The Last Girl on Earth

by Alexandra Blogier

Raised among them.>

Li has a father and a sister who love her. A best friend, Mirabae, to share things with. She goes to school and hangs out at the beach and carefully follows the rules. She has to. Everyone she knows--her family, her teachers, her friends--is an alien. And she is the only human left on Earth.

A secret that could end her life.

The Abdoloreans hijacked the planet sixteen years ago, destroying all human life. Li's human-sympathizer father took her in as a baby and has trained her to pass as one of them. The Abdoloreans appear human. But they don't think with human minds or feel with human hearts. And they have special abilities no human could ever have.

Fit in or die.

When Li meets Ryn, she's swept up in a relationship that could have disastrous consequences. How far will Li go to stay alive? Will she save herself--and in turn, the human race--or will she be the final witness to humanity's destruction?

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Aliens, Dystopia, Audiobook, Fiction

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2018

About the author

Alexandra Blogier was raised in Boston and on the beaches of Cape Cod. She earned a degree in history from the University of Maryland and now lives and works in Brooklyn. The Last Girl on Earth is her first novel. Follow @alxandrablogier on Twitter and @alexandrablogier on Instagram.

—from publisher's website at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/au...

Reviews

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I essentially skimmed this (my only talent) and finished it in like an hour? And it wasn't completely terrible; it just missed being great by trying to be a sweet romance.

I actually tend to like these small-scope sci-fi books. They offer a great opportunity for exploring the nature of humanity. Books like The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet? You all know I ate that book up. The issue here is the lack of genuine exploration. There are some interesting ideas and concepts here, but nothing really happened. And when things finally did start happening, the ideas weren't explored.

♔ For example, there's an idea here that humans are inherently evil due to how they ruined the planet. Which is a really interesting idea and I'm pretty sure the author knows this was an interesting idea. But it doesn't really get explored beyond like four lines.

♔ I also wished that the concept of prejudice had been explored more. Whoever wrote the blurb has never read the book. No character in this book is inherently evil because they're an alien. That's just not a factually correct statement. To all basic ideas, these aliens are exactly the same as us. And I actually liked that. I like the idea of an exploration of prejudice in this setting. It could've been something along the lines of The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. But nope. There are around three lines referring to prejudice, but it's never legitimately explored.

♔ There's also the entire idea of the resilience of humanity that could've been explored. That's a great idea to explore. It just doesn't happen.

I could go on. The point is that nothing is explored with the depth I wanted it to be.

What makes me sad is I think the author knows these are interesting ideas!! The book comes so close to what it could have been. She just chooses to focus on some petty love drama and instalove instead. None of the characters here were really built up enough for me to care about their connections. I did like the friendship between our protagonist, Li, and her friend Mirabae. I also liked the familial relationships. But did either ever give me any emotions? Uh. Nope.

What's even more annoying is that I could've gotten past all this instalovey packaging if the characters had been stronger. Instalove is a necessary device here due to the time frame, but it could've felt natural rather than false. If the characters are strong, it can feel natural. Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone makes instalove feel natural by building up the two lead's loneliness and desperation for a connection. There is so much potential in that for a really well-written, character driven one-shot.

This is going to sound weird, but I have a firm idea as to how I would rewrite this. First step: focus more on Li's loneliness as the only human in the world. This makes the theme of the concept clear and builds up the possibility for romance. Second step: don't have her see Ryn as attractive until they've had a couple friendly interactions. This makes their connection feel authentic rather than a tropey little romance inserted for the hell of it. Third step: more inner meditation and dialogue. Boom. The plot doesn't have to change, the writing style doesn't have to change, nothing has to change besides those three things. Bam. You have yourself a five-star book.

Before I finish this review, I'll add one more positive. I liked the casual diversity. The protagonist is biracial, and there are several mentions of other characters dating people of the same gender. It's a little thing, but it did make me happy.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Last Girl on Earth by Alexandra Blogier is a young adult science fiction fantasy that was heavy on the romance and light on the science fiction/fantasy. Now despite my low rating there were moments that I would start to like this one but in the end I just had too many questions and concerns with the world building to rate higher.

The story centers around Li who is a human teenager that is the only human that survived when Abdoloreans came to Earth and wiped out the rest. She was given to an Abdolorean male to raise alongside his daughter. Now the Abdoloreans basically look the same as humans with the exception of gills in which Li has been given fake ones leading to my first question I pondered, how do you cut open a human and give them gills? Now maybe some plastic surgery or something but all he doctors are gone…..

So anyway as the story starts Li has had her best friend all her life but she doesn’t know Li is actually human, only her Abdolorean father and sister know. But we constantly learn all the things Abdoloreans are better at so Li has been training all her life secretly to pass as one. Again leading me to all kinds of questions with the vagueness of this set up so far.

Then we entered into learning Li is also training for the Abdolorean’s army and about to have her testing when amazing a cute boy enters and Li starts throwing all caution to the wind due to cute boy so yes, insert insta-love. But here I am again thinking why oh why is all of this happening if Li’s race is so top secret? And I won’t mention how the little we get about why humans were so horrible and needed to be destroyed by these aliens just seemed rather silly (having cows is terrible???) since it’s never really fully explained and just brushed over anyway.

So it seemed the entire time I’m reading this book I just had question and question popping into my head on the how’s and why’s which is rather distracting while trying to enjoy a book. But through all that I thought that maybe, just maybe this one would end at a 3 star for me until we get the the final chapters. Now I won’t give any spoilers but let’s just say I walked away shaking my head still with those incessant questions running through my mind so I suppose this one just wasn’t my cup of tea unfortunately.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

Li is the last girl on earth... at least that is what her alien father told her. Raised with her alien sister Zo she has trained all her life for this role. Keeping this secret has been tough but she's about to graduate and the only way she'll survive conscription is to make officer. Then she meets Ryn. He's a distraction that may have learned her secret...


The short review...

I love speculative sci-fi and am pretty open to believing whatever outrageous premises an author can come up with. I LOVE the idea of a race that conscripts it’s young to keep spreading to other planets. It makes sense since they insist these planets accept their benevolent "help" that they would also need a constantly rejuvenating army to enforce that help. It also made total sense that she needed an officer spot to keep out of the worst of the military action. This core idea is strong.

