Waste of Space

by Gina Damico

Cram ten hormonal teens into a spaceship and blast off: that’s the premise for the ill-conceived reality show Waste of Space. The kids who are cast know everything about drama—and nothing about the fact that the production is fake. Hidden in a desert warehouse, their spaceship replica is equipped with state-of-the-art special effects dreamed up by the scientists partnering with the shady cable network airing the show.

And it’s a hit! Millions of viewers are transfixed. But then, suddenly, all communication is severed. Trapped and paranoid, the kids must figure out what to do when this reality show loses its grip on reality. A suspenseful and satirical look at reality TV that will keep readers laughing and guessing until the last page.

• ISBN10: 0544633164
• ISBN13: 9780544633162
• Publish Date: 11 July 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Clarion Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Take ten strangers, cram them into a faux spaceship (which they think is read), add some special effects, and a new reality show sensation is born. But there is more than meets the eye on Waste of Space. The producers are lying, the scientists are lying, and most of the contestant are lying. With this level of subterfuge, something interesting is bound to happen....and it does.

I had a lot of fun reading this novel. I have always had a love/hate relationship with reality TV, and could not help but enjoy Damico satirical take on the genre. From the smarmy producer and seemingly stereotypical reality show characters to the outrageous stunts performed in order to produce "must see TV", I found myself grinning my way through this book. I loved getting to see this show from all angles. You had the producers pulling the strings, the scientists working other nefarious plan, and the contestants being oblivious to it all. These extra layers just added to the fun, and kept me wondering what was going to happen next.

One thing that is not a secret, is that I love books that stray from the traditional narrative format. This one was sort of fun, in that it was a combination of video and phone transcripts with a few blog posts here and there. It was an interesting, but not random approach, as we, the reader, are well informed that this is being transcribed by a former network intern for a tell-all book. This worked well for me, especially since there are a lot of moving parts in this story.

I also really enjoyed many of the characters. The contestants were meant to represent those one dimensional typical reality stars, and they sure seemed that way at first. But as the story played out, we got to learn that there was more to them then met the eye, and this sort of followed the trend in this book, which was filled with lots of fun surprises and twists.

Overall, this book was humorous and lots of fun, so I didn't expect what happened at the end. I cannot reveal the very last page, but I can tell you that it gave me chills.