions, whenever that may be.💖👽🖤 . . . #zerorepeatforever #thenahxinvasions #gsprendergast #simonandschusterbooksforyoungreaders #simonandschustercanada #simonandschuster #books #bookphotography #bookstagram #signedcopy #itwasachristmasgift #ilovethisbook #nojoke

[drsnowrose]

2021 In Review

thanks for the tag! @fictionalcomforts

Top 5 Movies You Watched This Year

Tick, Tick... Boom! (im in tears.)

Spiderman No way Home (screaming, crying, laughing, throwing up, crying again.)

Encanto (very cute and the songs were amazing.)

Spencer (loved it.)

Way down (cute)

Top 5 TV Shows You Watched This Year

WandaVision (best marvel series in my opinion.)

Hawkeye (2nd best marvel series in my opinion.)

Money Heist (i very much liked it.)

Nine Perfect Strangers (whatched it with my mum and we really liked it.)

does SNL count as a series? bc i love it.

Top 5 Songs of 2021

Therapy, Tick, Tick... Boom! (i cannot begin to describe my love for this song.)

We Don't Talk About Bruno, Encanto (stuck in my head 24/7.)

Goodbye, MARINA (i couldnt feel more identified.)

11:11, Ben Barnes (makes me cry every time i listen to it dont ask me why.)

deja vu, Olivia Rodrigo (i scream this song when im in pain.)

Top 5 4 Albums You Heard This Year

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land, MARINA.

Tick, Tick... Boom! Soundtrack, Netflix.

Songs For You, Ben Barnes.

Encanto Soundtrack, Disney.

- The rest are random songs from different albums :DD.

Top 5 Books You Read in 2021

The Core of the Sun, Johanna Sinisalo (a perfect mix of dytopia, feminism and drama, this book is awesome.)

Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens (it's a thriller but it's soo warm and tender and i literally love it.)

Snow & Rose, Emily Winfield Martin (it's other version of this fairytale, very comforting.)

The Nahx Invasions, G. S. Prendergast (your friend and neighbor alien apocalypse.)

The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (currently reading it and i must say i love it.)

5 Positive Things That Happened in 2021

i made new friends besides my usual group of four.

i started to deal and improve with my social anxiety.

i discovered the marauders fandom (i was already a harry potter fan but yk)

i went on vacation with my family on the summer.

baccalaureate or high school or the equivalent in your country, it's treating me well. ^^

Tags (no pressure):

@heartshapedimagine @aziraphale-wants-wholock

[risingshadownet]

Cold Falling White (The Nahx Invasions, #2) by G. S. Prendergast https://www.risingshadow.net/library/book/59474-cold-falling-white https://www.risingshadow.net/library/book/59474-cold-falling-white

[quietya]

I don’t know why there aren’t more alien invasions in YA books, but there needs to be.

Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind. Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall. His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting. Until a human kills her… Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance. Shelter in place. Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have? Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend. Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…

[polishandpaperbacks]

Cover Reveal!

Today Gabrielle Prendergast and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for COLD FALLING WHITE, the sequel to her Sci-Fi Book ZERO REPEAT FOREVER which releases November 19, 2019! Check out the awesome cover and enter the giveaway!

On to the reveal!

About The Book:

Title: COLD FALLING WHITE (The Nahx Invasions #2)

Author: G.S. Prendergast

Pub. Date: November 19, 2019

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 352

Find it:

Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo

The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping follow-up to Zero Repeat Forever, which VOYA called “an edge-of-your-seat page-turner.”

Xander Liu survived the end of the world—just barely. For more than a year he has outsmarted, hidden from, and otherwise avoided the ruthless alien invaders, the Nahx, dodging the deadly darts that have claimed so many of his friends. When the murder of his friend Raven leaves him in the protective company of August, a rebellious Nahx soldier, Xander is finally able to make his way back to human controlled territory and relative safety.

But safety amongst the humans is not what it seems. Nothing is anymore.

Raven remembers dying in the arms of August. She remembers the pain, and the way he cried as she faded away. But months later when she wakes up on a wide expanse of snowy sand dunes, shackled to a boy she thought was dead too, she has a lot of questions. What has happened to her and the other reanimated humans gathered on the dunes? What is the meaning of the Nahx ships that hover ominously above them? And most pressing of all, where is August, who promised to keep her safe?

