The Last 8 started strong but ultimately fell flat for me.
The characters seemed rather shallow which made the whole power of friendship/found family stuff towards that became prominent near the end feel unearned and cheesy. Some character motivations also felt underdeveloped. It wasn't that any of their actions were completely unexplainable or stupid, but the lack of depth or insight into the character's emotional states and motivations made some of their actions read very much as plot contrivances more than what would make sense for them in-universe.
I was also disappointed in the sci-fi elements. Certain aspects of the alien species and technology seemed pure fantasy with no attempt at a justification, while some of it tried for more sci-fi. It didn't come together well for me, but other's might not mind. The invading alien species were also very intriguing in the beginning, but ultimately became shallow, uninteresting villains.
As the book got close to its conclusion it really lost steam and I could tell it wasn't going to have a satisfying conclusion. A reveal that one of the characters had the potential to develop reality warping abilities immediately made me suspect that any consequences for the characters actions in the finale would be erased before the end of the book. It took any and all tension out of the rest of the book. And rightly so, because lo and behold a character commits suicide and is revived seconds later, all the bad guys are erased from existence no problem, and we're off to a nice neat little happy ending that feels entirely unearned. ( )

I was interested in reading this book because I enjoy speculative fiction and science fiction. I definitely enjoyed the writing style but there were some key details that pulled me out of the story.

The main character, Clover is living a normal teenage life when one day... aliens invade. I've thought about it!! I'm sure you have too. The battle is over for humans before it even begins. As Closer is on the run with her ex-boyfriend Noah... she sees him turned to dust right before her eyes. In a strange twist of fate though, the aliens appear to be completely uninterested in her.

Clover discovers that she's alone, everyone she knew and loved has vanished. So she begins to drive across the US. One of the things that I found bothered me was that Clover keeps her iPhone with her as she steals and drives cars across the country. Reference is made to her looking for a house with solar panels to charge her phone...but I got kind of distracted by the fact that this was a teenager who simply didn't plug in her phone using the car jack! That may seem like a small detail to focus on, but it was about authenticity to me. What teenager wouldn't want that phone plugged in and charged? What about the cell network? Even without humans to maintain it, wouldn't it have continued to function for a while? There were a few too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Eventually, Clover is playing with the CD player in the car and discovers a radio broadcast giving a thinly veiled hint that there may be survivors holed up at Area 51. Naturally, Clover heads there and finds that only a handful of teenagers have survived the alien attacks. One of them happens to be related to someone who previously worked at Area 51, but the adults have gone off to fight...and eventually stopped returning.

Clover sets about trying to motivate the group to fight to live rather than hiding from what is going on.

I enjoyed the diversity of the group of teenagers and, for the most part, their interaction seemed pretty realistic. I did find it a little difficult to believe that it would be simple for them to continue to run a place as significant as Area 51 with only a handful of teenagers.

I would say this would appeal to a young audience, perhaps one looking for a simple story that has a bit of a science fiction element to it. ( )

I was interested in reading this book because I enjoy speculative fiction and science fiction. I definitely enjoyed the writing style but there were some key details that pulled me out of the story.

The main character, Clover is living a normal teenage life when one day... aliens invade. I've thought about it!! I'm sure you have too. The battle is over for humans before it even begins. As Closer is on the run with her ex-boyfriend Noah... she sees him turned to dust right before her eyes. In a strange twist of fate though, the aliens appear to be completely uninterested in her.

Clover discovers that she's alone, everyone she knew and loved has vanished. So she begins to drive across the US. One of the things that I found bothered me was that Clover keeps her iPhone with her as she steals and drives cars across the country. Reference is made to her looking for a house with solar panels to charge her phone...but I got kind of distracted by the fact that this was a teenager who simply didn't plug in her phone using the car jack! That may seem like a small detail to focus on, but it was about authenticity to me. What teenager wouldn't want that phone plugged in and charged? What about the cell network? Even without humans to maintain it, wouldn't it have continued to function for a while? There were a few too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Eventually, Clover is playing with the CD player in the car and discovers a radio broadcast giving a thinly veiled hint that there may be survivors holed up at Area 51. Naturally, Clover heads there and finds that only a handful of teenagers have survived the alien attacks. One of them happens to be related to someone who previously worked at Area 51, but the adults have gone off to fight...and eventually stopped returning.

Clover sets about trying to motivate the group to fight to live rather than hiding from what is going on.

I enjoyed the diversity of the group of teenagers and, for the most part, their interaction seemed pretty realistic. I did find it a little difficult to believe that it would be simple for them to continue to run a place as significant as Area 51 with only a handful of teenagers.

I would say this would appeal to a young audience, perhaps one looking for a simple story that has a bit of a science fiction element to it. ( )

I was interested in reading this book because I enjoy speculative fiction and science fiction. I definitely enjoyed the writing style but there were some key details that pulled me out of the story.

The main character, Clover is living a normal teenage life when one day... aliens invade. I've thought about it!! I'm sure you have too. The battle is over for humans before it even begins. As Closer is on the run with her ex-boyfriend Noah... she sees him turned to dust right before her eyes. In a strange twist of fate though, the aliens appear to be completely uninterested in her.

Clover discovers that she's alone, everyone she knew and loved has vanished. So she begins to drive across the US. One of the things that I found bothered me was that Clover keeps her iPhone with her as she steals and drives cars across the country. Reference is made to her looking for a house with solar panels to charge her phone...but I got kind of distracted by the fact that this was a teenager who simply didn't plug in her phone using the car jack! That may seem like a small detail to focus on, but it was about authenticity to me. What teenager wouldn't want that phone plugged in and charged? What about the cell network? Even without humans to maintain it, wouldn't it have continued to function for a while? There were a few too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Eventually, Clover is playing with the CD player in the car and discovers a radio broadcast giving a thinly veiled hint that there may be survivors holed up at Area 51. Naturally, Clover heads there and finds that only a handful of teenagers have survived the alien attacks. One of them happens to be related to someone who previously worked at Area 51, but the adults have gone off to fight...and eventually stopped returning.

Clover sets about trying to motivate the group to fight to live rather than hiding from what is going on.

I enjoyed the diversity of the group of teenagers and, for the most part, their interaction seemed pretty realistic. I did find it a little difficult to believe that it would be simple for them to continue to run a place as significant as Area 51 with only a handful of teenagers.

I would say this would appeal to a young audience, perhaps one looking for a simple story that has a bit of a science fiction element to it. ( )

I honestly loved this book so much more than I thought I would. Clover was the perfect main character. She was strong, but still a vulnerable teenager just trying to make it in a world where aliens had invaded and wiped the planet clean of almost all humans. Adam, Flint, Andy, Rayen, Avani, Violet, and Brooklyn were all amazing supportive characters.
The first part did go pretty fast, but I'm glad there was enough detail to keep me reading, and not so much that it was just filler.
The twist was one I didn't actually see coming and how it was all handled in the end was perfect, plenty of drama, fighting and finding true friends. ( )