I'll preface this by saying that this book was just not for me.

I didn't like the tone that it was written in and therefore could not get into it. Because of this I was slightly switched off whilst reading it and didn't fully take in the plot. It felt slightly pretentious and was just hard for me to be immersed in. A dark academia setting with an intense friendship is a style of book that I've enjoyed before but it did not capture me here.

I feel like the setting was solid but I didn't enjoy the characters, their actions, or how this book attempted to be provocative and failed.

I'm sure there is an audience out there for this but sadly it's not me.

Alas, another book that destroys its own good story by indulging in a desperate need to shock.

I had been looking forward to this book for a while. The setting, the premise, and the Dark Academia vibes were all excellent, and likely would have made for a great story had the author not given in to the temptation to do something shocking rather than stick to a subtler but ultimately far better story.

The idea of a suicide pact gone wrong twined with an intense college friendship was an excellent premise for a novel of Dark Academia, and that part of the plot was well done from start to finish. The other big piece of this, sadly, went from creepy and intriguing (weird twins, fun!) to salacious in a way that felt try-hard and desperate.

It’s a page out the Donna Tartt playbook for certain, but whereas Tartt’s incestuous siblings in The Secret History are not at the center of the plot itself, and even the taboo relationship is an excellent example of show, don’t tell, Zach and Vera feel like the look at me look at me fanfic version of the same idea. If you’re going to break the ultimate taboo with your characters, it seems to me that for it to be taken seriously, it has to be done subtly.

And all of that is a shame, because Ruby did such a wonderful job of setting a scene, creating sense of place, and creating a nuanced and intriguing relationship between Zach and Owen. And creepy twins are great, if used more subtly. What could have been a strange and codependent relationship between Zach and Vera that ultimately spurred Zach’s catastrophic actions turns into eye roll inducing, sensationalist stuff when it’s used as a bludgeon. Between that and Owen’s completely out of character actions in the closing chapters, what started out as an excellent story devolves into cringey, tabloid fodder content.

The story was just not for me. It started slowly and did not continue to keep my interest. I wanted to like it, the synopsis was more compelling than the actual story.

Honestly, this book frustrated me. The tone was almost arrogant in its telling and the story wasn't all that compelling. A 'rich white boy kills himself and his friend tries to work though it' has been done before a hundred times and there was nothing that made this book stand out from the others. Referencing Dostoevsky and a fictional German philosopher only made the book feel like it was talking down to the reader, though the reader is in this case, well-read and well-educated. If I wanted to be condescended to in written form, I would read Youtube comments.

Not a bad book but not really my thing. Good writing and a good idea though.

Thank you to the publisher for making an arc available through netgalley.
This is the story of a complicated friendship between Zach, an American studying in England, and Owen the main narrator. Chronologically this tale is split before and after Zach's death alternating back and forth to weave an excellent but disturping meditation on life, love, loss, death and freedom as told in a philosophical excuberance that only youthful idealism can capture.
The author warns at the beginning that this novel isn't for everyone, and while I may agree with him, I definitely throughly enjoyed this tale of brokenness.

Although categorized as New Adult fiction, this book is not quite like many you’ll find on such shelves. The story contains a shade of innocence and youth yet deeper in is actually quite dark, haunting, and mature. It’s spun with an intelligent writing style that is easy to understand but of a distinctly higher caliber that almost gives the story an added weight and age. Despite it’s modern setting, something about this book calls to an older time and this only adds to the foggy atmosphere and chilling exhilaration of its tale.

A captivating gothic-style novel about friendship, boundaries, and fate, THE ZERO AND THE ONE puts forth questions that force both its characters and its readers to push further and not risk looking back. Mysterious, dark, and addicting, this story is a refreshing addition to the NA genre.
-pooled ink

A compelling read, for sure. Smart -- maybe too smart for its own good -- and brutal. It's really well written, for sure. But I reached a point where I found the plot's momentum undercut by a feeling it was too contrived, too clever. And not because of the hyperliteracy of the university setting and the dollops of theory. Still I'm quite glad I read this, and I'll urge likeminded readers to get to it.