I literally read this for 14 hours straight and got absolutely no sleep and then finished it the next night.
The only thing that has messed with my emotions as much as this story was Arcane.
Exceptional.
I'm not sure I'll ever recover.
I hate you and I love you.

Best damn book i’ve ever read. Second time finishing it. Still the best thing ever.

I typed and retyped this but I cant accurately put i to words the ranfe of emotions this novel brought out in me. Excellent writting, song choices and ending. I havent cried over a book im a long time. Thank you for writing this.

nice

warning spoilers :
…HOLY SHIT WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME ZOE (i forgive you tho)

anyone reading this rn pls read to the end of my review i put so much time into it thxx

i was SO SO caught up in echo and gen’s story it was id say the most well written book i’ve ever read so far in my life!

even dugan and kara’s story which i would usually have skipped bc i wld have been impatient to get back to gen and echo, however i gave it a shot and was so surprised bc i got sucked so deep into their storyline and when their chapter ended i almost skipped gen and echo’s to see what happened especially around the canibal chapter and my heart was aching for kara especially when i thought dugan was gonna die bc then she wld have been all alone :(((

(jk i cld never skip on my fave gay couple)

also i was v sad when namiko i think that was her name got killed but i accepted it bc it gave a realistic and tough vibe that really made me feel like their fates weren’t certain - whenever a character of any book is in danger, in the back of my mind i’m always thinking well the author wouldn’t kill them off bc blah… it wld affect blah bc they wldnt be able to build a friendship if this person dies, but all that was thrown out the window making me wonder if they rlly will make it!

not to mention the creative plot twists and the detail put into each character encluding some saddd back stories showing you a deeper look into their past traumas as well as their character development being on point and their angst being so satisfyingly solved

a whole nother can of beans need to be opened about echo in chapter 56 food pun intended.
first off, for some reason i misread there being only 56 chapters instead of 58 - this led me to beleive that when echo is layed bleeding out after being wrecked by the ferals and her body going cold, that was the end of the book. i start BAWLING my eyes out bc HOW CLD YOU!
then i see that there is another 2 chapters and for chapter 57 i’m left in utter complete shock bc how cld you have killed echo and then just happily jumped to dugan’s pov
so i’m here lying in my bed at 4am, (yes, this book was so good that i stayed up all night reading it) , snot dripping down my face tear stained and puffy eyed convulsing with sobs every few seconds hurriedly skim reading dugans pov to get back to gen’s pov too scared to breathe in deeply in the hope that the doctor might be able to save her bc this book has to have a happy ending right?!
RIGHT?!
even though it was a long shot, april and the doctor guy cld have injected her with some kind of feral blood to revive her or something,
only to realise that no, echo really IS dead and she apparently has been for 8 months bc we’re thrown into the future and how genevieve has nearly been killing herself for the past months bc she wld rather be constantly on the brink of death trying to survive than try to think about how echo is DEAD.

thennnnnn we are jumpscared by echo and someone else stumbling onto her right as she is about to give up her life to the stalker and now we have to process that shock exactly the same way that genevieve is processing it…

anywaysssss this left me way too engrossed in their story for it to just end so quickly and i am SO SO freaking happy that there are some one shots and an AU waiting for me after this review is ended (and after i have a long sleep as it is currently 5:23am and the seagulls are squawking their heads off) bc that last chapter left me so raw and needing some kind of closure to know that they all settled in fine/ and also to know how kara and dugan fit in with everyone, maybe seeing hayden grow up a little, and ofc Wolf/Rocky gaining more confidence of people after being treated badly by jed and raiders

anyways last chunk of review - that was the best book i’ve read, best author i’ve come across ever and the first one to get me to actively ugly cry so much that globules of bubbling snot were dripping down my face hats of to you as well as eaten bye bye

p.s: i can’t remember what chapter it was when echo FINALLYYYYTY gets properly with genevieve and they have sex together instead of only genevieve giving and not receiving and they both say i love you, that was the most well written and realistic smut scene on earth it genuinely had me grinning and kicking my legs and silently screaming!
it was not hard to imagine at all, i’ve always struggled with cringing at specific words they use like too much dirty talk that sounds fake etc, this was so descriptive in the best way possible i wish every writer out there wrote like this omg, i don’t think anything will ever compare nearly as close as this, seriously u did such a good job on this

I just finished reading this novel for the first time. I love sapphic novels, I love zombies, and I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Echo and Genevieve were SO FRUSTRATING, but I'm glad Genevieve worked through her issues and they got together.

Most of all, I am so happy and so mad that Echo lived. I love it when main characters die, because they so rarely do. So rarely do books have sad endings. I love them and I hate them. And I love and hate that Echo didn't die. You've made me feel things. I'll end up reading this one again. :)

Back to Dugan and Kara. It's amazing how many things people do for survival and, in their chapters on the road, this is evident.
You express very well, Zoe, the need for food in a world beset by dangers like Ferals and bad people. And how far the characters will go to make ends meet.