Then we just get wacky! Its hard to understand where the gills fit in!? They don't live underwater and their gill covers don't appear to flutter when they breathe otherwise Li would have been revealed despite her fake ones! So why have them at all? And why are the Abdoloreans super powered compared to a human yet appear to look exactly like them? This weak world building, as well as shallow friendships, instalove and a romance heavy plot all conspired against this story.


Cover & Title grade -> A-

This is a truly gorgeous cover. Even tiny it draws the eye and captures your imagination! I knew it had to do with sci-fi which is great... beyond that I had no idea, though I did WANT to know. I LOVED the font used for the title which was also spot on to intrigue us.


How could this book have been saved?

I found this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL! It made me upset and so disappointed how easily a few shifts in Li's perspective would have saved the story despite the odd gills and other world building oddities.

#1 - An alien dude you think of as father trained you to survive. It’s ALL YOU KNOW. You don’t sneer in the face of it by whining. You go out every day and train. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T YOU'RE DEAD! You climb cliff faces or whatever to honor the sacrifices he made for you. From there you can decide to rebel, etc.

WHY? I know whining seems to be something every teenager can relate to but in this case Li is in a situation that few teenagers are in and if they do have to worry about life and death I can guarantee you they ARE NOT whining! Allow readers to experience that sort of back history. Much better to form an act of rebellion later when she feels she has everything under control.

#2 - Li has lived essentially 14 years or so without the aliens realizing her gills aren't working... so Li would have become complacent about it. We all would have. She'd still have trained and studied because that is partially why she's become complacent but it wouldn't be what she feared. Teens fear the FUTURE! Change! Loss of the status quo, i.e. leaving her father and sister without a support to replace them. BETTER for her to fear being a leader among her planet’s oppressors!! Being revealed because she doesn't fit in...

WHY? The theme of the book is very important. Teenagers are reading it and imagining how they will embrace their own futures. The world frankly needs more women leaders. Women leaders who struggle with rivalries with men who see them as sex objects. Women leaders who help their women coworkers and don’t oppress them. With her goal of becoming an officer she would have been in a position to be that example. This fear works as conflict to being this kind of woman leader.

#3 - Her physical weakness shouldn't have been something she struggled with but over the course of the assessment tests is shown to be her strength and is what makes her THE leader in the end. Because the aliens take for granted their speed and strength they just power into a situation while a true leader uses strategy. Since she's been training so long to be able to compete with them and to work around her lack of physical prowess she has better tactics than they do!

WHY? Part of the problem was the story started way BEFORE the action. We knew she would pass the test. She knew she shouldn't go swimming and it was no surprise she go into trouble for it. It was contrived big time and in fact ALL THE CONFLICT WAS CONTRIVED. In an effort to make this seem "school-like" the story was without a focus. Better to start with the conscription training and assessment tests. With the change of Li's focus it's easy to see this is a better starting place for the story. The plot is also clearer... SHOW THE SIMS! Show the rivalry! She can rebel with her romance and to help her friend.

It's quite easy to flip things around... She can run into Ryn AFTER training starts, DURING her own personal training at home, very naturally. There can be another run in with the jerky guy and her sister when she arrives home... again all very natural. These interactions would now add up to plot!! Concrete events that can show how things are instead of just glossing over and telling everything.


As a Writer...

As a writer I am NOT a fan of plot that is mostly told instead of shown. One or two token sims was not enough interaction between the group nor did it provide any real plot. They were ho-hum and so basic that a new soldier could have lead her "mission." They provided nothing for the story because they had nothing to do with the romance plot! ...I get it. You never had any intention of her becoming an officer or conscripted! I could tell because you glossed over her knowledge and her leadership. The sims that were shown were not won due to her excellent leadership, she won them because the author dictated it so.

The horrible thing is that it would have made a much better book to have her go through all that training only to fail because of other stupid actions. Then she still has that training to rely on in the next book! And how excited readers would have been for that book after experiencing her growth to that leader.

I didn't get to talk about the instalove in the story either... But if you love a sweet romance and don't mind some over used tropes then this is a great little story. It's biggest selling feature is its quick read and focus on romance.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐ Authenticity
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐ Writing Style
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⭐ Plot & Pacing
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐ World Building

BOTTOM LINE: High school romance between the last human girl and her alien boyfriend...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my special perspective at the bottom of my reviews under the typewriter...

[Shannon Miz · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

1.5*

The premise of this book drew me in immediately- the last human being on Earth!? Yes, of course I needed to read it. Not only was Li the last human, but she had to try to pretend she was just "one of the aliens". And I mean, that is how the story went down, don't get me wrong. Only... that was about the extent of it. Aliens, one human girl with a case of insta-love, and incredibly limited world-building left me wanting a lot more.

First of all, the alien people I guess look a lot like humans, since Li has been passing for one since forever. Only... the aliens have gills. Because sure, right? They don't live in the water or anything, so your guess as to why they have gills is as good as mine. Our girl Li also has gills. Fake gills, albeit, but gills. How one hides breathing is beyond me. And I asked myself that many, many times during the book, especially since quite a bit of the story involves physical activity, and if I am running around, you're probably going to see me take a gasp or two of air?

But okay, we'll move past that, I suppose. Li's only chance to escape comes from a competition to be a higher-up in the military, because apparently she can go off-planet, and maybe the aliens on those planets will be cooler about the uselessly-gilled-human thing? Again, no idea. Whatever, this is the Super Important Life Event™ she's been training her whole life for. So when a dude gives her the feels... of course she risks it all. 🙄

Obviously, her relationship with Ryn (aforementioned dude) is pretty insta-lovey. My basic definition of insta-love is "willing to throw away previously important people and/or life priorities for romantic interest character barely knows", and this is pretty much textbook. Not only does Li risk her actual physical life by getting too close to Ryn too quickly, she seems pretty down to whatever he suggests in general. She reminds me of one of those girls who just blindly follows a guy because he showed her some attention. It's kind of gross. Ryn isn't a terrible character even, just generic. But their super quick love declarations were hokey.