In the shadow of an unforgiving Canadian winter, Xander and Raven find themselves on opposite sides of an alien war neither of them signed up for. Left with little choice about their roles in the great battle that now seems inevitable, they search for answers and allies, all while feeling inexorably drawn back the place it seems their respective fates were determined, and to the one who determined them: August.

Title: ZERO REPEAT FOREVER (The Nahx Invasions #2)

Author: G.S. Prendergast

Pub. Date: August 29, 2017

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 496

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo

The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping novel about an invasion of murderous creatures and one girl fighting for her life at the end of the world.

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…

ZERO REPEAT FOREVER Book Trailer:

https://youtu.be/cjgfYAe9HDI

About Gabrielle

Gabrielle is a writer, teacher and designer living in Vancouver, Canada.  You can read about her books here. She is represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

In 2014 she was the Writer in Residence at Vancouver Public Library. In 2015 she was nominated for the BC Book Prizes and chosen to tour the province to promote BC Books. In 2017 Gabrielle took part in the TD Canada Children’s Book Week Tour. She has also been nominated for the White Pine Award

and the CLA Award. Gabrielle won the Westchester Award for Audacious. Audacious was included in CBC’s list of 100 YA Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. A poem from Capricious was chosen for the 2014 Poetry in Transit Program. Pandas on the East Side was chosen as an Ontario Library Association Best Bet for Junior Fiction in 2016. It was also nominated/shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Award, The Red Cedar Award, the Diamond Willow Award and the Myrca Award.

ZERO REPEAT FOREVER Website

Website| Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a signed Zero Repeat Forever hardcover, USA and Canada Only. Enter Here:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2920/?

[tmbacorbett]

Cover Reveal: COLD FALLING WHITE by G.S. Prendergast

Today Gabrielle Prendergast and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for COLD FALLING WHITE, the sequel to her Sci-Fi Book ZERO REPEAT FOREVER which releases November 19, 2019! Check out the awesome cover and enter the giveaway!

On to the reveal! 

About The Book:

Title: COLD FALLING WHITE (The Nahx Invasions #2)

Author: G.S. Prendergast

Pub. Date: November 19, 2019

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 352

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping follow-up to Zero Repeat Forever, which VOYA called “an edge-of-your-seat page-turner.”

Xander Liu survived the end of the world—just barely. For more than a year he has outsmarted, hidden from, and otherwise avoided the ruthless alien invaders, the Nahx, dodging the deadly darts that have claimed so many of his friends. When the murder of his friend Raven leaves him in the protective company of August, a rebellious Nahx soldier, Xander is finally able to make his way back to human controlled territory and relative safety.

But safety amongst the humans is not what it seems. Nothing is anymore.

Raven remembers dying in the arms of August. She remembers the pain, and the way he cried as she faded away. But months later when she wakes up on a wide expanse of snowy sand dunes, shackled to a boy she thought was dead too, she has a lot of questions. What has happened to her and the other reanimated humans gathered on the dunes? What is the meaning of the Nahx ships that hover ominously above them? And most pressing of all, where is August, who promised to keep her safe?

In the shadow of an unforgiving Canadian winter, Xander and Raven find themselves on opposite sides of an alien war neither of them signed up for. Left with little choice about their roles in the great battle that now seems inevitable, they search for answers and allies, all while feeling inexorably drawn back the place it seems their respective fates were determined, and to the one who determined them: August.

Title: ZERO REPEAT FOREVER (The Nahx Invasions #2)

Author: G.S. Prendergast

Pub. Date: August 29, 2017

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 496

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping novel about an invasion of murderous creatures and one girl fighting for her life at the end of the world.

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other… 

ZERO REPEAT FOREVER Book Trailer:

About Gabrielle:

Gabrielle is a writer, teacher and designer living in Vancouver, Canada.  You can read about her books here. She is represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

In 2014 she was the Writer in Residence at Vancouver Public Library. In 2015 she was nominated for the BC Book Prizes and chosen to tour the province to promote BC Books. In 2017 Gabrielle took part in the TD Canada Children’s Book Week Tour. She has also been nominated for the White Pine Awardand the CLA Award.

