When I bought The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James over winter break, I was looking for a mystery novel, because I had recently gotten into that genre after watching many mystery movies with my family. On the back cover of this book, it said that it was supposedly a mystery and a thriller novel and since the description on the back seemed interesting and my dad was pestering me to not take so long, I just went ahead and bought it.
The book's premise is pretty unique, taking place on a spaceship called the Infinity on its 40-year journey to humanity's last hope, Earth 2, where a young girl named Romy Silvers has lived by herself for the last 5 years. Romy is the daughter of two astronauts who died in an "accident", leaving her as the only surviving member of the crew, and a spaceship pilot at 16. She lives with little to no contact with Earth due to it taking 1 year to send messages until she hears of a new and faster spaceship named the Eternity, with only one passenger, a boy who calls himself J, on its way to her ship.
Despite the interesting premise, I found myself barely getting through the boring and uneventful nature of the first 200 or so pages, only reading because I was curious about what the ending would be. I'm glad I did though because the twists near the end of the book were pretty entertaining, and I really enjoyed the ending. The main character, Romy, was pretty fleshed out, and I found what the author did with J's character to be really interesting. While I don't regret reading this book, I do kinda regret buying this book instead of some of the other books I saw there. This book was a good reminder to not buy books just because the cover is pretty and to maybe look into it a bit more to see if you would actually like it. I would rate this a 3.5/5, and I recommend it to people who like books with lots of twists and sci-fi.
- Chloe N. H.
Hi Chloe! I'm sorry to hear this book wasn't exactly what you thought it'd be like after finishing reading. It's happened to me too, buying books after just looking at the cover. I am a huge fan of sci-fi books though so I might check this out sometime. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! Seeing the mysterious cover, I hoped for a thrilling plot but sadly as per your review, it fell short. Pacing is such a huge part of writing a novel that it is so disappointing to mindlessly read through tiresome pages. I am glad there were enjoyable parts to this novel. Thank you for your detailed review!
ReplyDeleteHey Chloe, I agree that a lot of the times covers of books are pretty misleading. It's sad to hear that this book didn't live up to your expectations. There are quite a few books that are really boring the first 100 or 200 pages but start picking up the pace in the middle. I'm glad that the ending lived up to your expectations.
ReplyDeleteHEY HEY HEY HEY nice review! I really liked how you explained how you got the book and showed the plot in an ambiguous way in order to not give it away. I'm sorry that the book wasn't fun to read but hey at least the cover art looks nice
ReplyDeleteNice review Chloe! I really wonder how this book directly relates to mystery; it seems more sci-fi based on your description. I also don’t like books with extremely slow starts and introductions too, but I am happy that the end turned out well for you.
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! I also like the sci-fi genre, so this book seems very interesting to me. Since pollution and climate change is a huge problem in our modern world, it strikes me that we might actually have to find an Earth 2 if this does not stop. Very interesting review and great job!
ReplyDeleteAwesome review Chloe! I have to agree with you, the cover does look really aesthetic and gives a good feeling that it would be a pretty good read. I like the setting of how it is in space and kinda fantasy and dystopian vibe. I'm glad the ending had some plot twists instead of being a completely waste of your time and money. I mean at least it'll look nice on the bookshelf. Great review!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! I too have read many books that have very slow beginnings. I'm glad it was worth it in the end, but it sounds like your experience overall would have been better if there was a quicker pace from the start. Despite this, the way you wrote the summary makes this book intriguing, and I may have to check it out. Great job!
ReplyDeleteVery late in reading this review but you have managed to make the book sound interesting in the first half. When I finished reading the summary, I thought you were gonna talk about how good the plot and characters were. I get that feeling too of having most of my books have some of the most boring entrances ever but makes up for the well-written ending that ties the whole book together. Sad to see that you regretted buying the book but hopefully you can find a book that was worth the money.
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