There were a lot of coincidences along the way, too. For example, Li ends up on the same training team as the literal only mentioned characters up until that point, who also happened to be her best friend, some other people they hung out with, the "bad guy", and of course, Ryn. Look, I don't know about you guys, but when I was thrown into group projects, it was with three randos I'd never spoken to and was forced to work with, so the chances that all her teammates are her buds? Nope, nope, not buying it. That's a non-spoilery example, but... there are more.

While we're talking about the best friend, I have a real beef with that situation, too. It's a spoiler, but man I was salty, so here you go for all of you who cannot control yourselves: The ONLY strong female friendship in the whole damn book goes straight to hell when freaking jealousy leads Li's bestie to betray the fuck out of her. So of course Li now can only trust her boyfriend and family, and my eyes are practically rolling out of my head.

The writing was a little... simple, I guess is a good word? It wasn't generally terrible or anything, but there were some real head-scratchers in terms of fluidity. This was a fun example:

Also, isn't that the exact description of President Alma Coin of District 13? 🤔

See, why did I need to know that random detail mid-paragraph? (Spoiler: I didn't.) Things like that just took me out of the story and were a bit confusing overall.

The good things? There were a few! The ending was actually kind of interesting, but only if there will be a sequel, otherwise it was rude. Li's relationship with her sister was pretty awesome. And the book was a quick read, so that's nice.

Ultimately, this just fell short of my expectations. The world-building was akin to what I'd expect from a short story in an anthology or something, and the lack of information and insight was confusing and unappealing. Li was an okay character, but her decisions didn't seem to correlate to her personality, so it was hard to make sense of why she was doing what she was doing. And I still don't understand why the hell these aliens had gills, tbh.

Bottom Line: Cool premise that could have gone a lot differently with a more sophisticated world-building and consistent character traits. And also less-insta love, because who likes that?

[Rian *fire and books* · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely went into this with 5th Wave feelings and I got a strong heroine and ROMANCE. Part of me is of two reviews.

The first review is that if I analyze this simply from the book description then its a 3 out of 5 stars. Because I expected more fear, more training, more angst about Li being the last human! Truly this book could have been exceptional if the romance took a back seat. There was a lot of good things brought up (humans are inherently evil???) but there wasn't as much sci-fi as the description led me to believe. It would have also benefited the story to see the Abdoloreans act less like humans with gills that were physically stronger. Also gills? How is it scientifically possible for them to function on earth with gills and why is this not explained? This story would have been stronger with those questions answered, possibly during a training sequence that was missing?

The second review is that if I look at this under a different description where this was the last human questioning whether its possible to fall in love with the aliens that obliterated her species? Maybe 4 stars if it also answered all the moral questions Li would have asked herself in this scenario. Ryn still could have been the cute romantic interest in this imagined story line, which of course could have been made more dramatic if his father was one of the Abdolorean's pushing to obliterate all the humans. DDDDDRRRRRAAAAMMMMAAAAA.

However this book tried to take from both of those ideas and didn't fully deliver on either of them. With that in mind I find myself only able to recommend this to people who want a quick romance novel with a dash of scifi.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love when books remind me of previous books. I think I read somewhere among all of the reviews for The Last Girl on Earth about it feeling sort of like the 5th wave - and I totally agree. Which is probably why I loved it so much.

The beginning got me instantly hooked and I wanted to know why these characters had freaking gills! I really liked all of the characters with in this book but I guess I was sort of wanting more. Yeah, this book definitely left me wanting more. More action. More likable characters. Just more.

Li, the MC, is the LAST human on earth. However, the girl has gills - again, this piqued my interest. However, while reading what happened to earth and the rest of the humans, I feel like some stuff was left out. Or just glossed over and that's probably why I was expecting more from this book. I wanted things explained in more detail but I didn't want a huge info dump.

Yes, this book had flaws but it was still enjoyable. It definitely held my interest the entire time and I am totally looking forward to my next book by Alexandra.

It's a pretty quick read - I think I destroyed this book within an hour? Maybe less? Maybe more? Little do you all know, I don't time myself while I'm reading a book.

[Genevieve Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, viewed in a vacuum, is mediocre and non-remarkable.

Viewed in comparison to the potential hinted at by its cover and premise, The Last Girl on Earth is IRRITATING and an offensive waste of space.

Issues that should have been explored a whole lot more or AT ALL:

• The GENOCIDE and the human scientific experimentation that is just brought up like twice. This, paired with what seems to be the essentially authoritarian and repressive nature of the Abdoloreans' way of life, is deeply interesting and needed a lot more page space.

• The dynamic between Li and her sister was explored a little, but come on. Her sister, a perfectly legitimate Abdolorean, has had to live the life of a secretive outcast freak with Li because she's human. I want more about their bond, and their relationship with each other, and their relationship with their father.

• It seems like the Abdoloreans teach that humanity was essentially evil and unworthy of survival for living the way they did. I need to see more about how this topic is treated within Li's household, how she thinks about her heritage, and most of all: WHY? When they were going on a field trip about the ridiculous evil of how humanity lived by FARMING COWS and CULTIVATING THE LAND of all things, Li was like "well maybe they were just ignorant - they didn't know how to live in harmony with the planet like we do." I, for one, would like to know just how the Abdoloreans live in harmony with the planet, if cultivating the land and having livestock is a horrendous degradation. What do they do? We know they eat fruit, but what else? Do they not need protein? Does Li need to eat a special diet or take supplements? How can they just drop this wacky statement and not explain how the Abdoloreans are different?

• Li's physical training. The Abdoloreans, apparently, are super strong, super fast, breathe underwater, are super agile, and don't get hurt by hardly anything. Li's dad has been secretly training her since she was a kid so that she can fit in to this world. But... we don't... see that except for like 2 little flashback scenes. Li is competing in a MILITARY TRYOUT trying to place as NUMBER ONE and there isn't any clear inequality between her and anyone else. She seems to be on an equal plane, even though we only see her do a secret training session once in like... three weeks... and the only other references to training are from the long-ago past. Is intensive training in childhood just... enough... to give Li permanent muscles and fitness?