Gabrielle won the Westchester Award for Audacious. Audacious was included in CBC’s list of 100 YA Books That Make You Proud to be Canadian. A poem from Capricious was chosen for the 2014 Poetry in Transit Program. Pandas on the East Side was chosen as an Ontario Library Association Best Bet for Junior Fiction in 2016. It was also nominated/shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Award, The Red Cedar Award, the Diamond Willow Award and the Myrca Award.

ZERO REPEAT FOREVER Website |Website |  Twitter | Facebook | Intstagram | Pinterest| Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a signed Zero Repeat Forever hardcover, USA and Canada Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

source https://www.tmbacorbett.com/2019/04/cover-reveal-cold-falling-white-by-gs.html

[libraryinthecountry]

#HappyNewYear! Here’s to new books and new friends! ⠀ What is the last book that took you by surprise? ⠀ I finished #ZeroRepeatForever by @gsprendergast yesterday and it totally blew me away! Thank you to @simonteen for sending me this copy, I am so excited to be working with @storygramtours to talk about Raven and Eighth’s story! ⠀ This book is PERFECT for fans of Partials and The 5th Wave. If you enjoy alien invasions, survivor stories but also forbidden love (à la Beauty and the Beast), this is the story for you. I am dying to see what happens in the next book! What a crazy ending! This story is gritty, yet endearing. I enjoyed it so much I ended up getting the audiobook so I could listen to it while I worked around the house. ⠀ If you want more info, check out the summary below and the link in my bio! ⠀ Summary: ⠀ He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind. ⠀ Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall. ⠀ His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting. ⠀ Until a human kills her… ⠀ Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance. ⠀ Shelter in place. ⠀ Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have? ⠀ Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend. ⠀ Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival depends on trusting each other… ⠀ #bookstagram #bookworm #booknerd #bookphotography #bibliophile #booklover #bookaddict #instareads #bookblogger #bookish #beautifulbooks #booktag #prettybooks #goodreads #bookdragon #yabooks #bookstack #scifibooks #ZeroRepeatForeverTour #GabriellePrendergast #SimonTeen #storygramtours https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGrkEBH9Is/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j574tf3rcma0

[yacovergalore]

[elblogdeunlectormas]

#01 Cero se Repite Siempre (Serie The Nahx Invasions) Gabrielle Prendergast - Pdf Español

#01 Cero se Repite Siempre (Serie The Nahx Invasions) Gabrielle Prendergast – Pdf Español

Muevo mi cabeza levemente, con cuidado de no molestarlo, y presiono mi oído contra su abdomen. SU CORAZÓN. Puedo oírel latido de su corazón. Él tiene corazón.OCTAVO es un soldado de bajo rango del ejército Nahx carente de voz propia, pero sabe cuál es su deber: proteger a su compañera, y dejar que sea ella quien dispare, quien mate a los humanos.RAVEN es una chica de dieciséis años de edad que…

[pink-earmuffs]

