The Last One: A Novel

The premise of this book was very interesting and I was so excited to delve into this novel. I was intrigued at the idea of reading a book about reality shows and how they are filmed as they are one of my favorite types of shows to watch. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. There were a few things about this book that I found extremely frustrating. I felt like the book was a bit wordy and a little muddled as it switched between the present time and the airing of the reality show. I was extremely frustrated at the identification of the characters. Throughout the majority of the book, each contestant was identified by a descriptive name such as "Tracker" or "Asian chic" etc, but in other parts of the book, they were identified by their birth names. However, never in the book that I could find, was there any way to cross reference the birth names with the descriptive names and was extremely frustrated because I didn't know who was the subject of some of the conversations. That, in itself, was enough for me to give this book one less star than it could have gotten.The book could have read more fluently if it were more focused on the travels during the big solo challenge instead of the small challenges during the filming of the reality show.For a first book, not a bad start. I would definitely read another of Alexandra Oliva's books because she has amazing potential for the 5 star book.

This book is my unicorn. Wilderness survival, pandemic, and reality show, with elements of horror and psychological thriller mixed in. All of my absolute favorite things to read about perfectly mixed into one incredible story. The world ceased to exist around me every time I disappeared into this book. Because hours turned to minutes each time I was able to sit for a bit and read, I would have to set an alarm for when I had to quit, otherwise I wouldn't have quit until the end. I know it's really early but I'm betting this will be the best book I'll read this year .Zoo is one of twelve contestants on a survival reality tv show. The story starts with production having a quick discussion then Zoo scavenging for food on a solo challenge. She is both impressed and disgusted by the props left by producers that she has to work around. Barely surving a number of circumstances and setbacks she's not too worried, if things get too serious she knows production will pull her from the game.We're told the story through Zoo in current time and in flashbacks from production so we get to see the progression from beginning to end. One aspect of the story is a bit fuzzy at the beginning but soon becomes crystal clear and will chill you to your core. This is a book I would absolutely love to see turned into a blockbuster movie. Don't miss this story, it's seriously awesome.

I had this book in my Kindle library for about 4 1/2 years before I finally opened it up in 2021. I decided to give it a shot to fulfill a book challenge category, and I must say I enjoyed it much more than I'd expected to. I especially liked the way the chapters flip back and forth between the main character's perspective and a third person perspective, giving us an understanding both of what is going on in the world while the characters are removed from it all as well as getting to know the other characters a bit. If you like Survivor-type shows or post-apocalyptic stories, you should definitely check this book out. I like neither, but I still really enjoyed this book. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Go figure! I do wonder, however, if I would've enjoyed it as much if I'd read it pre-Covid19. I think I might've thought it too unbelievable and tossed it aside. Sadly, after Covid, none of it seems impossible.

I love reality TV. I love it. So obviously when I read the synopsis of debut novel, The Last One, I had no choice but to read it. And it didn't hurt that it was compared to Station Eleven. Zoo joins a show called In The Dark, which offers a million dollar prize to whoever wins. And how do you win? You have to be the last person standing. The only way contestants are disqualified are if they say the phrase "ad tenebras dedi" and opt to quit themselves. None of them have any idea what the show has in store for them.The book jumps between different perspectives every chapter, which I generally find fun to read, as I did here. Sometimes we have Zoo, our main character's perspective starting mid-show in the midst of the solo challenge. Then we'll have the editor's perspective, which is pretty much just an omniscient look at the show, with some minor Zoo-bias because he seems to favor her, that starts from the beginning of filming. And every once in a while we get to see some Reddit-like comments about the show's episodes. What the viewers find interesting about the show is that it's almost aired live. Episodes air around a week after the events take place. And the show has an ENORMOUS budget. The contestants do all sorts of interesting, staged challenges, but they've always been pretty overtly staged. Once the solo challenge begins, Zoo is able to justify being alone for so long and having so much territory to hike without seeing anybody because this is where the big budget must have gone. Right?This novel is about both the lengths a person will go to to survive, and the lengths they'll go to to delude themselves. To try to justify their choices to themselves. And it's especially interesting to look at that in the context of a reality TV show, where everything can be justified because it's part of "the game." That's the trap Zoo falls into as things get worse and worse for her. Attacked by a rabid animal? It must have been a challenge, what does the producer expect her to do? How would the audience expect her to behave? Meet a random guy who talks about a sickness that killed his whole neighborhood? Maybe he's an actor or the cameraman, so she has to act a certain way in response to his story. And this pattern of justifying her behavior parallels how she's dealt with some choices in her real life, in the past and very recently.A little bit of a slow burn, The Last One has a ton of interesting ideas but not really the pacing of a thriller. The challenges aren't quite exciting enough (and for good reason, because it's a super-staged survival show) and Zoo spends a lot of her time alone thinking very repetitive thoughts. I still really wanted to know how it was going to come together, though, and I'm glad I stayed with it. I absolutely raced through the last 100 pages or so as the stakes got higher and some s*** went down. The emotional development of Zoo and the slow reveal of her story and her fate had me gasping and tearing up and desperate for more. Many tears were shed at the end, and I'm not going to say what kind they were. You'll have to read and find out if any Latin falls from the mouth of Zoo. And maybe you'll find out what her actual name is too.

I thought this book had a smart twist on the apocalypse. It happens in the background while our main character, Zoo, is otherwise occupied with a reality survival show. Even as the reader, we only have a basic understanding of what happened.The Last One is an interesting look at how TV works and the editing process-how reality shows are manipulated, people's personalities are twisted and defined, and the way that "danger" is created to be exciting yet minimal.We travel with Zoo as she attempts to complete her solo challenge...not realising that the empty neighbourhoods and stench of death is not a creation of the TV producers.It's great to see authors thinking up new ways to write novels about the end of the world!

I whizzed through this. Well written and thought provoking. The central character, Zoo, is fantastic! A great thriller and satirical take on our thirst for 'reality' tv.

I bought this for my 18 year old nephew having already read it myself.A dark thriller where reality tv blurs with reality. The plot twists and turns telling the story in flashbacks and in real time. The reader knows more than the characters whose survival skills are truly put to the test when normality breaks down into a nightmarish new reality.

While it is a unique interesting premise I did not enjoy it. It follows a character dubbed Zoo in a survivalist TV Show. At the same time of this contest something terrible befalls human kind but is it all a trick of the TV Show?I found the whole thing a bit unbelievable and wanted to shake Zoo so much.Would not recommend

Based on the events of a reality show and a ‘super bug’ that caused the death of over 50% of the population. Current and believable. I liked the way the book went from past to present, explaining the past events that led to the present circumstances. The people were mostly believable characters, if a little extreme, but that’s reality shows for you.