Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia is the first book I’ve read by Jason Pargin. It’s book 3 and I’ve not read the first two, but even then I could still follow the plot. Mostly. Honestly, I’m not sure how to describe this book.

Maybe Fight Club meets dystopian future with social media run amok? Grisly, gory with a dark sense of humor and I’m still not sure what the hell I just read.

The cover is beautiful and weird but this book is also weird. If you’re into a strange future world where a regular woman named Zoey, who discovers she’s the daughter of a rich crime lord finds herself inheriting her father’s empire and tries to right the wrongs either her team of protectors straight out of the Expendables, this may be for you.

I still don’t know what to think about this book.

A wildly entertaining ride through a chaotic future that blends humor and dystopian elements into a fun and engaging dystopian read that doesn’t take itself too seriously,

Thank you to the author Jason Pargin, publishers St. Martin's Press, and Goodreads giveaways, for an advance paperback copy of ZOE IS TOO DRUNK FOR THIS DYSTOPIA. I also found an audiobook copy on Libby. All views are mine.

<i>That guy is a turd in my teeth. </i>Ch.11

<i>I just want to help the three human beings my company failed to protect. But every step I take in that direction, it's like, "oh, here's more subterfuge..." Meanwhile, my team just keeps talking about what this means for the election and the future. But I just want to find the women.</i> Ch. 16

ZOE IS TOO DRUNK FOR THIS DYSTOPIA is a completely brilliant book. The narrator is such a pleasure to read, this book is wildly entertaining. It's fiercely feminist, pro-sex-worker, body positive, and antiracist. (Too bad it is ableist and sanist.) The main character, Zoe, is a delightful ferrywoman to carry the reader through the story. I genuinely love this book!

I also have feelings over a passage where the narrator refers to critics, whom he calls "Nitpickers," as "incapable of happiness." Let's just skip the fact that being a "Nitpicker" allows me to find and make 9 distinct compliments about this book, an excellent book. My point is this: Whatever authors feel about their readers, as a group, as subgroups, or individually, I do not think they should be airing it publicly. Not on social media, definitely not in their books. Readers pay for their books, or at least work to support their publications, as arc readers, and the like. They don't deserve authors' vitriol. Readers have their own opinions about authors too, but we don't burn our opinions on bonfires in the middle of town square for everyone to smell the reek. Because that sh-t is rude.

<i>[Even God], when he sees the dead body of a friend in front of him, crumbles. He can't handle it. See, they don't have that up in heaven. The dying? He cries because up until that moment? He didn't know....God didn't know what death was, not really. He had to experience it like we do. And...his ass couldn't handle it.</i> Ch. 36

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. I love a snappy, witty narrator!

2. I'm in chapter 3, and while I'm really not sure what is going on here, I am wildly entertained!

3. This book hits on a number of important themes, like misogyny in countless forms, ableism, sex worker safety, corruption, and more.

4. This book gets better and better as it goes on.

5. I'm coming in on the third book about this character, Zoe, and I don't at all feel out of place or lost.

6. I love that this book addresses women's bodies, beauty standards, and interpersonal power. It is great content.

7. I almost never encounter pro-sex-worker feminism in fiction books, so this is refreshing.

8. This book is urban fantasy, a genre I think is incredibly difficult to strike the right balance of realism and magic. ZOE IS TOO DRUNK is an example of this fine balance. It is so realistic that I could easily suspend my disbelief for the magical elements.

9. The mystery this book works to resolve is pretty riveting, with lots of well-established twists and turns.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. <i>Apparently, politics is just hustling from one dishonest conversation to the next every waking hour of the day. No wonder only crazy people wanted to do it.</i> It's lazy rhetoric to equate politicians (or anyone) with mentally ill people as equally unsavory. For one thing, it's deeply stigmatizing of mental illness, and it's sanist. But also, being mentally ill doesn't have to be a curse. Most mental illness is treatable. So it's also not even a real insult.

