Jordon
Written on Oct 21, 2017
Zero Repeat Forever at first felt very similar to The Fifth Wave, except not as rich in scenery or as well described. (Side note: I didn't like The Fifth Wave either, mainly because it dragged on and was boring, so I really wanted ZRF to surpass the alien invasion story line). The world was bland, I couldn't really picture it, and the alien invasion? Confusing. Nothing was really explained. I felt like the idea had potential, but was executed poorly.
First off, I did not relate to nor did I like Raven. She was frustratingly brash and had no depth. At first she was described as a bad girl that was a bad influence, got everyone into trouble, and did stupid shit just for the hell of it. I thought she would be cool and that her story arc would make her likeable. But she never became likeable. I just did not like her as a person. She was horrible to Eighth and most of the time I don't think it was justifiable, she was selfish, she was a coward, and she lost all her depth.
At first my favourite chapters were of Eighth, he was a way more interesting character. His chapters were the only reason I did not DNF this book. I was so intrigued by him and I wanted to find out what happened to him. But then around 60% I kind of started to dislike him. I'm going to explain in spoiler tags because the next part is a huge chuck of the story, so beware!
When Eighth runs away with Raven it's so random, I didn't expect a huge part of their story to be in a pent house because Eighth lost his mind for a bit and kidnapped her. Eighth just wanted to look after Raven and make sure she survived, this part of the story has become my least favourite. Raven was horrible to Eighth on purpose even though he did everything she told him to, he stayed away, he didn't touch her, he didn't even look at her. She knew she needed him to survive and she relied on him, but she still decided to treat him like trash. Yeah, he's an alien, but he never personally did anything to her to harm her. Her behaviour was despicable. I felt sorry for Eighth for most of this part of the story. But then I also realised that Eighth was actually really creepy. He literally would do ANYTHING for Raven, and that's not natural or normal.
He started to creep me out. When Raven finally decided he wasn't all that bad, it didn't feel right. She had suddenly gone from yelling at him and telling him he's disgusting, to realising that he was in love with her and that maybe he was actually really sweet. Was this Stockholm syndrome? I mean I know he didn't actually ever hurt her, but it didn't feel right when she started thinking that maybe she felt something for Eighth. I was just really creeped out.
Secondly, the twist was no twist, it was so obvious. I had figured it out early on mainly because it was the obvious choice. There were a couple of things meant to be twists but I saw saw most of them. There was one twist I was surprised about so I have no idea where the story will go with that, but it was rather interesting in the end.
So what DID I like about this book? I really liked the way the aliens communicated, is this a spoiler? I don't think so since you learn about it in Eights first chapter. They communicated with sign language, now that was pretty cool. I did enjoy how Raven started to understand the signs Eighth was signing to her, I mean it would have been cooler if she had tried to learn some signs herself, but I guess there was no need since he could understand what she was saying.
So while I still have no idea why these aliens invaded, where they came from, or why they're designed as they are. But I now have no desire to find out. I can't be bothered reading the next book because I have nothing to hang on to. I am not rooting for Raven and Eighth to be together, and there are no characters in the story I'm attached to.
Sorry I didn't enjoy this one!
Jordon @ Simply Adrift