MULTI REVIEW POST BONFIRE - ARC via Netgalley READ: 8/19-22/17; RELEASED: 11/9/17 "Can you ever outrun your past? From actress, producer, and writer, Krysten Ritter, a psychological suspense novel about a woman forced to confront her past in the wake of small-town corruption. It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands. But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's most high-profile company and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’ biggest scandal from more than a decade ago involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good. Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as she tries desperately to find out what really happened to Kaycee, troubling memories begin to resurface and she begins to doubt her own observations. And when she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game,” it will threaten the reputations, and lives, of the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her. With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote, rural town of just five claustrophobic miles,  Bonfire is a dark exploration of what happens when your past and present collide." Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. I read the majority of this in hospitals and waiting rooms in the midst of being ill. Do I have any regrets? Nope. I originally requested this because I've been a fan of Krysten's for ages and was excited and then I read the summary and whoo boy. It's not a perfect debut (there were some parts that seemed more destined for the small or big screen instead of a novel especially the end reveal) but the story and the way Ritter manages to capture imagery and feeling within the pages makes it easy to see in your mind and get lost in the mystery and the intrigue of the world she's created. Very much looking forward to reading more from her. ------------------------------------------ THE PUNCH ESCROW - Paperback ARC READ: 8/3-5/17; RELEASED: 7/25/17 4.2/5 "Dubbed the “next Ready Player One,” by former Warner Brothers President Greg Silverman, and now in film development at Lionsgate. It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We’ve genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport―the world’s most powerful corporation, in a world controlled by corporations. Joel Byram spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. He’s pretty much an everyday twenty-second century guy with everyday problems―until he’s accidentally duplicated while teleporting. Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him." Thank you to the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. This one was a nice surprise. I was contacted by the publisher and offered this one. I had to wait to get out my thoughts about it because of real life events that went beyond my control. So sorry this is late. I found the whole thing really interesting from the carbon sucking mosquitoes to the AI and the cloning that takes place. Not once did I find this to linger or be slow in the pace and I loved that the main character was an average "Everyman" with his own set of issues that just so happens to go on this journey. Add to the fact that I hope there's a sequel and I'll be completely looking forward to it. ------------------------------------------ ZERO REPEAT FOREVER - ARC via Netgalley READ: 8/1-2/17; RELEASED: 8/29/17 3.8/5 "The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beastin this fast-paced and heart-stopping novel about an invasion of murderous creatures and one girl fighting for her life at the end of the world. He has no voice or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind. 
Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting. Until a human kills her… Sixteen-year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her fellow campers can only stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless, but what choice does she have? Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend. Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…" Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. The pitch for this is Beauty and the Beast meets The Fifth Wave. I liked one more than the other but was still an optimist about reading this because with life happening I needed a fun escape. I liked this take on aliens and mythology (I've read enough alien fiction in my teens since Roswell to have a grasp of what's new or not and what's been done before), that I hadn't considered and I liked the authors take on aliens for Nahx. Raven, the main character was a tad all over the place (maybe it was the pacing of the novel) but I did enjoy the originality of the novel and how it unfolded. I'll look forward to the second one because even though I wasn't shocked by the twist it's still a good novel. ------------------------------------------ CHRISTOPHER WILD - ARC via Netgalley READ: 8/9/17; RELEASE: 2017 "Three lives. One man.Christopher Marlowe was the first rock star poet, a spy, an atheist, a gay rebel whose controversial plays thrilled audiences and challenged the government. CHRISTOPHER WILD is Kathe Koja’s new novel, a daring remix of eras—the glitter and threat of Elizabethan England, a grimy mid-20th century, and a dark near-future of constant surveillance—as Marlowe loves and fights and writes his way through every life" Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. Alright, time for the confession, I picked this up because I'm an English major and I got into TNT's now canceled show on Shakespeare. I wanted to like this but found myself struggling at times even if this novel is beautifully constructed. ------------------------------------------ THE WHISPERING ROOM - ARC via Netgalley READ: 8/10-12/17; RELEASE: 11/21/17 4.2/5 "Jane Hawk—fiction’s most relentless, resourceful, stunning new heroine—continues her battle against a murderous conspiracy in the riveting sequel to The Silent Corner."No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this.”These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun—just before she takes her own life, and many others’, in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better. In the wake of her husband’s inexplicable suicide—and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals—Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But the ruthless people bent on hijacking America’s future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue—and become the nation’s most wanted fugitive—in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough. Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them." Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. Alright, when we last left the characters I was excited for a sequel and found that I had more questions instead of answers. Kootnz still has a brilliant strong character in Jane and he doesn't falter here. The only complaint I had much like last time is that Koontz is still a bit wordy in his descriptions but even though that makes it longer it's still enjoyable even though the pace drags a slight bit in still itching to get my hands on the next novel to see where he takes Jane especially after that ending. ------------------------------------------ NOTES FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN - ARC via Netgalley "Jump inside the world of Stranger Thingsand discover everything you need to know about the hit TV show. Grab your Eggo waffles and get ready for a visit to Hawkins, Indiana—just don’t forget the fairy lights! If you devoured Stranger Things on Netflix and you’re looking to fill the demogorgon-sized hole in your life, then look no further than Notes from the Upside Down. Thisfan-tastic guide has every fact you could ever wish for—from insights into the origins of the show, including the mysterious Montauk Project conspiracy theory; a useful eighties playlist (because, of course); and much more. If you’ve ever wondered why Spielberg is such a huge influence, which Stephen King books you need to read (hint: pretty much all of them), or how State Trooper David O’Bannon earned his name, then this book is for you. Entertaining, informative, and perfect for fans of eighties pop culture, Notes from the Upside Down is the Big Mac of unofficial guides to Stranger Things—super-sized and special sauce included." Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. I really, really fell in love with this show when it debuted and since then I've always looked for a book like this. I'm a casual fan but enjoy the little tiny backstories and what not from tv shows. Overall a great edition to companion books with a really bright and catchy cover. ---------------------------------------- BREAKING BAD 101 - ARC from Netgalley "AMC’s Breaking Bad is among the most beloved, critically acclaimed American television series of our time. Created by Vince Gilligan, the series charts the transformation of high school science teacher Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) into a cold, calculating meth kingpin. Breaking Bad 101 collects esteemed critic Alan Sepinwall’s (Uproxx) popular Breaking Bad recaps in book form, featuring new, exclusive essays and completely revised and updated commentary—as well as insights from and interviews with the creative masterminds behind Breaking Bad. The ultimate critical companion for one of the greatest television dramas of all time, Breaking Bad 101 offers fans Sepinwall’s smart, funny, and incisive analysis of the psychology and filmmaking craft behind each episode and celebrates the series’ unique place in pop-culture history."   Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review. I liked this book. I'm a huge fan of the TV series and found this to be a nice walk down memory lane especially with the episode recaps and I like how they manage to tie in Better Call Saul as a nod to the shared universe that the characters all live in. A nice edition to companion books and fans of the show (even if the cover isn't very eye catching).

