ARC Audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Last Exit” is genre-bending epic tale that not only spans time, but also leaps through alternate realities. In this book, the characters have been battling “black rot” that has been tearing down each alternate reality world. Ten years ago, a rag-tag group of adventurers, Zelda, Ish, Ramon, Sarah, and Sal, used their gifts to fight the black rot until one failed mission in which Sal was lost. After that utter failure, the group disintegrated.

In the present, Ish, Ramon, and Sarah have moved on with their lives. However, Zelda kept the mission going as best she could, traveling and destroying black rot as she found it. One day, Zelda is with Sal’s young cousin, June, at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Zelda is surprised to see black rot oozing out of the crack in the Bell, and as she fights it, Zelda is given proof that absolutely floors her: Sal is indeed still alive and trapped in an alternate reality world. With this information in hand, Zelda reaches out to the remaining members of their group, convincing each member to once again set out on an adventure through the alternate realities with one new member: June.

Group dynamics have changed, however, and nothing is as simple as it seems. Can they actually find Sal? Can they heal all of the worlds and banish the black rot? The group faces these questions as they set out once again on an epic quest across worlds.

This author was new to me, so I didn’t have any expectations of what this novel should be. The premise sounded interesting enough, but the reality was much better: I was utterly floored by this book! The characters and their environments were beautifully flushed out, leading the reader to be caught up in the fantasy. I love a good epic journey, and boy, did this deliver. The way it drew the reader in reminded me so much of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower,” but only to the extent that it was a well-written journey. The book itself was completely different, although it did routinely throw in some nods to other books I’ve read (which of course amused me to no end). The book was a blend of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and just plain old fantastic fiction. This book is very imaginative and inventive. It’s like nothing I have read in a long time, and I was completely and totally blown away.

To the extent that my copy was an audiobook, I must say it was narrated very well. The voices pulled you into each character without sounding false. The narrative flowed well and was well-performed.

Overall, without giving anything away, I’ll simply say this: buy this book or audiobook now! You will not regret it. I am so grateful I had the chance to review this book, and I will definitely be picking up other books by this author, as well as a hard copy of this book! This book is great for fans of many genres: horror, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. The complexities of the characters and their relationships along their journey would also be good for general fiction fans. It is an epic journey of friendship, loss, relationships, and the evils we fight both within and without ourselves. This book will draw you in and take you along for an amazing adventure you won’t forget for a long time.

This was really rough to get through. I still don't know how this was a 20 hour audio book. Most 350-400 page books I've listened to so far are like 12-14 hours. The narrator did a good job with what she was given. Lots of voices for lots of characters. But I had to listen at a higher speed because she just went slow.

The story itself was mildly interesting, but not executed in a way I liked. There was A LOT of jumping around between characters and timelines. The first 20% was fairly boring and confusing with Zelda wallowing in self pity. June was a bright spot and very headstrong. We got to about he halfway point before you actually knew where the story was going. They got together with 10 years of feelings and resentment towards each other in ways. Zelda being the first of the group you meet as a narrator is not helpful because she is WAAAY over the heads of your average person and you don't understand a lot of what she says. It's all theoretical math and physics theory and a lot of math, which I am NOT good at. Once Sarah comes around and explains Spin to June it makes a lot more sense. I enjoyed Ramone to an extent and didn't care for Ish, even with how the ending went.

The ideas were interesting but not executed in a way that I could get into or liked. Did not care for the audio either.

Max Gladstone has done it again!

There’s just something about Gladstone’s writing that pulls me in. It’s very lyrical and captivates me. This is a dark, genre bending (Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror) story that you need to really pay attention to, or you’ll quickly feel yourself getting lost or confused.
There are multiple POV’s (5) and gladstone made each of them rich and full of layers while the narrator, Natalie Naudus, does an excellent job of bringing said layers and richness of the characters to life. That’s not an easy task with 5 diverse characters.
I’m not going to summarize the book since that’s already done so much, so I’ll say that I felt it was about a broken and hurt found family who reunites and confronts their mistakes. We see how they each struggled with loss and grief as they were fighting the shape shifting monsters in alternate worlds. Action packed adventure that was full of depth. It was intense, well executed, and the world building was top notch.
This is definitely not a book for everyone. It’s a lengthy story and one you need to give your full attention to. While its action packed, there are sometimes that it will feel a bit slow. I highly recommend the audiobook; however, keep in mind that if you’re multi-tasking, you may have to rewind at times so you can keep up with the story.
I highly recommend to anyone who likes the genre mashing of Dark Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror with a literary writing style. If you’re not a fan of a more literary writing style, this might not be for you.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for my Advanced Listening Copy