In Echo's flashback, the opportunity to learn how vulnerable her situation was and that if she didn't follow the group of invaders she would die, was what made me sympathize with her long before the flashback, even. Because there's no way we can imagine that, in a world like this, someone who isn't guided by Cap, as Genevieve was, will be able to survive without doing things they question.

After the flashback, we return to Genevieve's almost palpable hatred of Echo, since just because she let go, Genevieve was furious. And then, to make matters worse, there was the situation with the leaves in the tent afterwards... Echo wanted to provoke Genevieve more, but she needs to take this hatred more seriously.

The end of the chapter shows that the resentment between them is starting to become mutual. When Genevieve insists on talking about Echo's relatives, it becomes clear.
If Blake wants to help them get along, he's going to have a lot of work to do.
By the way, I love Blake. He's a nice straight guy.
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Genevieve's flashback shows how unprepared we are for a situation like the one presented in the book. I think her first shocking sight was that Feral being killed (she thought it was a person, she didn't think it was a Feral). It's appalling how her father took care to cover the eyes of the little boy, Micah, while she, who was only fifteen, could stare at the scene.

Then, coming back to the present, the captain even called Genevieve to see if he could calm her down. But she's very tough, very strict and, well, if we put ourselves in her shoes, who wouldn't be?
Having to live with the girl who killed your relatives must be quite difficult.
But the most interesting thing is that, even though she hates Echo, Genevieve makes it clear how attractive Echo is.

First of all, in chapter 6, Dugan's flashback made me curious to know what happened to his daughter and wife after all. I guess we'll find out later.
Then, in his interaction with Kara, it becomes clear how afraid he feels that he is being led into an ambush and then, when he sees that it is not that, he expects some kind of more emotional reaction from her because of the losses he has had. For us, who do not experience this world, it is even shocking that Kara thinks this way 'people kill, people die'.
The chapter was great as always.

Chapter five is eventful. We find out, finally, why Genevieve hates Echo so deeply. One might even question whether we would do the same as Genevieve, but there's no way I can say I don't understand her.
Unlike Abby and Ellie in Tlou2, they have a past together in high school, but I can't help but think that Neil Druckmann read their book, Zoe.
But Genevieve could have killed Echo after she got Blake back. Except she didn't, which makes the character complex, which makes us understand that there's a lot more to her than just hate, before Genevieve herself even knows it.
And Decker got what he deserved, it was too late in my opinion.

Chapter four is as good as the previous ones. We arrive at Genevieve's house along with her, so, at least in my case, I had the feeling that I would have a similar reaction to hers in wanting to revisit the house. And even though I know it would be reckless and that something could happen, as indeed it did because there were Ferals in the house, the fact that she was emotionally called to the house again is perfectly understandable. But you can already tell that Genevieve is not someone who deals very well with emotional aspects of her personality. She reminds me of Ellie from The Last Of Us.

Okay, here is the third character's point of view: Dugan. I found it interesting how he was just surviving and the moment he saw the opportunity to help the girl, he grabbed onto that chance like it was his last.
I also found the initial mutual distrust between Chuck and Dugan very well developed, making it evident that in a world like this, no one can be trusted.

This second chapter brought me a lot. As a fan of The Last Of Us, especially TLOU2, I've to say that the scenes where Echo explored the houses reminded me a lot of Abby Anderson from the game.

Then when she helped those strangers, father and daughter, I was also reminded of Abby when she decided to assist the Scars Lev and Yara. I felt the same empathy in both characters, with due proportions, of course. Echo's gesture of giving the honey to the girl was incredibly empathetic.

Then, when she is in the complex with the invaders, you realize how tense she was and, at the same time, notice her effort to demonstrate that she is part of the group, under penalty of being killed, especially because of Decker.

And then comes the climax of the chapter, when Echo decides to kill the girl because otherwise they would rape her. It was clear that she made the decision to spare the girl, just as it was clear that she didn't want to do it.

Amazing chapter, Echo's personality has already proven to be quite interesting in this chapter.
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I've read and re-read your book and am now re-reading it for the third time.
I'll comment on each chapter, ok?
I would really appreciate it if, even so long after, you could reply to me. So I'm going to have that claim... It doesn't hurt to dream, does it?
Because the first chapter, and speaking only of it for now, was thorough in showing the tense atmosphere in which Genevieve commands her soldiers. And it also showed how much she, despite being 21 years old, is a respectable leader.
Was it just me who found Kelan's first appearance a bit... Cheeky? He already arrived, approached her and offered a massage...
The end of the chapter demonstrated very well that, even though she is an undeniably strong leader, it only takes one mistake to be bitten in this world.