[bforbookslut]

ARC Review: Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast

This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review edition is an ARC and may differ from the final edition.

I have given Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast a ☆☆☆ rating. It is Book 1 of The Nahx Invasions series. It belongs to the Young Adult Fantasy genre with some Romance, Science Fiction and Retelling elements. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers publishes it. It was published August 29th, 2017.

The blurb reads:

The 5th Wave meets Beauty and the Beast in this fast-paced and heart-stopping novel about an invasion of murderous creatures and one girl fighting for her life at the end of the world.

He has no voice or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen-year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her fellow campers can only stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless, but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival comes to depend on trusting each other…

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Verdict:

If you want an amazing alien/robot creature falls in love with human, you’re better off with Defy the Stars. Zero Repeat Forever is indeed like a Beauty and the Beast retelling (I’ve never read The 5th Wave so I can’t make a comparison there) complete with kidnapping and some Stockholm Syndrome, insta-love and of course, a science-fiction/dystopian society. The setting of Zero Repeat Forever is unclear: science fiction or dystopian? I’m leaning towards the latter mostly because it seems to be set in a future United States of America. But what’s more confusing is the worldbuilding because there’s no prerequisite to the Nahx, one day they are there and the next, they aren’t. It is also difficult to get through and I almost gave up but Eighth was such a sweetheart and the Nahx are interesting enough. Zero Repeat Forever’s biggest crime however is that one of its lead characters is absolutely unlikeable. Raven is abusive, she’s rude and she’s annoying as fuck. Perhaps, a crime worse than having an unlikeable lead: having cookie cutter characters as background white noise. Shame, honestly. A great shame. The plot twist only occurs right at the end and ends in a cliffhanger, drawing the reader back for more.

To break it down,

[may contain spoilers]

The Good:

1. Eighth is the saving grace of Zero Repeat Forever. Because Eighth and the Nahx are a non-speaking race, communicating through sign language, the story is told from Eighth and Raven’s point of views, allowing the readers directly into Eighth’s head and motivation for his every action. His naivety and curiosity at the human world is adorable and endearing, finding every little thing that humans do fascinating. He’s like a helpless little puppy. And I also really loved that Eighth was almost human in his actions and his thoughts, feeling every emotion on the spectrum and being confused about it but also acting upon it. Like, in one instance, he hides and cowers while his “team mates” seek out and kill humans. And he is able to empathise with Raven and her friends’ actions. But I mostly love Eighth’s ability to love.

2. The diversity is refreshing. Raven isn’t your typical cookie cutter white girl heroine. In fact, she’s a mixed raced girl and a lot of times in Zero Repeat Forever, her struggles with being mixed raced are referenced. Other than that, Eighth is unable to speak but he can hear and understand humans, making him differently abled (which really makes sense when it comes to the plot twist). Amongst Raven’s friends, there is one Asian kid, but I cannot recall if there are any other races amongst her friends.