Billed as American Gods meets The Dark Tower, this book should have been right up my alley, so I was thrilled when I received an audio ARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. I so wanted to love this one, and the American Gods meets The Dark Tower is actually a very fair description. Max Gladstone’s filled the book with strong characters and his writing is excellent. Likewise, Natalie Nadus’s narration is fantastic, and yet despite having all of that going for it I still didn’t love it. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it and would definitely encourage those intrigued by the book blurb to check it out. My problem is that almost from the start I felt lost. I felt as if I’d missed something., was confused as to how things worked. (Yes, I know what I’m saying might itself might sounding confusing, I just don’t want to post any spoilers) I almost wondered if this was the second book in a series, but when I checked I didn’t find that to be the case. Now as I noted I was listening to the book, as is often the case I tend to multitask while I listen. So I actually restarted the book after an hour or so, thinking maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I still ended up being a little confused. Despite Ms. Nadus’s excellent narration this might just be the case of this being a book I needed to read rather than listen to. That might sound crazy, but definitely process things differently when reading vs. listening, and while I usually have no real problems there have been a few books I’ve listened to in the past that I later read and had a completely different experience with. And this may very well be that type of book for me. I love stories that are a journey, quest-like, and this fits that bill and has a wonderful sci-fi-ish/fantasy themes running throughout, as well as some excellent characters with real heart. And since I still managed to enjoy it despite being confused, at some point down the road I will be picking up the actual written book and giving it another go. This probably isn’t the most helpful of reviews, and for that I apologize.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/last-exit-max-gladstone/1139211803?ean=2940173366627&bvnotificationId=0e5a4308-9f27-11ec-bdd1-0e9916a418bd&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/203586849

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2PN79RLSRGAJ0/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This book is a lot of things. A character study, a monster story, an alternate universe hopping road trip novel. It's basically Mad Max + "Crack the Skye" by Mastodon + Need for Speed + The Magician's Nephew. If that sounds like a lot, it is! But, it's expertly melded together. I immediately fell in love with every character except for one and I think that y'all will too. The characters are the glue that holds this genre varied novel together. I also really enjoyed the prose. You'd think a SFF novel wouldn't be consistently gorgeous with lines that made me stop and think for a while. You'd be wrong! I will say that it is dense and I can see how that would turn people away. It's worth it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a preview copy of the ebook and eaudiobook in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 25%

The plotline started off interesting, but it's gotten slow and boring and I don't care to read badly written sex scenes that are there for...reasons?

And I wasn't liking the audiobook narrator.

I enjoyed this novel, but I didn't really love it. In thinking back on what it was that makes me say this, it's not really that there was any particular thing that I didn't like, I guess I just grew weary of it. I think that's always a risk with a longer work of fiction - unless the reader is 100% engaged, there's always the risk of story fatigue.

DNF. It took me a very long time to get into the story. I listened for 6 hours, and nothing much really happened. I would expect this genre to be at least medium-paced. It’s not that I don’t enjoy slow-paced novels, but I felt those six hours didn’t bring much value to the story. Maybe it gets better. Probably. But for now, this is a DNF for me. I will not publish this review anywhere else, as I gave up at about 28%.

Thanks to Recorded Books for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

Audio ARC provided by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.



Audio review: look, this narrator is brilliant. I've heard her narrate other books. But she doesn't work for me. I think her voice is great, her performance is always accomplished and her character voices are nuanced. This is very much a me thing. But when he is reading the main narrative, her voice is so low and soft it has this mesmerising quality. I actually lose sense of the words because she is reading them. Clearly this is my problem but I did find it made the book more difficult!





