Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings has an interesting premise but struggles with execution. The pacing feels uneven, with repetitive scenes and a plot that drags. Characters lack depth, making it hard to connect with their motivations. Despite some action, the story doesn’t quite deliver the excitement it promises.

After escaping her execution for her friend’s murder four years ago, Androma Racella has been masquerading as a space pirate with three other runaways on her boyfriend’s old star ship she stole. Now known galaxy-wide as the Bloody Baroness, Androma has managed to keep one step ahead of her boyfriend, Dex, and her other enemies. When the kidnapped son of the Arcardian system, Valen, is kidnapped, Androma blackmails Dex into helping. Shortly after their rescue, however, they a plot to take over the galaxy that only Dex and Androma can stop. Will they succeed? Full of action, adventure, and romance, the plot is well-developed and engaging. The characters are likable and easily draw the reader into the story. The space opera feel to the setting will appeal to those who love such shows as Star Wars, science fiction, adventure, and a bit of romance.

I had so much expectations for this book, I loved both actors and had been a fan of Sasha for years, but sadly the book did not lived up to MY expectations. Its not a bad book, I just felt it was rushed and did not leave an open window for the reader to analyze and come up with theories and stuff. It was written in third person POV and it was not as enjoyable to me. I felt everything was laid out at the moment and the reader could not analyze or feel for themselves. Granted, it was indeed a good plot, and had good characters which I enjoyed, but again at the moment of important scenes or climaxes, I did not felt as much excitement as I would have wanted because of the way it was written.

So sorry, I had to DNF this one, The writing style was just not for me at all. Thank you for the opportunity.

I love, love space books. They are one of my easy go to's when I want to get lost in a book. And Zenith is just that a crazy, wild, female butt-kicking story. Is it the number one best space book, no, but it isn't bad at all. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. What the characters were going to say or do. There were cheesy, witty lines that made me smile, and parts that made me feel sad. It was an easy book to get lost in. Yes, it does feel like other books I've read but it's also it's also its own book. But there are countless books that feel like other books.

I like the planet names and the 'space talk' the overall feel, felt 'real' like what they were saying was real to these characters. I've read some space books were the 'space talk' felt fake, but not in this book.

My favorite thing about this book was the writing style. It's clean and sharp. Witty and cleaver. I like the fighting scenes, but I enjoyed the scenes that were more talking because of the push and pull between the characters. Zenith is packed with lots of characters, but the book isn't overpacked, I never got confused.

This is a hard book for me to review. I was really excited to receive an eARC of Zenith from Netgalley; it’s a sci-fi space opera, which is basically my most favorite thing to read, and it features a crew of all female space pirates, which in itself is just the coolest thing ever. Plus, the cover is just GORGEOUS. All my boxes were being checked, and I couldn’t wait to start reading.

But then I did start reading, and I just struggled the whole time. Our main character Andi felt like a carbon copy of Celaena Sardothian from Throne of Glass, and not really in a good way. Sometimes it’s fun to read about new characters that share similar traits or personalities to those we already love, but in the case of Andi, she just felt too two-dimensional and lacking. The rest of her crew was alright, but for a book that is being so hyped, it just felt like a bit of a letdown. There was nothing about any of them that really blew me away or made them pop off the page.

As far as plot, there wasn’t much of one for the majority of the book. It picked up in the end, but mostly the story consisted of lots of flashbacks on past lives and repetition, which I guess is to further develop each of the characters. Unfortunately it just didn’t flow naturally, considering there was a lot of jumping back and forth through time and between character POVs. I also think part of this can be attributed to the writing, which just felt a bit messy at times. It’s pretty clear that the first chunk of this book underwent more editing than the back half. The language was overly flowery and a bit nonsensical at times, which isn’t really something I’m a fan of personally. Sometimes that works well in storytelling, but I think how well it works also relies a little bit on the genre, and it felt out of place for the setting of this book.

I will say that I did really like the camaraderie amongst the crew. It is ALWAYS good to see women taking charge and working together. It’s clear a real friendship and bond exists between the ladies of the Marauder, forged from their various jobs and heists and near death experiences. I just wish the rest of the story hadn’t been bogged down by a lack of world building, an underwhelming plot, and a romance that went nowhere.

Overall, I definitely think this book is for someone out there, it just wasn’t for me, which is sad because as mentioned before, it teased at having everything I could possible want in a book. It just failed to actually deliver.

*Thank you to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Oh, my.

I've written a lot of five-star reviews for Fictionist, and only one one-star review. Generally, I love books. I love all kinds of writing styles, all kinds of plots, all kinds of characters.

When I went to BookCon 2017 for Fictionist, I saw a lot of books given out. Lots of Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs), lots of author signings, lots of books for sale. It was amazing -- I bought home 25 books, only two of which I had to pay for. Better than Christmas Day. Anyway, one of the many ARCs given out was Zenith. The line for this ARC wrapped around half the show floor -- people were camped out hours in advance. They were even given numbered sticky notes at the booth to prove they had been in line since the beginning. It was a long wait, and I didn't have the time to sit in line -- I had other ARCs to sniff out, other authors to meet.