2. The narrator of the audiobook, Elizabeth Evans, is completely brilliant.

3. I really hate when a writer takes potshots at their readers in the books they <i>will </i>read because they are (ta-da) readers. <i> [Nitpickers]... won't be happy because they're incapable of happiness in general.</i> Ch. 31 It makes me sad to report that I freaking love my life but I will shred a miserable piece of fiction, book or film. This book is near perfect, but this little turd in my face just about ruins it for me. And so close to the end of the book! For anyone who cares, it's the "nitpicker" in me that can find nine separate relevant compliments to make about this book. I may be detail-oriented and analytical, but at least I'm not a writer whining because people read his book. Dang.

Rating: 💧💧💧 bitter tears
Recommend? Yes!
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley; paperback arc, Goodreads prize
Read this book if you like:
🌃 urban fantasy
💅 badass female lead
🍰 plus-size heroine
🙎‍♀️ feminist theme

I really like Jason Pargin's writing. I first discovered his work through his wildly entertaining TikTok channel, and the same level of wit and intelligence goes into his novels. Zoe is a great character and this latest adventure is a lot of fun. It's an excellent dark satire of the modern world, so I would recommend it if you like that sort of thing.

Well, the gang's all back, and Zoey is still up to her neck in chaos. This wasn't as sharp, or well plotted and fast paced, as earlier entries in the series, but Zoey was still Zoey and there were plenty of clever bits.

Genre: cyberpunk urban fantasy
Rating: 3.5 ⭐
Diversity: yes
Trigger Warnings: so many...


SUMMARY:
Book 3 of the series, features Zoey Ashe the 23-year old heiress of a criminal empire. Mind you Zoey grew up poor in a trailer park and was surprised to learn she inherited not only a fortune but the fate of a city, Tabula Ra$a. To handle the sudden change in her life, she hides her anxiety and struggles through alcohol. Zoey finds herself navigating appeasing the citizens by reducing crime and corruption and appeasing the corrupt individuals that run the city.

WHAT I LIKED & DISLIKED ABOUT IT:
Zoey is a likable and completely relatable main character. I like the juxtaposition of absolutely ludicrous shenanigans and situations Zoey finds herself in but the politics and bureaucracy are very reflective of today's American society. Mind you I LOVE dark satires and this is a dark satire infused with ridiculousness to help make it more palatable.

What I didn't like about it was it was WAY too reflective of today's society (which is still a good thing). It was hard for me to finish this book as what I was seeing in the news, was almost exactly the conversations in the book, minus the cyberpunk sci-fi setting.

RECOMMENDATION:
If you love dark satires, irony, and can handle social commentary that'll make you think and outlandish sci-fi shenanigans (that could very well be a thing in the future) doesn't bother you, then this is the book for you.

I didn't realize this was a series so was a bit out of the loop at first but I enjoyed this funny cast of characters. I laughed out loud multiple times.

OMG! I absolutely loved this one. It picked up where the last book in the series left off. If you haven't read the first two in this series I highly recommend it. Zoey has become one of my favorite characters with the perfect amount of sass and sarcasm. This one had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and laughing hysterically throughout the whole story.

Friggin love Zoey and missed her! This universe is so fun and out of those world. Interested to see what’s next.

I gotta tell ya, John Pargin has a wicked and hilarious way of wording things.

Another great story that is definitely worth the time to read it, don't let that.page count scare you!

#NetGalley #ZoeyIsTooDrunkforTbisDystopia

I was so excited to see another installment in the Zoey Ashe series, and this one does not disappoint! The style of writing and humor is consistent through this book, dumping readers right back into the fray of Tabula Ra$a. The madcap adventures of Zoey and her friends keep readers engaged along the way, and I'm not kidding when I say I could read these books over and over again. Side note to also mention that I adore the cover! The colors, imagery, it's all excellent.

Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia takes place in the futuristic city of Tabula Ra$a in Utah. Imagine if Las Vegas was a smart city but exceeded all of the ludicrous things that make it Sin City, I think that would be an accurate depiction of Tabula Ra$a.

At the time of the book, there is an upcoming annual music festival that always ends in a riot, an insane mayoral election and a televised crime with the promise of more crimes coming soon. The main character, Zoey, and her employees, AKA The Suits, are trying to keep all of these events under control.

Zoey Ashe is a young heiress to a mostly criminal empire. She’s relatively new to fame, fortune and crime. She has only recently found out who her father was. Now she is dealing with the family business. Zoey is doing her best to steer the company away from being so shady.

She tends to drink a lot. It’s the coping mechanism that she’s going with for now. Althought, she would say that the bad habits are not helping her with coping. Zoey is described as being plump. I wonder if she is really just an average size. Give the girl a break with focusing on her size. In this way, I can relate to Zoey. It’s not easy being so well-fed.

The sort of boyfriend/prankster/stunt performer, Aviv, was my favorite character besides Zoey. He genuinely seems to care for Zoey rather than her money.

The theme of the book seems to be “Where you find demand, you find people willing to fill that demand.” People will do some crazy stuff for money and power.

If you like humorous dystopian/science fiction books with interesting characters and crazy plot lines then you will love Zoey Is Too Drunk For This Dystopia.

If you are prone to joining cults, seeking world domination, or a criminal mastermind, then you might need to come back to this book later.

This book was so much fun. I didn’t know that it was book three in a series, but the book works well as a standalone. I’m sure I missed out on some inside jokes, as the book is humorous, but I was still entertained. I will be going back to read books one and two mainly because, I love Zoey! Basic premise is Zoey inherited a bunch of money from her uber rich crime-lord adjacent father. She is now the head of an empire of shady businesses but she’s trying to right the ship and pursue better things. The city, Tabula Rasa, is known for its vice, vanity and extreme wealth. It’s election time and Zoey must make it through her crazy day to day while still manipulating the masses to get the guy her team wants to win the election to…well, win the election. There are explosions, augmented humans, and fight scenes… and that’s just on day one. Amidst all of the crazy action happening there are also three missing escorts (Zoey’s employees) who may be victims of a brutal killer if Zoey and the suits can’t find them in time. This book is fun, action packed and entertaining. This book reads more like a mystery than science fiction because everyone has an agenda, and you have to figure out who is behind everything that happens. I highly recommend this book.

Okay, I really do think you should grab the other books before you read this one. In the first book, Zoey goes from trailer park to riches when her dad dies, and now she's living in this sort of futuristic Las Vegas which is actually in Utah and her cat Stench Machine has his own bedroom.
That's not even any of the weird part of it, this book is so strange, and there is a mystery and politics and lots and lots of violence. There was a scene at the end where I was trying to close my eyes because Ewwwww!!
I don't like these books as much as the other series but they're a lot of fun.

Poor Zoey. She already punched the future in the dick, and still, she has the worst luck of anyone in the city. She is a magnet for the most insane kinds of trouble.

On the surface, Jason Pargin's Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia could be written off as another semi-futuristic funny dystopia. It certainly seems as if his book doesn't take itself too seriously. However, what is unique about Jason Pargin's writing, I include the entire "Zoey Ashe" and "John Dies at the End" series, is that Pargin is a brilliant satirist. You should take his work seriously because his slicing, biting wit and take on today's politics and popular culture are interesting and often painfully accurate. He is in good company with Hunter S. Thompson, Catch 22, and "Transmetroplitan." I could see him and Spider Jerusalem having a lot to say to each other right before Spider loses his shit and pulls out his Spider Jerusalem bowel disruptor on the annoying people in the restaurant.

As a side note - I would love to know if that gun got a nod in this novel in the form of an umbrella.

