Alexandra Oliva

This was a late addition to my NetGalley request. When I read the synopsis, I was intrigued enough to want to see how this story will develop. I love a good mystery. That said, don't expect a typical mystery or thriller; this one dances to the beat of its own drum. The story takes place in the not-too-far distant future. Characters wear arm-wrapping "sheaths" that, I suppose, replace the cell phones, GPS trackers, and such that we know and love; SocialHub has replaced Facebook, Instagram and all the other popular online gathering places we know and the COVID-19 pandemic is a thing of the past. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are explored well in this novel and at times it left me intrigued and at times I was confused.
the story surrounds a mid-twenties woman named Linda, although it's not her real name. She's better known as Clone Girl - a child created by a mother who lost her beloved daughter years earlier and ever since has been trying to create an exact replacement. For a dozen years, Linda lived in secret, held behind walls at a remote Washington location, and for the most part left to forage for herself. One day, something bad happens and she runs away - managing to scale the wall and escape. Suddenly, she's in a whole new world - one filled with people who may or may not have her best interests at heart. She tries to live in seclusion, but keeping her location secret is difficult in this time of enhanced social media.

Then, Linda gets an unwanted knock on her door by a rather kooky-looking young woman named Anvi and her dog Nibbler. Her neibor in the new apartment building she is living in Even though Anvi doesn't seem to have an ulterior motive, Linda is reluctant to strike up any kind of friendship because she trusts no one and doesn’t know the first thing about being a friend. This was a bit of a departure for me because I have a hard time finding my footing with science fiction novels and even though I am new to the genre I found this well written and easy to follow which I was grateful for.

Where the novel falls slightly short for me and why it is getting a three-star review from me is because I had a very hard time connecting with Linda as a character. I was able to follow the tech-talk in the book I wanted to know the mystery behind the “Clone Girl” but I could not get myself to like Linda. I would be interested to see what comes next if this will be a series or if the writer will create a new magical story for us to unfold.



… (meer)

I'm not...what did I just read?

OK from the top.

I have a serious yen for reality style fiction right now. I blame THE HUNGER GAMES and also Unreal, since for some reason it appeals to me (I don't watch a lot of reality TV anymore, I used to watch almost every one, but its so fake...but the process of building a reality show and the behind the scenes stuff? All over it). Anyhow. Do any of you remember a show from a couple summers ago called rel="nofollow" target="_top">Siberia? It was on NBC and the basic premise was that a group of contestants were competing in Tunguska (you may know this as a pretty infamous paranormal spot) hoping to win $500,000.

The first episode is pretty good at selling it as a reality show - you have your reality show archetypes (the nice girl, the strong man, the sneaky one, etc) and while the filming seemed less polished then say Survivor, the show was interesting enough to keep you hooked. Until the end of the first episode when a contestant disappears and the host reveals he died. Things take a turn for the suspicious after this and by episode 3 you understand this is a scripted "reality" show (NBC's marketing team helped to keep the "mystery" going by having the first commercials treat it like a reality show, the previews treat it like a reality show, and put out fake news about it).

What was really fascinating was watching the contestants "in character" justify some pretty messed up shit. A fellow dies and they're like "well accidents happen, isn't that why we signed a contract?", a crew member is mauled in front of some of them and they say "we're in the wild, shit happens". They lose contact with civilization, a weird mystery metal box appears giving them "clues" and they lose a couple more folk and still these guys rationalize it.

The premise of THE LAST ONE reminded me of that and so I was excited. In a show its easier to see the scripting (reality is reality, so as soon as supernatural/paranormal stuff starts happening suspension of disbelief is needed), but a book where "reality" can be modified and suspension of disbelief can last you can keep the premise going for a while. How much was part of the "reality" show? How much was staged? How much was the MC's (largely "Zoo/Mae/Sam", hereby known as ZMS) perception of things effecting our perception?

Here's a spoiler - ZMS is REALLY unreliable. To the point where even when shit is confirmed by another character, I don't trust it because she's the first person POV so god knows if she's even remembering it right.

In between her POV we have the beginning of the show (leading up to when we first see ZMS wandering by herself) and Reddit style forum commentary from viewers with speculations and theories. This worked less for me as I don't use Reddit because of the trolls, though Oliva did a good job replicating "feel" of it. I did enjoy chapters about when the show began and the first few days of it. Its written as a "let me tell you the secrets" kind of way, with details about how the scene unfolding would be edited and such.

But this is where it breaks down, ZMS is our primary character we follow. Much of what's going on in the present time is seen through her. If not for the first chapter spoiling the fact that a pandemic is spreading, I may have been more inclined to trust ZMS. But we know that something bad is happening, so having ZMS wander around for more than half the book whining about how "realistic" the prop department had gotten decaying bodies (and their smell) or the fact she can't find supplies because the other contestants must have gotten to it becomes grating.

Not once does she think the death, decay and abandoned wasteland is because of a real problem - she figures the TV show just sunk a lot of money into making it feel authentic. The reason? Not because she was burying the trauma of reality so deep she was delusional (which also would have been cool). No the truth is so mundane and aggravating (like the rest of the book) that I nearly threw it. I put a lot of the rest behind the spoiler cut here because I don't know, maybe you want to find out for yourself.

She hadn't been able to "see" properly, everything was sort of hazy and unfocused, so she never got a good look at anything. Including when she arrives at her house and thinks she sees her husband dead. She is so convinced she sees him dead she imagines what he must look like in perfect detail laying there. Its not until later, when the husband joins the Reddit thread looking for her, that we realize "holy shit you're a nutter lady, it wasn't him!". Her crying, her whining, her despair, her "I give up on everything" attitude afterwards is all based on the fact SHE DID NOT IN FACT CHECK TO SEE IF IT WAS HIM AT ALL JUST ASSUMED.

And this is more a personal thing, but I found her anti-maternal attitude really off putting. At some point she convinced herself that if she had a kid, she would accidentally kill it in a variety of completely off the wall ways (why would you carry the kid to the top of a mountain? Or leave it in a situation where if it rolled over asleep it would catch fire?) . I'm not sure where that belief came from, but she had it to the point where if she had sex (one night stand or otherwise) she'd have crippling nightmares about it. Is this normal? I know people who have dealt with anxiety of being a new parent, but hers seems REALLY extreme.

I grew so frustrated throughout reading that honestly the ending was just another stick to add. Like ZMS I had given up hope that any good could ever happen...not that I think ZMS deserves a happy ending.… (meer)