Book review:

I think I have my first candidate for cleverest book I'll read this year. Gladstone's prose always tends towards the more literary in style and has a poetic flow and rhythm. This was certainly the case with <i>How to Lose the Time War</i> and if anything, <i>Last Exit</i> is even more lyrical. I won't summarise the plot as so many others have already done so but this is genre bending, intelligent and full of mathemagics. If you are a hobbyist physicist (like me) I imagine the basic premise of this book will be very appealing. (Unless you hate multiverse theory - why would you hate multiverse theory?!) It's one part horror, to two parts sci-fi, blended with a commentary on becoming the people we were meant to become, or failing to do so, with a light sprinkling of rather bleak romance. There are several pov characters and I found I enjoyed all of them, but especially Sarah. Also Ish and Zelda, herself.



Alright, a hint about the main thrust of the plot: imagine you broke up with your closest group of friends sometime during college. These are people you had adventures with, that you felt you could conquer the world with. But something went wrong. You all went your separate ways. Now, ten years later, you have to get everyone back together for on last adventure because it's the only way to put right what went wrong. Oh yeah, and it won't necessarily be solved in this universe or on this timeline...



This was a completely addictive, stunningly wrought story. It won't appeal to everyone - Gladstone takes no prisoners with his writing; you either keep up or the story is not for you. But if you can tune into the fact that every word is important here, nothing will be quite as you expect, then this delivers on its promise and then some. Excellent book and a very satisfying read.

(I listened to the audiobook)
I had to start it over twice because I was so confused, I had to go to Goodreads and read some reviews to make sure I wasn't missing something, it really felt like this was a 2nd or even 3rd book in a series, the characters do explain everything later but I was completely in the dark for a good 20% of the beginning, after that point the story gets so intense I couldn't put it down, then we start to get the behind the story of each character and its kind of confusing again. Also the book is so long, I feel it could have been cut in half or at least in 3 books.

The narrator talks so slow that I had to listen in 1.5, also her voice is so whispery and gaspy it was a bit cringy, I could understand if she was reading smut, I actually thought this book was goin to be a bit spicy from the way she talks.

Over all its a good book, I love the jumping through timelines and dimensions or worlds and dreams, however it was way too long for my taste.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley as an ARC. First, I want to talk about the pros.

The cover: wow. I just love it. It's so eerie and beautiful at the same time.

The writing: Love it. The writing is simply amazing. I loved the style. I loved the way that it made me see the story.

The plot: In general, I was positive about the plot and the execution of the story. The book is heavy on character development and the background of the characters, which I liked. You really get a feeling for who these characters are and how that plays into the story as a whole. That being said, I would have liked to have more background into the alternate worlds, the rot, etc. It felt like that this was the sequel to a book that was never written. What is the rot? Why was it unmaking worlds? I'm still not 100% clear on that.

While trying to save Sal, the characters come across this evil entity, known only as the "cowboy". He wears a white cowboy hat. Sometimes people were turned into his pawns, signified by their wearing of a  white cowboy hat. Who is this cowboy? What is he supposed to signify? I'm still a little confused about this.

This is were the con for me comes in. This book is LONG: 21 hours of listening time. I found that at least the first 30% of the book was dedicated almost only to character development / backstory, so it dragged a little bit in the beginning. I also found the book confusing at times and had to backtrack and listen again (sometimes 3 times) to what had happened in order to understand what was going on.

I'm not going to blame the author here for this because I am the mother of a 6 month old who I was also taking care of while listening. Was I maybe too distracted for this book? Possibly. Sometimes my baby was crying and I missed a key part and had to rewind. Other times my mind just wandered elsewhere and when it returned, I was totally lost. I will say that this book takes concentration to read and fully understand. I think I just didn't have the bandwidth to really give this book the justice it deserved because it really is a great story.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. If you are a fan of the Dark Tower series from Stephen King, you will not be disappointed in this book.

Rep: bi mc, Brown gay sc, lesbian sc, queer sc, Achillean couple, Sapphic couple

It took me so long to get into this book. The first half I had no idea what was going on. I almost DNFed it. It was just so slow and very confusing. There’s a lot of flashbacks and memories and introspection and POVs. It was a lot at the beginning, making it hard to get into it and know what’s going on and what timeline we’re in. Most of the time I didn’t know if I was in a flashback or the present, especially when we were following Zelda.

Maybe it didn’t help that it was an audiobook, so it’s a bit harder to go back and reread stuff. Although, if I was reading the physical book, I probably would have DNFed it. Only reason I didn’t was because I could multitask while listening. I found it really long and it dragged on. Didn’t help that I was confused for most of the book. Maybe reading it a second time I would understand it better.