With the level of commitment to physical things that's shown in the book, it seems like Li should be at the bottom of the barrel of her classmates, but instead she excels constantly among people who should 1) just naturally be at a higher level than her and 2) also be ACTIVELY TRAINING for this MILITARY COMPETITION. It just seems very unrealistic that Li is doing what seems to be about the same/less than everyone else, and is always in first place. Honestly Li should be doing a secret routine every single night and morning.

• Li's father. This guy must be a truly radical revolutionary. In a place where even Ryn casually criticizing the idea of universal military conscription is considered mildly dangerous and unusual, this guy SAVED A HUMAN CHILD from state-mandated genocide and secretly raised her as his own. He must have deep, serious issues with his own government that go way, way beyond just this. This kind of treason isn't just a random, one-time thing, so why does he come up only like four times, and half of those are just telling Li off for some minor infraction of the house rules? Who is this guy? What is his job, and why does he just seem content to act mild-mannered and do it, after such rebellion? His relationship with Li must be unusual, given that he cared about her enough to save her from certain death and adopt her, and compromise his entire family's safety for her, and spend her entire childhood fitting her to survive. So why does he coME UP ONLY LIKE FOUR TIMES?

• Li's loneliness. She's grown up completely isolated except for her sister, practically, having to keep her distance from everyone else. This, by itself, would create a lonely psychology of living in Rapunzel's tower and looking out at everyone else, but also being the last of her species on the planet? Why do I come away feeling none of the loneliness/confusion/longing that Li must feel?

Issues that were explored WAY TOO MUCH:

• The cute romance. Literally from page one, Li's eyes sparkle with infatuation as she sets eyes on the cute new boy. Just copy and paste that to fill the rest of the pages, and you have the general idea of what The Last Girl on Earth is like. The cute romance is quite frankly the entirety of the plot.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think this book is getting any credit for what it is - and for what it is, it's good. It's a YA romance first and foremost, so shelving it as sci-fi or fantasy is secondary at best.

For me, this read as very YA - not overly descriptive, very fast paced, almost middle grade if not for the romance. And for a YA audience, that's totally appropriate. If anything, it's somewhat underdeveloped and too short. Things like the last 10% could have been more in-depth. An epilogue would have given it some closure, although I thought the ending was great. The explanation given regarding the aliens who have occupied earth could have been expanded. The big event also could have been expanded to give the plot more tension.

So overall the story isn't fantastic. But it isn't bad, as a 2.86 GR rating would indicate. For a debut, it's far above that and definitely deserves more.

On audio, Kim Mai Guest is good with regard to emotion and expression. She's a talented voice actor, although I'm not sure she was the best choice for this particular book. Her voice tends to lend a little girl quality to the character and this character was tougher than she sounded. Emma Galvin might have been a better choice because of the grit in her voice.

[Danielle (Life of a Literary Nerd) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

“I know I have no choice. I know this is my life. But this life is a lie.”

I’m disappointed. That’s probably how I can best summarizes me feelings about The Last Girl on Earth. I thought the premise had so much promise - Li as the lone human on Earth and her personal and emotional struggle, plus I was excited to learn more about the alien race that had taken over Earth and what lead to the alien apocalypse. Unfortunately, I felt like the story glossed over everything. The story seemed to read as more of a fleshed out outline than an actual novel. The worldbuilding was done so hastily and the character introductions only briefly mentioned, I never felt like I knew what was going on. I did really love the found family aspect that Li has with her adoptive dad and sister. It was so genuine and actually impacted me emotionally. Unfortunately, the other relationships felt rushed and underdeveloped. A sad miss.

I received a copy of the book from Delacorte Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are taken from an uncorrected proof.

[Wendi Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a bit torn here. On one hand, I enjoyed this novel about a teenage girl living on Earth after aliens have obliterated humans and settled as residents. It was a quick read, and in some ways typical of a breezy, contemporary YA. Li has no memory of her human parents, having been saved by her alien father when she was only an infant. She has trained hard her whole life, making sure that no one might suspect that she’s not one of them. This kind of led me to believe that this would be a suspenseful sci-if, but that just wasn’t the case. We follow Li as she trains to be an officer in their military, but honestly, the tension and sense of danger is very low. She bonds with her sister and best friend, and there’s some instalove. But I never felt strongly that Li didn’t belong, other than physiological differences.

There is a dangerous event near the end of the novel, but even that seemed subdued, and Li’s reaction to it was troubling, alien community or not. The actual ending seemed rushed, and the one instance where I longed for more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[Mikayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate writing a review where I don't like the book. Its been a while but here goes.

I didn't mind the 5th Wave so when a friend recommended this in my class, well I thought, sure, why not? Waste of my time and life. Well, okay, given Covid, it's not like I had much to do anyway, but you probably understand where I am coming from. Aliens have never been a great litmus test but the writing for me is shallow and a bit too hard to follow. Ngl, 5th wave was too, but the characters were what invested me the most. I came to see parts of them in me? This book? Not so much. Li neither stood up to the picture I had in my mind nor did she emotionally invest me to the point where I blurred the lines in my mind when I was reading of real and imagined worlds. The world building is somewhat original but is neither fleshed out enough nor explored in a depth that I liked. One thing I cannot abide in books is cramming and this one is notorious for info dumping at the most inoperative times. You start to mayybe get hooked and then there is too much piled onto you that you feel lost and your imagination is ruined. I gave it two stars for one silly silly stupid reason: the cover is golden. The best part of the book, no lie.

[Jae Mod · Rating 3 out of 5]

***ARC provided by author in exchange for honest review***

Alexandra Blogier's The Last Girl on Earth is a YA sci-fi romance...kinda.

Li is the last human on the planet inhabited by the aliens that killed off her species. She struggles with keeping her secret and fitting in. When she meets Ryn, she finds someone that she connects with, but what will happen if he discovers her secret?

I was drawn in by the blurb of this book. It sounded interesting and unique, something that would make a great novel. But I was a bit disappointed after I finished reading. This was more of a YA romance than anything, not that there is anything wrong with that, but I thought I was getting a sci-fi read. The sci-fi, alien aspect was only evident in the acknowledgment of the gills that the aliens had, for what reason they had gills I am unsure. The aliens lived, acted and looked like humans.

