You may read the description of this book and ask yourself "Do I really need to read another Hunger Games-type reality show/dystopian tale?" In the case of "The Last One," the answer should be "Hell, yeah!"
Twelve contestants are participating in a Survivor style reality show. The story is told in alternating chapters. One chapter focuses on the group as a whole, and the next tells the story of Zoo, a female contestant, after the teams have been disbanded. Interspersed are comments posted by viewers watching the show.
The challenges become more extreme and the contestants are given less help as time goes on, so when the world outside of the game begins falling apart, the players are unaware that their experiences are no longer being controlled by the show's producers.
"The Last One" stands out from other books in the overcrowded genre of dystopian fiction with its strong characterizations and present day setting. The protagonist in particular has very real and adult motives for appearing on the show; this is no YA book, though younger readers will likely enjoy it too because of the fast pacing. If the reader can manage to avoid spoilers before picking up this book, he or she will become immersed in the game, and experience the same shock as Zoo when the real world intervenes.
Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced electronic copy of the manuscript in exchange for an honest review.
Twelve contestants are participating in a Survivor style reality show. The story is told in alternating chapters. One chapter focuses on the group as a whole, and the next tells the story of Zoo, a female contestant, after the teams have been disbanded. Interspersed are comments posted by viewers watching the show.
The challenges become more extreme and the contestants are given less help as time goes on, so when the world outside of the game begins falling apart, the players are unaware that their experiences are no longer being controlled by the show's producers.
"The Last One" stands out from other books in the overcrowded genre of dystopian fiction with its strong characterizations and present day setting. The protagonist in particular has very real and adult motives for appearing on the show; this is no YA book, though younger readers will likely enjoy it too because of the fast pacing. If the reader can manage to avoid spoilers before picking up this book, he or she will become immersed in the game, and experience the same shock as Zoo when the real world intervenes.
Highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced electronic copy of the manuscript in exchange for an honest review.
Awesome!! Nothing on the bookshelf looked good picked this, day later I hope I can find something half as good to keep me busy the rest of the day. Could not read it fast enough, why oh why do we need to sleep?
Very good, fast-paced, good world-building and sense of place. Alternates between 1st person POV of Zoo, and 3rd person POV looking at the reality show production about 3 weeks earlier. Very effective at telling the reader what happened. Loved the labels of the characters from the show perspective but Zoo thinks of them with their own names (if we learn her real name, I missed it). I thought at first the author would keep us in suspense as to whether or not the situation was part of the game or real, but early on we learn the truth. Her chapters get more and more tense as she desperately tells herself that it's all part of the game, and we just wonder when she's going to snap. Loved the ending, which has more emotional impact than the rest of the book.
This is scary reading. I enjoyed it. Our protagonist is one of 12 contestants in the wilderness trying to survive to win a million dollars. Mostly we know them by names like Tracker, Engineer, Air Force, etc. Our protagonist is known as Zoo. She is there for the adventure more than the money. As we get to know all their personalities, we also know something terrible and unstoppable is happening. Alone in the wilderness, poor Zoo thinks it is all part of the game and she is determined not to quit. All the while, she doesn't realize how real the horrors she experiences really are.
My kind of story.