"That guy is a turd in my teeth."
― Jason Pargin, Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia

Zoey is to Drunk for this Dystopia, is the third in the Zoey series following Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick. If you are unfamiliar with Pargin's work, the basic premise of the "Zoey Ashe" series is that Zoey is a reluctant and farcical heiress to a fortune built on dirty money. Her absent father, who recently passed, was a kingpin in Tabula Ra$a, and his fortune was left to a very ordinary Zoey, much to her surprise. All of a sudden, people are trying to kill her. She has a team that works to protect her, and her choices of what to do with her father's wealth have a massive impact on the people of Tabula Ra$a.

In this book, Tabula Ra$a is hosting its huge annual music festival in the desert, with history's most ridiculous mayoral election in the background. It is a battle of perceptions between the candidates. "As tensions ratchet tighter, Zoey realizes that this is a battle of narratives: Every culture needs a collective story to believe in, so it's just a matter of coming up with one and then carefully sculpting reality to make it fit. How hard can that be? They have the whole weekend."

"Where you find demand, you find people willing to fill that demand."
― Jason Pargin, Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia

Pargin touches on issues that impact everyday life—fronted by the absurd. For instance, Tabula Ra$a is a city in the middle of the Utah desert. The irony here is that Utah is one of the most conservative states, and Tabula Ra$a... isn't. Zoey's world is the excesses of anything goes, but she is shackled by what she can do by celebrity. Everything said and done is recorded and broadcast on various social networks. Everyone has an angle and an ache to get a finger in the Tabula Ra$a pie. The narrative of what is true and what is a lie is constantly changing and shaped by the viewers' perception—this becomes stochastic terrorism. Perceptions are wielded like a cudgel. Politics aside, stochastic terrorism is a very effective and prevalent threat used widely by both the media in general and media personalities in the real world, and it is matched to the absurd degree in Zoey's world.

The writing is thoroughly engaging. Party in the desert that sounds a lot like burning man to the nth degree, riots, stunts, drugs, sex, danger, action, buildings blowing up, angels set afire...there is a lot to digest here.
This book has some harrowing scenes, one with a fake sinking ship, one with an artificial meat product, and one with a moving drink machine.

It is strange even to put these words together, harrowing and synthetic meat products, but it is true.

Even with this being the third book in the series, it is still one of my best reads of the year. I enjoy the characters. Zoey is entertaining and a lot more complicated than you would initially think. As the series progresses, we learn more about Zoey's team, who they are, and where they come from.

I can't say more about the plot because I don't want to give it away, and even if I could, it is so unbelievable that it is hard to explain. Just trust me. Please don't miss this series! His novels are truly worth the read.

If you are ready for an even funnier, and incredibly wackier, version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, look no further. Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia takes that iconic novel and raises the pot 200%!

Zoey is trying to run her father’s criminal enterprise in a desert wasteland similar to Las Vegas. Her current project is a Burning Man type of event. It all goes terribly wrong in the funniest ways.

Don’t miss Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia! Mind blown! 5 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

• Nov 1, 2023
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. 3.5 Stars
Thave read all 4 books of the JDATE series and the 2 previous books in this series and I absolutely tore through them. This book for me however didn't hit the mark like the others did. Don't get me wrong though, it's not a bad book at all. I did enjoy it. It's just that while I couldn't put the other books in the series down this one took me almost a month to read. I found it hard to care what was going on. While there was some character growth with Zoey and the core cast of characters the new editions in this story failed to grab me. I also found the ending to be kind of anticlimactic. In my opinion while this was not the best book in this series, or by this author, it is definitely worth a read. Especially if you're a fan of his work. And the ending left it wide open for more sequels.

what a fun book ! right in the same vein as the previous two in the series, maybe a little bit fluffier?? still zany and madcap, lots of action and hilarity. Would love to see this as a tv series, it would be awesome. The sets would be fantastical, and the underlying social commentary is a great addition to the storyline

I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of this and Pargin still has it! He absolutely nailed it with the John Dies at the End series and he continues that streak with the Zoey Ashe series! I'm excited for the next one!