Aside from the unclear alien culture, this was more a background set-up in my opinion. It gets really good at the end when Li and Ryn take off to the north, but then it just ends. I don't believe that this is a series, so that was a bit abrupt and unexpected.

I really liked the concept and it was written well, however the story lacked anything to hold my interest for most of the novel. Once my interest was peaked and the action was just starting the book was over. 3 stars.

[♠ TABI⁷ ♠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was boring, full of annoying cliches, and dominated by instalove.



Warning: This is going to be chock-full of spoilers (though honestly the plot was SO WEAK that using the term "spoilers" is, in my opinion, a generous definition) so if you don't want those, don't read any further.

So, seriously, WHAT EVEN WAS THIS BOOK??? I'm so confused and lost and frustrated. I mean, really, that is a lovely cover promising me some fascinating insights on characters in a unique situation. Last human on an alien-dominated Earth?? Oh, yes please. I shall read that.

I read it. And lost hope at around page 22 when Li can't concentrate on class because, wait for it, a boy looked at her. Like, she hasn't met the eyes of anyone of the opposite gender before?? Oh no. This guy is The Love Interest™, so any looks he serves are going to be Looks.



All right, I enjoy well-written romance. I enjoy the happiness when my ships finally are recognized and paddle their way through a sea of angst and feels to a nice ending. I like reading the development of a romance, how two characters come together and form an emotional connection ('cause let's be honest; physical wouldn't be anything really to sneeze at without some emotions thrown in) and how that develops them as characters.

BUT ONLY WHEN ROMANCE IS SECONDARY OR REALISTICALLY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT!!!! If there is a romance-driven plot, I usually don't like it. And this book says it's not romance-driven . . . but it is.

But it's also not??? Because there is about 1% plot and 99% me getting a headache from the stupidity of the "plot twists". HOW ON EARTH DOES A FACTUALLY STRONGER ALIEN GUY DIE FROM BEING STABBED IN THE NECK WITH A STICK FROM A WEAK HUMAN GIRL??? No offense to my species, but it's said over and over that Li is weaker, blah blah blah and etc. But then she just kills Braxon, her strongest challenge, with a freaking stick?? Not to mention the cringey cliche of the situation where she is forced to kill him . . . It's a big no from me.

I feel like I'm not making much sense. WELL THIS BOOK DOESNT MAKE SENSE OKAY??? It's like stupid faerie tricks where they offer you a lovely apple that, in reality, is just a pile of dirt and cobwebs. No thanks.

I should stop now because this is basically nothing but a rant. But am I going to stop? Nope. Not yet.

BECAUSE I HAVE TO YELL ABOUT THE STUPID ABDOLOREANS who are said to be these different beings, but y'all, they are basically humans with gills. How unique. How fascinating. How absolutely . . . BORING!!!



I read this because I was bored. And then I kept reading this because I wanted to see just HOW far it would go in levels of boring. And it was very, very, veryyyyyyyyyyyyyy far. Wow. There is just SO MUCH this could be, but then it swerves onto the path of boringness, and leaves me ready to throw the book against the wall and never touch it again.

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. It could have been better, and that's the saddest thing about it. The writing is pretty good, though a good bit empty, for lack of a better word. There is a lot of untapped potential in the characters, like actors forced into a terrible script and even if they're Oscar winners, nope, even they can't do anything with the plot, just slog through it until the bitter, boring end.

Speaking of an end, I should stop this review now. For real.

Here's a more precise review on what went wrong with this book.

[catherine ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Actual Rating: 2

The cover for this book is SO BEAUTIFUL, but the blurb for this is a bit misleading. The synopsis for The Last Girl on Earth speaks of an Earth in which all humans have been wiped out. The planet has been taken over by Abdoloreans, beings who have special abilities. The story centers on Li, and shockingly, she is the last girl on earth. She grew up in hiding, blending in with her fellow aliens. But at a point, Li will come of age. And it is time to take the tests that will decide her future. Everything becomes a little more complicated when Li meets Ryn, and for the first time, she has someone to live for.

It's true that the genre is science fiction, and the author did create a world that was original, but it wasn't fully explored and the plot focused solely on the romance, making the book seem a little more like one of those teen chick-lit dramas. There was some of the world-building aspect of the book that contributed to Li's future, and it reminded me a bit of the competition in Nyxia, except I kept waiting for the action-adventure to start, but it never did. Instead, it was brought up near the ending, but I wished it had played a much larger part in the story.

The characters were okay; I felt like the romantic relationship definitely moved super fast, since it was the focus of the book. Personally, I never really felt a deep connection with anyone, and I think Li's feeling of loneliness of being the only human left in the world could have been further developed, perhaps turning into determination or courage that could be intertwined with a more action-driven adventure. Some of the side characters also made decisions and said things that were simply frustrating to read, and I felt like in this world they could have focused on things that were more important than stereotypical teenage romantic drama.

The writing style was really good though. I actually really enjoyed the writing, especially at the beginning of the book. I do think that simply if the book had been longer and the focus had been more on the "last girl on the earth" part instead of the "falling in love" part, this could have been really great. The book is a little short, and the ending makes me wonder if there is a sequel that can actually explore the world more.

[OutlawPoet · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I'll likely be in the minority here. I was very unhappy with this read.

The world building is lazy. Our aliens look exactly like humans, except they have gills, they're very smart, and very agile. They wear jeans. Let me say again...they wear jeans.

Our girl has a case of insta-love with an alien-boy. Okay, they're all aliens except for her. But alien-boy has zero personality. He's handsome, though (looking thoroughly human except the gills - and he looks good in - say it again - jeans).

Human-girl (aka last human alive, aka angsty teen) wants to be an officer in the military. Somehow, the fact that they all hate humans and that, eventually someone's going to find out, seems to escape her entirely. But hey, she's not that bright.

But somehow, she's the bestest leader on the face of the Earth (that once held humans) - and yes, I said 'bestest'.

