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A review by iam
The Last 8 by Laura Pohl
4.0
You can find this review & more here.
4.5 stars
You'd think this book's title would have clued me in about the whole mass extinction of the human species, as in, everyone dies, but somehow I managed to still be surprised when everyone started disappearing.
Content warnings include: alien invasion, mass extinction, death, suicide, plane and car crashes; mentions of mother abandoning child on grandparents' doorstep.
This was a great YA novel. It had some instances where I was thinking it was just going too well, too easily, these teens shouldn't be able to do all this, but it was never too bad and there are explanations for a lot of things later on.
I liked the way the plot developed and it was exciting the entire way through, subverting a lot of my conscious and subconscous expectations.
A part of that was the main cast's makeup - of the eight teenagers there's two boys and six girls. Five of them furthermore are PoC, and most of them are queer.
There is no romantic subplot involving the main character, or really any big focus on any sort of relationships including Clover (more on her later), but among the main eight there were both important romantic and platonic relationships, never putting romance above friendship or found family.
Clover is the protagonist and only POV character. I loved her.
While it is not explicitly stated, Clover is aromantic, and noticably so, particularly to me as an aromantic reader. I loved the way she negotiated the few conversations around romance that involved her, and how she thought about all things romantic.
I also just generally liked being in her head, and how her mind worked. She's calculated and pragmatic, and reading along her thought processes was fascinating and a delight.
Along with some things just feeling too easy or convenient, I was a bit confused by the way some things were... perceived. Let me explain.
There was a contrast to me about how a few things were handled in comparison to others. When Clover arrives at Area 51 and meets the other teens, she is disappointed and furious when they don't live up to her expectations, and she completely blames that on them without questioning or re-evaluating that not everyone might agree with her expectations. So a chunk of the plot revolved around her pushing her expectations onto the others, acting as if what she wants is the only valid thing to do.
On the other hand, there is Violet, also called Boss, the leader of the Last Teenagers on Earth. So while Clover more or less directly attacks Violet and how she handles the other teenagers.... at no point she ever actually questions Violet's authority, or asks why Violet even is in charge.
For a long time I was super confused about the dynamics among the teens, why everyone was listening to Violet or why Clover isn't ever questioning her authority, and reasons aren't really given, and the few we get come much later.
That said, Violet was a surprise. Both she as a character and all interactions between her and Clover completely defied everything I expected or was used to from other YA books, and I LOVED THAT. There was no antagonism or hostility between the established leader and the rebellious newcomer - instead there was a lot of calculation, mutual respect and recognition of a like-minded soul.
Lastly I want to mention that I listened to this as an audiobook. I'm not sure I can properly review it as such, as I have pretty much zero experience with audiobooks at this point. I've only listened to a bunch of fiction podcasts before, and can only compare it to that, even though it's a completely different format.
I liked the narrator's voice. It was very even and clear, and I had a lot less trouble understanding what was being said and following along with the plot than I usually do with podcasts. However, that even-ness also lead to me not always being able to distinguish between what was being said aloud and what was a thought or a description, or between who was talking. These weren't big issues though, I could still follow along just fine and never got confused.
One last thing: I couldn't help but notice that in the final showdown, it was somehow only the two white girls playing the big roles. I have no idea if that was done deliberately, or if it just happened naturally due to who the characters were, but it stood out as weird to me.
4.5 stars
You'd think this book's title would have clued me in about the whole mass extinction of the human species, as in, everyone dies, but somehow I managed to still be surprised when everyone started disappearing.
Content warnings include: alien invasion, mass extinction, death, suicide, plane and car crashes; mentions of mother abandoning child on grandparents' doorstep.
This was a great YA novel. It had some instances where I was thinking it was just going too well, too easily, these teens shouldn't be able to do all this, but it was never too bad and there are explanations for a lot of things later on.
I liked the way the plot developed and it was exciting the entire way through, subverting a lot of my conscious and subconscous expectations.
A part of that was the main cast's makeup - of the eight teenagers there's two boys and six girls. Five of them furthermore are PoC, and most of them are queer.
There is no romantic subplot involving the main character, or really any big focus on any sort of relationships including Clover (more on her later), but among the main eight there were both important romantic and platonic relationships, never putting romance above friendship or found family.
Clover is the protagonist and only POV character. I loved her.
While it is not explicitly stated, Clover is aromantic, and noticably so, particularly to me as an aromantic reader. I loved the way she negotiated the few conversations around romance that involved her, and how she thought about all things romantic.
I also just generally liked being in her head, and how her mind worked. She's calculated and pragmatic, and reading along her thought processes was fascinating and a delight.
Along with some things just feeling too easy or convenient, I was a bit confused by the way some things were... perceived. Let me explain.
There was a contrast to me about how a few things were handled in comparison to others. When Clover arrives at Area 51 and meets the other teens, she is disappointed and furious when they don't live up to her expectations, and she completely blames that on them without questioning or re-evaluating that not everyone might agree with her expectations. So a chunk of the plot revolved around her pushing her expectations onto the others, acting as if what she wants is the only valid thing to do.
On the other hand, there is Violet, also called Boss, the leader of the Last Teenagers on Earth. So while Clover more or less directly attacks Violet and how she handles the other teenagers.... at no point she ever actually questions Violet's authority, or asks why Violet even is in charge.
For a long time I was super confused about the dynamics among the teens, why everyone was listening to Violet or why Clover isn't ever questioning her authority, and reasons aren't really given, and the few we get come much later.
That said, Violet was a surprise. Both she as a character and all interactions between her and Clover completely defied everything I expected or was used to from other YA books, and I LOVED THAT. There was no antagonism or hostility between the established leader and the rebellious newcomer - instead there was a lot of calculation, mutual respect and recognition of a like-minded soul.
Lastly I want to mention that I listened to this as an audiobook. I'm not sure I can properly review it as such, as I have pretty much zero experience with audiobooks at this point. I've only listened to a bunch of fiction podcasts before, and can only compare it to that, even though it's a completely different format.
I liked the narrator's voice. It was very even and clear, and I had a lot less trouble understanding what was being said and following along with the plot than I usually do with podcasts. However, that even-ness also lead to me not always being able to distinguish between what was being said aloud and what was a thought or a description, or between who was talking. These weren't big issues though, I could still follow along just fine and never got confused.
One last thing: I couldn't help but notice that in the final showdown, it was somehow only the two white girls playing the big roles. I have no idea if that was done deliberately, or if it just happened naturally due to who the characters were, but it stood out as weird to me.