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kshertz's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This was a Fascinating world and idea for a plot. I’m not sure why it didn’t totally connect for me. I just wasn’t very invested in the characters and their survival and thriving. But I think the world building and plot were interesting.
Content Warnings
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence
zombiezami's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
Some of the plot lost me, but I liked the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Classism, Infidelity, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Incest
noodlebooknook's review
adventurous
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
3 stars
There are some really strong parts of this novel. But overall the narrative felt a bit flat and not as memorable as I was hoping for.
First of all the premise itself is interesting, the idea that oil is essentially no longer bountiful is a very real reality for future gens. As well as the idea of a female commune that also are kind of vigilantes/kill men to survive, pretty fascinating.
I think the convergence of multiple POVs is also such a great narrative device where we can see so many different sides of the story.
I think in general the writing style was very strong, especially for a debut novel.
Some critiques:
- the middle of the novel is sort of a blur for me, it was just kind of meh and because of that nothing stood out as important to remember.
- the pacing was a bit weird (I understand this may be a series so that could be why) but the first half of the book felt a lot slower paced than the last half
- some of the POVs were much stronger than the other ones and I found myself not as enthralled by each POV
Overall it was a pretty decent dystopian story that had a lot of potential for future books set in this world that could be even better, I would recommend it if you can get over the issues I mentioned above.
There are some really strong parts of this novel. But overall the narrative felt a bit flat and not as memorable as I was hoping for.
First of all the premise itself is interesting, the idea that oil is essentially no longer bountiful is a very real reality for future gens. As well as the idea of a female commune that also are kind of vigilantes/kill men to survive, pretty fascinating.
I think the convergence of multiple POVs is also such a great narrative device where we can see so many different sides of the story.
I think in general the writing style was very strong, especially for a debut novel.
Some critiques:
- the middle of the novel is sort of a blur for me, it was just kind of meh and because of that nothing stood out as important to remember.
- the pacing was a bit weird (I understand this may be a series so that could be why) but the first half of the book felt a lot slower paced than the last half
- some of the POVs were much stronger than the other ones and I found myself not as enthralled by each POV
Overall it was a pretty decent dystopian story that had a lot of potential for future books set in this world that could be even better, I would recommend it if you can get over the issues I mentioned above.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Murder, Classism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse
torturedreadersdept's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I don’t always love dystopian stories but this one got me to love and fear it. Between the ominous update to our present-day social media addiction and the continuation of our climate disaster, as well as the well-placed references to the ways our societies have harmed the earth and stolen from indigenous communities, this novel taking place in 2049-2050 was a gut punch, as was realizing that one of the main bad (ish) guys was born in the 90s, making him younger than me…. Yikes! I really enjoyed this book way more than I expected to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, Child death, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Body horror, Classism, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexual content, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Blood
micaelamariem's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I’m usually into dystopians but this one didn’t hit as well to me as they usually do. This is a great book for some people. There were interesting themes of environmentalism, feminism, colonialism, and survival. With multiple perspectives that weave into each other’s stories, it was interesting to see how it was all connected. But, it just wasn’t what I was expecting, and it was hard to focus on what the most important takeaway was. There was a lot of violence, and too many of it against animals for my liking. That being said, this book reminded me a bit of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, just in the survival in the Arctic kind of sense. And the feminist themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Colonisation, Cursing, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
mtnest's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Classism, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Confinement, and Alcohol
Dystopianmoonytoast's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!
Camp Zero is a promising work of literary dystopian fiction that interrogates the intersection of gender, socioeconomic class, and climate change in the remote setting of the Canadian Arctic, where the motivations and reasons behind the camp’s creation are more disreputable than they first seem. The story is told from three points of view: Rose, a young woman working as an escort with the hope of securing a future for herself and her mother; Grant, a young man trying to escape his wealthy family background; and White Alice, a group of women tasked with a scientific expedition in the far north of Canada.