So, with our non-existent world building and unimaginative aliens, we enter...drama! There's a villain! Someone might find out she's human. (Or, since she's not that bright, the girl who is worried that someone might find out she's human and kill her as the vermin they think she is - MIGHT START TELLING PEOPLE SHE'S HUMAN!. Oy.)

But...do all the people who hate her actually tell the military she's human? Or does the author give us a softball, lovey-dovey, insta-love-fabulous ending that answers absolutely nothing and makes all the drama completely pointless?

Hmmm...can you guess?

Recommended? Nope. (Because gills and freaking jeans.)

*** Book received via Amazon Vine Program

[Kira Simion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, it wasn't that it was badly written, just that there wasn't enough writing.

The Last Girl on Earth was a story with a unique idea as a basis. No, I agree, that eradicating humans, and aliens themselves aren't different than the myriad of other stories that can be found a click away, but there's more. The book had a girl whose father hid the fact that they were human so as to protect them. But the human child still excelled at things the aliens did, which I found both unrealistic (in this instance), yet undeniably intriguing as the child had to do much more just to stay afloat.

The thing I enjoyed the most were the beginning bits because not only did the idea of beating the odds make my heart race, but the adamant feeling of family I got from the father, even though some of his actions may be deemed un-fatherlike, made my heart happy.

To sum it up, the main thing that I found problematic was the pacing and lack of depth for all the other parts. It wasn't the writing style that was off-putting, but rather the pacing and lack of how she changed, why she changed, and why anyone really did what they did. (*cough* To move the plot *cough*) It was superficial to put it bluntly, but I believe if there had been more writing, more time (or if enough time, pages?) I would have enjoyed this immensely.

2.5/5 stars. But I am curious to see the author's future work.

[Ѽ tazannah Ѽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this being really good, and just skimmed through it yesterday, and I wasn’t as knowledgeable about mature topics yet. But skimming alone, I could tell it wasn’t very well written and didn’t have a very sci-fi feel? I mean it is but like… idk how to explain it.

It was on the smaller end, and wasn’t executed that great. The writing was underdeveloped, the characters were bland, and the world building was ehhh.

The concept of this book was great. A human surviving in a world full of human-like-but-not-quite-human creatures, where, in their world, anyone found being a human is killed. She must learn to survive and adapt to their lifestyle.

But then she falls in love with one of them, and then you have the over protective dad, who still was rightfully worried, and then the guy she likes struggling with his loyalty and yada yada.

However, there were some CONTENT ISSUES. From a Christian POV, one of the characters in this book liked girls and dreams about kissing them. (Not sure if she actually does, though.)

Also, the MC and the her love interest kiss, their hands sometimes wandering to inappropriate places. The MMC one time kisses her on her chest. There’s also the taking of God’s name in vain.

Just a heads up!!

So 4 stars for my enjoyment to my wayyy younger self but as of right now, prolly a 3.5 stars.

[Tiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book with seedlings of potential that did not quite hit its mark.

What I Liked:

The Romance was fun to watch grow as the characters moved closer together and further apart. I liked seeing their love grow even as doubts settled in Li’s mind that they could ever possibly work together.

The Premise was interesting and was part of why I picked this book up in the first place. I like the idea of a world that was inhabited by another species of which some had compassion for the people who originated there while others did everything they could to wipe them out.

Siblings beyond blood. I love that Li has a sister in this book who is very much not anywhere near to being like her. I love seeing familial bonds that extend outside of typical bloodlines.

The Dad is ferocious and kind. He trains Li like a madman, but does it out of a whole lot of love for someone who grew up to be a daughter to him. He can be very overprotective, but considering how this story has unfolded that is completely understandable.

What I Didn’t Like:

The story feels forced. I wish this wasn’t the case, but there are a lot of things about this story that brings you out of it and makes you feel that it doesn’t quite make the mark of believable.

Unnecessary sisterly combat. I wish that this story would have left the two sisters alone, but the fact that Li was trying to tell her sister a truth about a guy her sister was seeing and how it really doesn’t go over well feels very arbitrary. I know that it can be hard to swallow difficult truths, but when it comes to siblings even if anger arises the advice and knowledge should still be able to be accepted.

How human the aliens were. The aliens in this novel had very few differences to the human in this novel. Yes they had gills and yes they had natural abilities that are much stronger then a human, but honestly it wasn’t so different to a human because it is entirely possible for a human to train enough to exude the same strength and endurance. I feel that it made it a little bit harder to believe because it feels like everyone’s base strength is beyond the limits of a humans best strength and for Li to train to fit in doesn’t take away the fact that she is human and that there are limits she simply can’t go past. Especially considering, that she’s going against the best and the brightest and still being a part of the top to be an officer and that’s just a tad unrealistic to me.

It took me a while to even remember the story… It’s been a little while since I’ve read this, but the fact that it took me a bit to recall a lot of details of what happened in this book says that it didn’t really leave any particular special mark on me. That isn’t to say the story was bad. It just didn’t really impact me in the way that every great story should.

All in All:

The Last Girl on Earth was an interesting story that shows what can happen when a world encompasses and destroys most of the other. It is your typical sci-fi that can be a fun read when your in the mood for something with a tinge of otherworldliness. I enjoyed this book, but I wish it reached its full potential.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a super quick read, it took me maybe.. 2 hours?? Anyways it's a pretty short book. So I really liked the idea of the book! I liked the beginning of it and it could've been really good, however it focused way too much on the romance. Like they get together pretty quick, and when there's anything dramatic it didn't really feel dramatic they didn't really have strong emotions. I really wanted to learn more about the Abdoloreans and I wanted them to feel more alien I guess?? Even though it said they were not human it just seemed to me like they were super humans or something?? Like in the description of the book it said: "They don't think with human minds or feel with human hearts." but they really acted like humans.. And I think that it was a rushed ending, not everything was resolved and I feel it could use more like another book and it seems like this is a standalone?? Some things I did like about the book was the diversity and the closeness of Li and her sister. Overall I wouldn't recommend this to someone but it was an okay read.

[emma (thehapabookworm) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to the aliens that tried to destroy humanity, Li is the only human left on earth. To hide her secret, she trained relentlessly with her adoptive father to blend in. Her secret could be exposed, however, when she falls in love with an alien boy.

