The Maze Runner meets Across the Universe meets Reverie meets Warcross. Sounds crazy and confusing right? 
Strange Exit was indeed very strange. I was confused almost the entire time I read it. Maybe that was the point? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Was it a thriller or scifi? Everytime I thought I had the story figured out, it would throw me off again. I like multiple povs but I also like when they have a purpose and they just seemed so random here. We never really get any answers to anything but we get a super quick happy ending??? If Strange Exit was an early manuscript I could understand all my issues with it. I would even maybe consider it a mediocre start to a series. If it is a series, I may be intrigued to pick up a sequel just to see where the story goes. Otherwise, just read the other books I mentioned instead. 

*Thank you to Netgalley and Tor/Forge for a review copy.*

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. The switching between reality and unreality was so well done and I really liked Lake as a character.

The idea for the book was good but a bit confusing. Characters were pretty limited and basically revolved around Lake. Some questions were never really answered for me. Ending seemed rushed and a bit of a let down.

Earth is damaged and cannot be saved but we can! 17 year old Lake has secured herself on a ship. The one designed to save the human race. And the one designed to tell them when it is safe to go back and begin to re build the world. But that time has not come...

Lake does not know how long they have been on the ship for but she does know one thing if she doesn't wake everyone up she is not going home! To do this mission Lake has to delve into the VR simulator. There is a chance that she may get stuck as you cannot always tell what is real or not. After all it was designed to feel real and be realistic.

I was not too sure about this book when I first starting to read it. It felt similar to ones I had read but then there was a shift in the plot. Everything is not as it seems!

We find out that Lake is actually in a VR simulator trying to wake everyone from their slumber. And bring them back to the ship. However no-one knows about from Tauren and Ransom that she is doing this as she conceals her identity. Can Lake get everyone to the ship before it is too late?

After a few pages into reading Strange Exit, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the storyline. A completely different take on the sci-fi genre! Remind me a bit like Wally but without all the up to date tech!

Lake was a great character and I enjoyed getting to know her along with Tauren. But I didn't know much about Ransom. They was a play on his character was he real or not real. I couldn't work it out. I would have liked his character to be better developed and find out what he was doing in the sim.

I really enjoyed reading Strange Exit but found that the ending let it down. For example what happened to Tauren?

Right from the start, you're taken into a post-apocalyptic world that has an intense aura of mystery shrouding it. By the end of the first chapter, you suddenly realize that not everything is what it seems.

Aboard an ark-ship orbiting the destroyed Earth, dozens of teens are humanity's last hope of survival. To help their bodies cope for the decades they have to wait for the earth to be safe enough for their return, the survivors are hooked up to a Matrix style artificial reality. Unfortunately, the dreamscape has malfunctioned and several of the teens are stuck within the virtual reality without knowing it and until they're free, no one can leave the ship.

At times it was hard to know what was real and what wasn't, plus the character's motivations and emotions often left me guessing. All of this added well to the ambiguous realities that they lived in, virtual and otherwise. Most of the characters were periphery, but I did connect with Lake's and Taren's plights. It was a bleak world they lived in, both aboard the ship and within the simulation.

The plot, while using some familiar devices, was quite compelling and once I started reading it I had trouble putting the book down. I just had to know what came next! There were a few plot holes that left me questioning the actual plausibility of the scenario, but I was able to suspend disbelief enough to thoroughly enjoy this well written book.

The ending is the only thing that has kept this from being a 5 star review. Like many other readers have said, when you get to the final pages you're left thinking, "Wait...what? That's it?" It was disappointing, but not enough to keep me from really enjoying this well paced science fiction novel.

Full review to come on my blog around the publication date.

I really wanted to love this, as the premise is absolutely fantastic but it ended up being a tad disappointing.
Our main character is currently aboard a spacecraft after the earth has become uninhabitable and she is responsible for bringing people out of a VR that they have been put into whilst in hypersleep otherwise they can't get off the ship. Obviously it is not as easy as it sounds, and she has to overcome various hurdles that threaten her and everyone else aboard the ship.
The VR setting was so good that it was sometimes hard to tell whether it was reality or not, which I loved! Unfortunately, the ending was what let the book down in my opinion. I felt that considering the penultimate events, it was anticlimactic, whereas it should have been filled with so much emotion that was easily relayed to the reader. Instead, it just felt so rushed and could have easily been discussed in more detail.

Overall it was okay, and I would recommend it to readers who are perhaps new to the sci-fi/virtual reality genre as it could be a good introductory read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

DNF @ 47%

I really wanted to love Strange Exit (virtual reality and the near-future apocalypse? sign me up!) but it just didn't work for me and failed to hold my attention long enough to finish this one. I couldn't connect with the MC, Lake and there were too many POVs to keep track of. I never felt a sense of danger or urgency whilst reading this and the plot felt dull and unexciting. This book had a lot of great ideas but was lacking in its execution.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge publishers for providing a free ARC

This was interesting. I had read Echo Room and enjoyed it - I like my thrillers to have a little sci-fi (or the other way around) and these fit well into that. This was a pretty quick, fun read, with a satisfying ending.

Should have been a 5 star.

Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the concept of this book! Unbelievably fascinating. My hopes and expectations were super high, it had the potential to be an EPIC 5 star read. It was a solid attempt and definitely wasn't bad, but in the end, I was still left disappointed. One thing that fell short for me were the characters. I didn't connect with any of them. They were all very bland. They lacked substance and depth and any personality. Our protagonist, Lake, nagged at me the most. I can't quite put my finger on what it was about her that I disliked so much, but I just found her getting on my nerves.

I would have absolutely loved to have seen more of the ship, but, I understand that's not what this book was going for.

The thing that left me the most disappointed was the ending. Literally the last page. It was WASTED! I can't really state what is was that let me down so heavily, without revealing major plot spoilers.
Let's just say.. The very last page, the line directly above the ***. That should have been the pinnacle of the entire book. I wanted to FEEL SOMETHING. I wanted to be overwhelmed with emotion. That was our moment and I just feel like it was wasted. We get one line and that's it, it's done.

I'm really really hoping that is fixed before publication because this book deserves 5 stars.

I want to thank Net Galley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC of this book, which did not impact my review.

I really enjoyed this book! It reminded me of the Matrix a little bit - what was reality and what wasn't? I love how they popped in and out of the virtual world. The premise was really interesting, and I was drawn into both worlds - the space ship and the virtual reality. Every time they were in the virtual reality I found myself wanting to yell "move faster, your ship is dying".

This was a fun, easy, quick read and I really enjoyed the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read and review Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse.
#StrangeExit
#NetGalley
I really enjoy Parker Peevyhouse novels. I am a huge Kindle user and found them on Amazon. Strange Exit is an excellent addition to her novels. Lake and Taren are well written and interesting characters in their own way. I enjoyed the virtual reality storyline.