Set in the near-future of 2049, the worldbuilding of Camp Zero feels well-grounded both conceptually and visually in how Sterling paints a picture of Earth in the wake of global warming. It integrates a vision of how the worsening climate crisis would impact different groups, particularly from a class standpoint. The Floating City and Meyer’s idea of creating a settlement for Americans in the Canadian Arctic to escape the ravages of the climate crisis feel evocative of the proposals we’ve seen in recent years coming from the uber-rich about space exploration and colonizing the moon. We repeatedly hear and witness the wealthy elite absolve themselves of the consequences of the climate crisis, while characters like Rose and her mother live on the meager scraps left behind and lose everything in the wake of extreme weather events.
I found the worldbuilding and characters extremely compelling—they all feel fully realized and each have their own beliefs and motivations connected to their unique experience within the climate-ravaged world Sterling created. White Alice reminded me in a way of the expedition in Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation with the emphasis on a group of exclusively women and their isolation from the outside world. Their shift over the course of the novel into a narrative of resilience and survival—and their unwavering willingness to kill in order to maintain their home—was fascinating. I also enjoyed Rose as a kind of central protagonist. The more I learned about her backstory and her motivations, I was increasingly rooting for her… not in the sense of rooting for her to successfully complete the task Damien set out for her, but for her to find her own path to freedom.
I think the only real flaw I have with Camp Zero is its somewhat muddled third act. The way these three narratives finally weave together made me so excited, but then I realized I was already about 90% of the way through the book.Grant’s decision to leave camp, the revelation of White Alice, the destruction of the campsite, and Nari’s escape from Meyer all felt a bit rushed. I don’t mind the open ending—given the enormity of their situation and the negligible chance that killing Damien would solve their world’s problems, it’s honestly a solid decision to leave the story there instead of trying to perfectly tie everything up with a bow. I just wish that the third act had more breathing room and was a bit more fleshed out to avoid the weird sense of pacing at the end.
Overall, a great addition to the dystopian genre and I look forward to seeing more from Michelle Min Sterling!
Camp Zero is a promising work of literary dystopian fiction that interrogates the intersection of gender, socioeconomic class, and climate change in the remote setting of the Canadian Arctic, where the motivations and reasons behind the camp’s creation are more disreputable than they first seem. The story is told from three points of view: Rose, a young woman working as an escort with the hope of securing a future for herself and her mother; Grant, a young man trying to escape his wealthy family background; and White Alice, a group of women tasked with a scientific expedition in the far north of Canada.
Set in the near-future of 2049, the worldbuilding of Camp Zero feels well-grounded both conceptually and visually in how Sterling paints a picture of Earth in the wake of global warming. It integrates a vision of how the worsening climate crisis would impact different groups, particularly from a class standpoint. The Floating City and Meyer’s idea of creating a settlement for Americans in the Canadian Arctic to escape the ravages of the climate crisis feel evocative of the proposals we’ve seen in recent years coming from the uber-rich about space exploration and colonizing the moon. We repeatedly hear and witness the wealthy elite absolve themselves of the consequences of the climate crisis, while characters like Rose and her mother live on the meager scraps left behind and lose everything in the wake of extreme weather events.
I found the worldbuilding and characters extremely compelling—they all feel fully realized and each have their own beliefs and motivations connected to their unique experience within the climate-ravaged world Sterling created. White Alice reminded me in a way of the expedition in Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation with the emphasis on a group of exclusively women and their isolation from the outside world. Their shift over the course of the novel into a narrative of resilience and survival—and their unwavering willingness to kill in order to maintain their home—was fascinating. I also enjoyed Rose as a kind of central protagonist. The more I learned about her backstory and her motivations, I was increasingly rooting for her… not in the sense of rooting for her to successfully complete the task Damien set out for her, but for her to find her own path to freedom.
I think the only real flaw I have with Camp Zero is its somewhat muddled third act. The way these three narratives finally weave together made me so excited, but then I realized I was already about 90% of the way through the book.
Overall, a great addition to the dystopian genre and I look forward to seeing more from Michelle Min Sterling!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Alcohol
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