Last Girl on Earth felt like a B-list Disney Channel movie, disturbingly glossing over its main plot points of genocide and murder in the name of a first crush. It’s pretty cover hides a mediocre and cliche story. It should be noted that Alexandra Blogler might be trying to make a point about environmentalism (don’t destroy the planet or aliens will kill us) but it’s lost under whatever the heck was happening in this novel.

[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tough one as I have so many thoughts and feelings.

Pro: It's a super quick read (roughly 250-ish pages)
Pro: It is a simplistic story without a lot of confusion

Con: Little to no world building
Con: Very little character development
Con: The last 20% of the book has everything crammed into it
Con: Far too much detail was given where it wasn't needed
Con: The ending

**Huge THANKS to the publisher for sending an arc so I could review! This in no way affected my thoughts and feelings.**

------------

Full review can be found here: https://agingerlyreview.wordpress.com...

I have been craving more sci-fi books lately so when I heard about The Last Girl on Earth by Alexandra Blogier, I knew I had to read it. Aliens and other planets and one human left in existence? Sign me up! While I was super excited to start this book, I did not share the same excitement when I finished. This story is rather light on the sci-fi, weak on the world building, and heavy on the romance.

Short recap: Li is hiding in plain sight. She is the last human but she has to keep her identity a secret. She is living with and being raised by her adoptive Abdolorean family. Her adopted father trained her from day one to be as smart, as strong, and as tough as the other Abdoloreans. Can Li continue to keep her true identity a secret even after she graduates and goes off to the serve her planet?

Pretty intense, right? Well… not so much. When it comes to world building, believe me when I say it is pretty non-existent. I knew nothing much about this universe/world other than the people on this particular planet are super smart (they never need to study), they are rarely hurt, they love to swim, they look exactly like humans except that they have gills. The ecosystem is the same as Earth (but Earth and humans are bad! BOO! YUCK!) so Li is able to mesh in with society like she belonged there. Her adoptive father had her fake gills surgically implanted when she was small so for some reason they know to grow with her as she gets bigger? I didn’t understand that but it wasn’t explained. Actually, there is not a lot explained. I just had to accept it and frankly, I’m not that kind of reader. I had questions that would never be answered.

I never really fully connected with this as I never connected with the characters. Li felt badly underdeveloped. I knew she was constantly afraid of being “discovered” because she had inner monologues with herself about it all of the time. When she wasn’t obsession over fitting in, she was worried about regular teenage stuff: fitting in at school, being popular, and the hot boy liking her. Oh goodness did she obsess over the boys. Enter trope mysterious hot new boy: Ryn. Ryn was the son of military parents and as a result they moved from planet to planet. Because he was new to Abdolorean, all of the girls wanted him. OH NO, he only had eyes for Li. Now Li and Ryn have instalove like I have never read about before. It was not pleasant. These two immediately became joined at the hip and they could think about nothing other than each other. That would be great if this had been a contemporary story from the start. The instalove these two had overshadowed the entire story. I almost cannot remember what else took place because all I read about was these two wanting to spend time with each other. Ryn wasn’t a bad character, but he had an answer for everything and was just too cool for school. You name the planet in the universe and Ryn had already lived there with his family. You named an experience and Ryn had a better one with his family. In a silent way he was a one-upper while still trying to be cool and mysterious.

Let’s not forget Li’s bestest friend. I don’t even remember her name because she was very self-absorbed and a snot. I didn’t like her. If she was really a best friend she would not have treated Li the way she did. Li spent so much time trying to protect her identity that it prevented her from going out and doing stuff with her friends. Li’s best friend was so rude every time Li could not join. She made the worse comments and was just too snide for my tastes. Even in the end, this friend was nasty and she got what she deserved. Now did any of these characters develop and go throughout the course of the story? Not that I saw, but the story was just north of 250 pages. That isn’t a lot of time to properly world build, establish a plot, and develop characters.

Another thing that really stood out to me while I read through this was how far too much detail was given when it really wasn’t needed, and not enough detail was given where it was necessary. Example: Li is training to become a part of Abdolorean’s army, which is dispatched throughout the universe. Minute detail is given to every training scenario Li goes through, but no detail was given to why Abdolorean felt the need to wipe out the Human race? Why they felt everyone on Earth needed to be destroyed and having cows was a terrible thing? AND THAT ENDING. WHAT? Blogier crammed nearly all of the action and climax into the last 20 pages of the book and never explained anything. It all happened way too fast and when it was over, I set the book down and said, “What just happened.” I wanted so much more from this story. I walked away with far more questions than I started with and I know I won’t ever get those answers.

Don’t go into this story expecting a blockbuster sci-fi because I’m afraid you won’t get it. I know I didn’t. Maybe if you read it you’ll like it better than me. Sadly this was just not for me.

[Emily,Ms.AuthorGirlie-Jacks,Keefe,Thorne’s Version · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
It’s was mid, I really just skimmed it and wasn’t invested. It could’ve been better 🫤

[Lacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Last Girl on Earth reads more like a novella than a full book. Though, it's not that great of a book, it was enjoyable up to about the last ten percent where it became an entirely different story. And then it just ended?. The ending literally didn't even fit with the rest of the book. This was my second time reading this book and up until that point I didn't remember why I originally rated it so low. Now, I remember. Maybe it would have made more sense if it was part of a series? I don't know. I'm not sure I care. I gotta say too, as much as I love stories having romance, this was some of the worst instalove crap I've ever seen. I had planned to write a more upbeat review but the more I write, the more irritated I become with the book. The cover is gorgeous. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Bernadette · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how Li survived all seventeen years before the book opens. None.

So she's the last human, surrounded by aliens who'd kill her in an instant if they knew the truth. These aliens are faster, stronger, and better at studying. Oh, and they can breath underwater. Nobody's sure why they have this random collection of advantages in a completely humanoid body, but that's not the point right now. In the first couple of chapters Li manages to: nearly die climbing a cliff with her friends; nearly drown while swimming with her friends; fall head-over-heels for the first handsome guy she sees; almost give away her secret half a dozen times.

