A real what if futuristic mad max style thriller, the book is set in the near future, with the human population being decimated by a virus that causes all babies to be born male, this of course causes riots, war and general violence within the remaining population, There are only a handful of girls left and they are being kept at a secure facility, taken from their parents as young children, where they believe at the age of 21 they will be given back to their parents, to help repopulate the earth. The story flows well with the exception of a few plot holes which you have to ignore, but I will read books 2 & 3 as I want to find out whats going to happen next.

I would describe this book as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale meets Scott Westerfield's "Uglies". Surprisingly enough, it works! I particularly enjoyed Hart's third-person present narration – his ability to conjure up an almost tangible image using simple yet well-chosen words is a rare skill, which deserves applause.

One slight gripe I do have is that the middle of the novel dragged a little too much for my liking. The fast pace which I had grown accustomed to petered out and became almost painfully slow – I found myself skipping pages of description in several instances, hence why I have awarded 4 stars not 5.

It's all too easy to leave too many unanswered questions in a series, but I'm happy to report that this is not the case with The Last Girl and I was sufficiently happy with the ending of the novel.

I would recommend this title and will hopefully get around to reading the rest in the series.

So this is a dystopian story set in the near future. There is an alarming drop in the number of female births. First 1 in 1000 are baby girls, then 1 in 100000. Eventually, there are so few baby girls born that there are practically none left. It seems there is a virus that kills baby girls before they're born, so the moms miscarry if they were having girls. Baby boys are born as usual. So women who've successfully given birth to girls are either immune to the virus or don't have it at all. So scientists are desperate to find healthy women who can give birth to girls.

The government (organization called NOA) steps in and essentially kidnaps little girls from their homes to ensure their safety and to try to figure out the no-baby-girls problem. NOA puts these girls into a walled compound called the ARC. See that? NOA made an ARC.
At this point, it's about 25 years after the start of the epidemic and our main character Zoey is 20 and living in the ARC with seven girls. When girls turn 21, they leave the ARC to be reunited with their families. (Yeah, right. It's dystopian, remember?) Zoey is suspicious of the whole system and wants to figure out what's really going on. And then the fun begins.

By the way, there's so much violence and stuff that I wouldn't say this is YA. I would only recommend this for much older teens.

The science part of the story is odd. Because way at the end of the book, the explanation for no baby girls doesn't seem right to me, like it's too magical. It's different from what I assumed at the start.
According to genetics, it's dads who determine the gender of their babies, nothing to do with mom. This is how it works:
female = XX and male = XY
Mom can donate one X to her baby (either one, doesn't matter) and Dad can donate either X or Y.
Mom X + Dad X = XX baby girl
Mom X + Dad Y = XY baby boy

Regardless, I'm interested to see how this all plays out. I've got the next two books ready to go.

This wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and not in a good way. I love dystopian/apocalyptic stories, but really dislike YA books. This fits into both categories, and the tropes of YA won out, unfortunately.

I'd describe this book as a cross between the movies "Mean Girls" and "The Island", with a good measure of the book, "The Girl With All The Gifts". Not my thing, and I won't be finishing this series.

** spoiler alert ** Summary: Zoey is living in a prison of sorts waiting for her 21st birthday and the chance to see her parents again. The Earth is changed and the female birthrate has dropped due to a virus of sorts. But have no fear because scientists are working to solve that problem. But Zoey dreams of freedom...

I personally would have liked to know the backstory at the very beginning. At least there is no time-travel in this book (I dislike the time-travel stuff). I skimmed towards the end of the book when she got into the depressed mode maybe because I was reading a few more depressing books at the same time. I put the other 2 books on my "to read" shelf because I would like to know what happens to Zoey.

I tried to make it halfway through this book and I just couldn't. It was slow moving and boring. It moves slowly, especially for a dystopian novel. I'm sorry!

Thank you to NetGalley, The Last Girl's author, Joe Hart, and the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, for an advanced reader copy of the book. I greatly appreciated it and it was a very quick read for me.

The Last Girl opens with the premise that a deadly virus has swept across the planet in the not so distant future. The virus has rendered women incapable of conceiving girls, leaving only a few women on the North American continent. The U.S. government sequesters these women and keeps them in a highly secure fortress that feels more like a prison than a sanctuary.

The book is written from the perspective of a women named Zoey who is imprisoned in this fortress. She doesn't remember her parents are because she was forcibly removed from her home as a small child by the government in the name of national security. On the eve of being "released" back into society at the age of 21 years old, Zoey starts to question her existence and the government's reasons for detaining her. She also begins to wonder if the government's promise of returning her back to her family is a farce meant to prolong her captivity or, even worse, conceal an even more nefarious governmental plan. Her questioning leads to an explosive series of events that will keep readers turning the pages of this book.

In terms of dystopian fiction, this was a solid piece of work. I wouldn't say it is remarkably unique or original, but it's an interesting story and features some compelling characters. Zoey felt like a living, breathing human being, but a few of the characters came off as one-dimensional. I wanted to know more about the backstories of those who were maintaining the prison and keeping it fortified. Why would they continue to support it beyond the threat of violence?

Parts of the book reminded me of The Road, V for Vendetta, The Handmaid's Tale, The Maze Runner series, the Divergent series, and The Hunger Games triology. I'd recommend it to readers who love sci-fi and dystopian literature - they will not be disappointed.

This was so well written and the characters developed beautifully. I was so excited when I realized there were more books after I finished this one.

The last girl by Joe Hart is a mystery and thriller and general fiction (adult) read.
A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.
Wow. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the story and the characters. Especially Zoey. She was my favourite character. Really felt like I was there. Very cleverly written. This is a must read and I would highly recommend this book. Definitely worth more than 5*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

This book really surprised me on how good it was. The plot of all the girl babies dying out/ not being born was not one I had read before but it intrigued me to choose the book. I am glad I did. It was action-packed and kept my attention. Some of the plot felt like it would be predictable and then there would be a twist... It kept me hooked and I read it in a few sittings (probably would have been 1 day if I had time). There were so many characters that were well defined and that I felt I could relate too. The end was hard for me to read because it wasn't the exact ending I wanted but I am sure there will be a sequel. This is one of those books where I don't want to give too much of the plot and ruin it the experience others will have reading this book but if you like dystopian books, you will definitely like this book.

I had been staring at this book on my Kindle for quite some time before I finally dove in because I had worried that the description had hyped it up way too much in mind. Thankfully, I was wrong as the book instantly gripped me. In a world where girls' basic human rights are taken because they happen to have been born, one brave girl begins to suspect that those that are supposedly looking out for don't really have her best interests at heart. I cannot wait to shout about this book from the rooftops - it was that good! I cried and smiled and cheered and cried again but ultimately I wouldn't change a thing - not even the tears. If you want a gripping story, this is one to check out!

Absolutely fabulous book. Can not wait to start book two. Have not read a book this good in a long time.