3. There was a great amount of creativity put into the creature building in Zero Repeat Forever. The Nahx have been described in great detail from their armour to their internal workings. It can come off a little confusing at times as we often learn about the Nahx from Eighth’s point of view and he’s not the most articulate alien-creature out there. But despite how much creativity went into creating the Nahx, there are still multiple gigantic gaps in the worldbuilding.

3.1 I think the Nahx sign language that was created was pretty creative although a little difficult to explain in a review. Zero Repeat Forever, the title, comes from the sign language that Eighth teaches Raven. It’s probably the only parts I did really like.

The Bad:

1. I’m bothered by the lack of worldbuilding. There isn’t a lot that the readers know about the world but judging by the fact that they have some sort of summer camp and a supposedly military bunker and it’s set in the sprawling woods, I’m assuming that it’s set in real time Earth. And not a dystopian society. But we still don’t know how the Nahx invaded the Earth or what the Earth has done to save their citizens or I might have missed that detail because it was probably in a throwaway line that I quickly forgotten about.

1.1 A good amount of the book was set in a) the forest, b) Eighth and Raven’s hideaway. Also, despite them being at a survival summer camp, none of them seemed to really know how to survive which was annoying af.

2. Oh god, not to mention, the pacing was so incredibly slow. I forced myself to push through and judging by the fact that I didn’t give it up, it’s somewhat engaging. If you can put yourself through all the boringness in the beginning. And if you’re expecting Eighth and Raven to come together and get the ball rolling? That doesn’t even happen until more than half the book had passed. The worst part? There wasn’t even any worldbuilding in the boring starting bits: it was just Raven and her friends and Eighth and his partner, Sixth, running about the woods trying to survive and kill people.

2.1 And once Raven and Eighth meet, it just consists of Eighth trying to nurse Raven back to good health and Raven being a complete bitch about being kept prisoner/kidnapped.

3. Raven is abusive. Okay, fine, I suppose she couldn’t just succumb to Stockholm Syndrome but Eighth is as naïve as they come and he was only trying to help her but she kept hurling verbal and physical abuse, hurting Eighth’s feelings even though she was aware that he HAD FEELINGS. She even mentions that it felt good but she also felt bad for yelling and insulting him. It was so difficult to get through that I mostly skimmed her parts so I could get to Eighth’s parts and have some semblance of rationality in the book.

4. Another thing I really didn’t like with Zero Repeat Forever is that Raven’s friends were cookie cutter cardboard characters there to decorate the background. They barely had any personalities of their own except that one was a gay pair, one girl slept with her boyfriend, her boyfriend’s brother and some other guys I can’t really recall. The gay pairing was merely just gay although one of them had some military background of some sorts and the girl who slept with her boyfriend was just a really good hunter. I would say that Topher, the boyfriend’s brother was the most developed mostly because she spent the most time with him. And if you’re wondering about the boyfriend? He gets killed within the first few chapters. Like hello I didn’t even get to know him yet.

4.1 And I cannot for the life of me understand why everyone seems to be attracted to Raven. Firstly, she’s a hot mess and honestly very whiny. I don’t quite understand the relationships she has formed either. Is Xander her friend or is there some lust thing going on there? Is Topher her friend or was he also in love with her? It added absolutely no value to the story.

5. Which brings me to my next point. I just cannot see the relationship or the chemistry between Eighth and Raven. It happened out of the blue. Eighth looked at her and fell in love. Even the whole kidnapped and nursed back to health part of the book where I suppose they were supposed to bond, could not save it. There was no bonding because Raven kept abusing Eighth. But, but, Raven managed to develop some feelings for Eighth in some strange Stockholm Syndrome situation.

Conclusion:

It took me a lot longer than I usually would to read Zero Repeat Forever which is testament to how much this story needs to improve. It clearly is the prelude to a second, possibly more action-driven and engaging story. However, Raven’s tone, attitude and behaviour in this one really has put me off from finding out more. I refuse to read about her whining and crying and throwing a huge hissy fuss instead of trying to save herself, be more independent and accept help where she can get it. I’m a little torn about whether the second instalment would be worth it. However, if the story can be focused on well, the actual alien invasion plot at hand instead of forcing Raven and Eighth’s romance, it will be salvageable.