Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

This novel was hard to read, in fact I barely made it past the first chapter before it began feeling like work to read it...

This is a great beginning to a new YA science fiction/adventure series!

Somewhat slow to start, it really picks up pace towards the end and finishes on a spectacular cliffhanger. I will be keen to read the next book.

Bound to appeal to fans of The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

Cover Art:
So there are 2 covers that I have mainly seen. I like both of them, but the other one, which I will put a pick of below, is definitely nicer to look at. Okay, so the one above, I like that the girl in the picture actually fits the description of Raven as it’s ridiculous how often that is not the case (just look at all the editions of Anna and the French Kiss). I also like that as soon as you see the above cover you know it is going to be Sci-Fi dystopian as it represents the story really well.
The below cover is my favourite just because it is a lot more simplistic and that’s what I prefer. The Dandelion I get but I don’t really get what the gold liquidy looking stuff is. But I still do prefer this cover!

Writing:
I really liked the writing and the POV. I enjoyed the Multi POV a lot and I am so glad it was done this way. I’m pretty sure that without the POV of Eighth/August this book would have felt completely different. And especially your opinion of Eighth/August would have been really off without it. So I’m really glad we got to see his thoughts and how he works!

**Spoiler**
I really hope that the next book will be from the POV of Xander & August. That would be really cool as he is an intriguing character. As Raven is out of the question for POV at the moment and having the entire thing from August’s POV would get a bit monotonous I think. I hope they do that.
**Spoiler over**

But besides the POV, I really enjoyed the writing, at first, it was a little confusing when in Eighth POV with the talking because at first, it wasn’t obvious that the Nahx don’t talk and that the words in italics were the meaning of the hand gestures they use to communicate but after I figured that out I didn’t have any trouble at all.

The world building is really good and very vivid. I never had an issue imagining a scene or setting because of how well the world was explained.

Plot:
So to be completely honest the first basically half of this book was a little dull. But the second half was pretty crazy! Even though there was a bigger chunk of time that they were sitting and not doing much there was still a lot of tension and information which filled up the time that otherwise would have been a bit boring.

Characters:
I did not like Raven that much. She used people and was never really honest about how she felt about people. She just led people on and let it go.
I can’t really talk about her too much as it would be really spoilery but I don’t love her at all.

Eighth/August was an okay character. It was interesting being in his head but he was still hard to fully understand at times. Like what was with his ridiculous devotion to people who didn’t give a damn who he was or about him. That I didn’t get but I also understand that basically his entire self and memories were taken away from him somehow and he was left as a completely blank canvas so his thoughts and everything isn’t exactly something that can be explained considering all that. But it didn’t still kinda annoy how he was about those two people.

Topher I hated. He is another one I can’t talk about without spoiling it. But also he fell victim to Raven’s using and complete dishonesty. So I also kinda feel bad for him in a way. But also he was pathetic too… So it’s hard to figure out whether I want to feel sorry for him or the people who have to deal with him.

Overall:
So I enjoyed the writing. The POV and the world building were both really good. I did enjoy the plot once we got past that half way point that was a bit dull. I didn’t love the characters, Eighth was probably the best and Topher was the worst. Raven wasn’t great either. So overall I did enjoy this book and will continue with the series but I did have a few problems with it and hope book 2 is better!

3 ½ - 4 Stars.
Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast was a whirlwind of emotions for me. A post-apocalyptic tale of aliens vs humans, if you like the 5th Wave you will LOVE this series. Also described as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, I don't think Zero Repeat Forever quite hit that mark, but I feel this works in the book’s favour. I found it far more complex than the simple Beauty and the Beast romance - the constant drama was unwavering throughout the story!

I did find the language quite simple and the story somewhat slow to begin with. But as the book’s pace increased, the writing style harmonised appropriately. Constantly switching between the viewpoints of an alien boy (Eighth) and a human girl (Raven), I found I was invested in both protagonists’ plights, with maybe a slight favouritism towards the self-loathing Eighth. While I liked Raven, I found a few of her abilities convenient, mirroring the expected tropes of a teenage female protagonist in YA science fiction/fantasy settings. Issues of race and relationships were also touched upon which I felt were slightly displaced within the narrative of the story, considering there was very little backstory for Raven. I would very much loved to have learned more about both Raven and Eighth than what was offered in the book. Regardless, I found Raven’s and Eighth’s interactions within the new disordered world really compelling which made it very hard to put the book down. Consequently, I finished the book in the early hours of the morning, and was left staring at the last page in disbelief. I, of course now NEED to read the next book, because I NEED to know what happens! Despite the unexpected ending and those small issues, I enjoyed the story and I still can’t stop laughing over some of the more comedic moments with Eighth. I definitely recommend Zero Repeat Forever.