I don’t hate it, but it just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t get into it. The characters were alright. Ramon was probably my favorite. Zelda was the most confusing. It has a really interesting concept. It’s also well written and the narrator did a great job.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

I liked this book and the writing was excellent, but wasn't feeling it. It was sooooo looooong. It was a neat and creative story, but the characters and their "knacks" (think powers but not really super power more abilities that come to them when needed.)

It's also March 1 and my March TBR list is lengthy and I want to get into these.

Hate I didn't finish. I've been in a bit of a meh mood on books right now, so need to get out of this slump.

2.8 stars

Unfortunately this was a DNF at 30%.

The story just move way too slow for my taste,

By 15% I realized this was going to be a character driven literary fiction work so I was ready for a slow plot and I tried REALLY HARD to get through another 15% because the writing is good and the premise about traveling to other realities was so promising!

However, there was way too much inner dialogue, introspection are back stories that didn't seem to add anything to either the character arc or story arc, at least for me. Same for overly described settings and scenes and events that didn't add anything to the story

At 30% I realized almost nothing had happened and I was not invested whatsoever in the story.

4.25 stars

This one was wild, intense, and super well-developed. Honestly, this kind of story is a perfect example of why I first fell in love with fantasy as a genre. It blurs fantasy with sci-fi and horror, and the world-building is detailed and fascinating. The characters are also diverse, realistic, and largely complex; sometimes we get perhaps a bit too much backstory. There were a lot of twists and turns throughout the lengthy book, and I enjoyed pretty well every minute, even the times where I was temporarily confused as to what was happening. I didn’t anticipate the ending, but I was happy with it. I requested this book on a whim and definitely don’t regret it; I was actually a bit worried when I saw how long it was, but I feel like I actually kind of flew through it. It was a lot of fun. I’ll have to see what else I can find by this writer in the future.

3.5

I have such conflicting feelings about this book. I loved the themes and the writing was gorgeous, but I didn't always enjoy the reading experience. Though I did, as always, love Natalie Naudus's narration.

I went into this book expecting something like Nicholas Eames's Kings of the Wyld or Dan Hanks's Swashbucklers with the getting the band back together to complete one final mission and of the two I would say it's more like Swashbucklers with its sense of nostalgia and dread about the future, but it's still not really like either of those books.

The closest comparison I can think of is Cadwell Turnbull's No Gods, No Monsters in the way that the book feels fragmentary as we jump from POV to POV trying to piece together what is actually happening in the narrative, except the narrative is more a vehicle to explore ideas than anything else. And boy were those ideas tough to read sometimes. This book is unflinching in its commentary on "the American Dream" and the present state of the United States.

It is dark and thought provoking and there were times where I had to pause the audiobook just to sit with a phrase or an idea that was presented. I loved the diversity of the cast and the way that each character was flawed and knew it but they were just trying their best with the situations presented to them.

While I didn't love the reading experience as much as I hoped I would, I think the longer I sit with this book the more I like it and I fully expect it to have great reread potential and to get a higher rating upon reread.

Although a bit confusing to start I kept listening and thoroughly enjoyed the novel well written and kept me entertained. The narrator was good though I suggest to listen in a quiet environment as sometimes the narrator seems to whisper.
I received this audiobook from RB media via Netgalley for a review

Natalie Naudus did a fantastic job as narrator. Even though I stopped listening 40% for personal reasons, her reading was why I could last that long. The book went from confusing me to leaving me depressed.

This review is based on an advanced copy of the audiobook provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Full disclosure, I got this as a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 20%. Man oh man, I tried to like this. Between the description (American Gods, and The Dark Tower? Count me in!), and other authors that I love who enjoy his work, I definitely thought this would be up my alley. Unfortunately, I feel like every time we’re going to get something going, he takes in another tired trope from this or that genre, and obscures a largely uninteresting plot behind being intentionally obtuse. I’ll check out something else if his, to be sure, but this one was not for me. I won’t post this to goodreads, though, just here.

Had to DNF at 25%. I just couldn't get into the story and felt overall confused. I had no idea what was going on at any one time... almost as if there was a prequel to this book that I had to read before jumping into this one. There is a time when info dumps are needed, and this was one of them.