After BookCon, I saw Zenith on NetGalley. "Cool," I thought. "It's that book everyone wanted at BookCon. I should request it and see what the fuss is about."

After I started reading Zenith, I started wondering why everyone was so excited about it. I Googled it, and it turns out one of the two authors is a popular BookTuber (YouTuber who posts book content). Many Goodreads reviews focus on this fact, saying Alsberg had only gottent he book deal because she already had a substantial internet following. This didn't particularly update me; many authors get publishing deals because of an online following. If I'm not mistaken, even Sarah J. Maas' success in publishing dates back to the popular online version of the first Throne of Glass book -- then titled Queen of Glass.

My point here is, it isn't Sasha Alsberg's internet popularity that made Zenith a bad book. It's just written badly. That's all.

Lindsay Cummings, the other author involved with Zenith, didn't seem to help, either. Cummings was already a published author, so you'd think she would have helped the book along -- but in practice, having two different authors made the book feel even more fractured.

Honestly, in my opinion, the book read as if someone had thought to themselves, 'What if we wrote about a really cool all-female space pirate crew, but all we really focus on is the fact that it's all girls? Have I mentioned it's all teenage girls? All of the crew are girls! Girls, girls girls!'

I actually started highlighting every time the world "girl" is used, because it got distracting. The authors couldn't use better words? Not "crew," not just the characters' names, not even just "she"? It had to be "the girl"?

"A group of girls..."

"The girls had taken the job..."

"The girl said..."

"A girl..."

"The tall, broad-shouldered girl..."

"The older girl..."

Now the two girls..."

"...surveyed the girls."

"The girls had taken on..."

"You girls in position?"

These quotes are only from the first 15% of my Kindle version. They're from the very beginning, when we're supposed to be introduced to the "Bloody Baroness," AKA Andi, our main character. She's supposed to be the best space pirate in the universe, feared by everyone. We see her at one point gouging a bunch of lines into her sword's blade, supposedly one for every life she's taken. This concerns me, because I feel like anyone who really cares about their sword wouldn't be voluntarily gouging lines into the blade all the time.

There's also such gems as:

"But he could certainly see the rest of her: perfect curves beneath a sleek, skintight leather bodysuit, the hilt of a knife sticking out from her black boots."

"...lying, cheating lady thieves..."

"...the bloodthirsty little fairy..."

"Godstars, she was magnificent, a creature who had released her wrath on the world."

These, again, are only from the first 15% of the book. I had this strange feeling, sort of like being gaslighted, while reading this book. The authors are trying to convince me that I'm reading about the most feared pirate in the galaxy, but I'm also being told someone who literally installed metal plates on her cheekbones as a sort of armor would just wear a skintight leather bodysuit around without any other protection. I'm being told that the girls are running out of food money, but one of them spent a bunch of cash to get red streaks in her hair.

'This girl is a huge badass, but wait, have I mentioned that she's a girl? Here, let's talk more about her white and purple hair. Have we mentioned recently that she's a girl? Okay, but did you know she's not a dude?'

I had such hopes for this book. Firefly, a Joss Whedon show about space pirates that's often described as sort of a "space Western," is one of my favorite shows in existence. As soon as I started reading, this book gave me Firefly vibes, but then the vibes got heavier. Layered on top of that were some Throne of Glass vibes, and then some Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way vibes.

Suffice it to say, I did not enjoy reading this book. If you're interested in checking it out, though, let me know what you think!

I've watched Sasha Alsberg on youtube for years, so when I heard she was publishing a book, I was pretty excited. I never got my hands on the ebook when it was first released, but I was excited to be approved for this galley. Sci-fi is definitely not my favorite genre out there, but this was nice. While reading it, you could kind of tell where there were issues in plot and co-writing, but it was good, nonetheless!

Overblown YA sci-fi. Hard to distinguish from dozens of others in this genre.

This was an interesting story. I like how different it was from the work that they originally put out. Great work and I can't wait until it hits the shelves.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me the sampler! At first I was a little apprehensive because Andi reminds me so much of Celaena from Throne of Glass, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. Though Andi's demeanor and backstory are similar to Celaena, the story itself felt unique and exciting. I'll definitely purchase and read the full book once it is released in January!

Welcome to outer space! Where Captain Androma is here for adventure, but not here for your excuses.
This wild ride is a wild foray into science fiction! It has everything a reader will want: badass lady pirates. swoony romance, edge of your seat adventures, and an eclectic ensemble of characters that will at turns make you laugh and cry.
Fans of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Invictus by Ryan Graudin, and Starfall by Melissa Landers will devour this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of "Zenith" by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings. I absolutely loved this book. First off I want to say that I really like the title. Lately titles have started to sound like they are generated but "Zenith" stands out. This book is funny and adventurous. Fans of epic space operas will be pleased with this new addition.

Based on this sampler, I will definitely be ordering it for the library. It has a wonderful Six of Crows feel combined with female space pirates. Thoroughly enjoyable. I wish I'd got ARC of the whole book. I would love to read it and review it properly.