Sadly for Li, the handsome guy she falls for has no personality, but by the time she realizes that (oh wait she doesn't) she's too deeply mired in his glamour. Ryn seems like a nice guy. He's nicer than a lot of love interests. Just... completely forgettable.

And then stuff happens.

Just kidding. Nothing much happens, just Li doing school and competing for officership straight out of highschool, as you do. We get some nice flashbacks that explain how she is faster and stronger than the genetically superior aliens: when she was just a tot her alien-adoptive-father was already teaching her to climb giant redwoods and swing/leap/run from branch to branch, and then when she was a bit older she kept doing that but with a blindfold on, and wow how did she not die. There was that one time she got a concussion. That may explain a lot of things, actually.

There's a burst of action at the end - obviously I'm not going to tell you what happens - but it felt like all the conflict building through the story exploded and then was resolved in a matter of pages, which was a letdown.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book I REALLY wanted to like. I loved the concept of the novel and how unique all the ideas were in this novel. The author truly has an incredible imagination and I applaud her creativity!

One of the main problems I had with this book was the world building. I felt like there were a lot of plot holes and not enough elaboration on how this worked in this world. It all seemed rushed and unexplained.

The characters in this book were fine, but not very memorable at all.

I also was not a fan of the romance in this novel. The romance was the perfect example of insta-love. I did not feel or understand the connection between the characters. I will admit that there were some cute moments between the characters, but as a whole, the romance did not work for me. The other relationships in this book were also underdeveloped. I would have loved to see the friendships in this story develop more than they did.

I am sad that I did not enjoy this book! If this sounds like a book that intrigues you, you might want to try it for yourself and form your own opinion! However, this book was just not for me.

2 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *

MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It
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[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was SUCH A QUICK READ! I've never read such a short book in my entire life! The synopsis sounded so great, but li.....as well as everyone else seemed flat and rushed to me.

I also have so many questions that haven't been answered!

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press.

Li is the last human left on Earth. When the Abdoloreans first came to her planet, they were there to help, but humans proved too destructive to survive. Li’s father took her from the planet before the nuclear bombs went off and returned with her when it was safe, raising her as one of his own alongside his Abdolorean daughter, Zo. Li has always lived in secret, and she must work twice as hard to be as strong and clever as an Abdolorean. With an assessment coming up that will decide her entire future, Li can’t afford to be distracted by the new boy, Ryn, and she has to decide between surviving in safety and putting herself in danger by living a full life.

This book never quite took off for me, and it fails to really develop past its interesting concept. It’s difficult to tell what direction it’s going to take because the conflict isn’t obvious for most of the book, and then it resolves too quickly to be satisfying. The places where it has the potential to be most interesting–Li’s feelings about the loss of her entire race, the Abdolorean culture, and whether or not the Abdolorean invasions on other planets are justified (which could make an interesting parallel between British/American colonialism)–are left mostly unexplored, and the story suffers from it. Blogier could have a fascinating world if she went past the surface details, and those were the times I was most interested in the novel.

For the most part, the writing is good on a sentence level, and I never felt distracted by it. The relationships are a little overdramatic; it’s the end of the world when Li and Ryn have some setbacks, and neither of the romances are as interesting as Li and Zo’s sister relationship, which is probably the strongest in the novel. The characters themselves aren’t overwhelming. I never really got a good sense of Li; her descriptions are split between her own struggles to keep up with the Abdoloreans and keep her secret and the somewhat startling way that her friends see her, which is among the best of all of them. Outside of that, they all seem like fairly typical teenagers, with the exception of Braxon. He’s a lukewarm villain, and I had trouble seeing his motivations.

As I mentioned, the end conflict is a little too quick and neat for me, and the rest of the novel is open-ended. I think I would have found it frustrating had I been more invested in it, but at that point, it was much like everything else in failing to have an impact. The younger demographic of YA readers might like it for its easy romance and science fiction, which is appropriate because it’s all fairly PG-13. I didn’t dislike it, but it’s just kind of… forgettable.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[Vicky Again]

the short version: would not recommend. messy & not enough development.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I read this novel, but it sure wasn't this.

I hadn't read the summary (I got this ARC from my library) and I picked it up solely from the cover (I picked up all the upcoming ARCs oops) and the fact that I would be able to write an early review that would hopefully help the book's release.

I can't really say this is going to help much.

I had no solid expectations except an inkling of what this story was about. In my head based on the cover, I imagined something about a girl who's entire family died in the apocalypse and she really is the last person on Earth. Themes of grief and self-discovery and growth were all things I was expecting.

Instead, I got something very different than this fantasy I conjured up.

Li as a character isn't the worst I've seen, but she's definitely not the brightest specimen left on Earth, let's just say that. She makes some really dumb decisions and has little regard for her own safety.

Let me emphasize the stakes here. If she's discovered human, she will be taken to a facility, tortured for scientific purposes, and then killed. If I was in Li's position, I wouldn't even try to have a life. I'd just hide in the basement for my whole life getting my foster father to bring me more books.

But no. Li is all la-dee-da going to school and hoping to fit in as one of these aliens even though it's been made clear that humans aren't as strong or smart as the aliens. But Li is a special snowflake. She's been trained from birth by her foster dad to be smart and athletic and fit in with the superior alien dudes--and now she's trying to be the top of her class! *cue gasps*

This makes no sense. Unless Li's a genius child, it's been established that the aliens are super smart and that humans are petty specks of dust. So how is she 1) smarter than her best friend (more on that later) and 2) the top of her class.

Are these aliens not as smart than they're portrayed, or is Li just a super special snowflake (besides the fact that she's the Last Girl on Earth™)?

But whatever. She wasn't a terrible character when she wasn't doing any decision making or ignoring her personal safety.

I felt the side characters were also very underdeveloped, even the love interest.

Her bond with her sister could have been so much more. There could have been some showing of how they're amazing sisters and love and care for another, but instead it was fight and then remember that you love each other at the last moment and take for granted that their bond was strong right before they were going to die. I wasn't really a fan her and her foster sister's bond because it felt underdeveloped and too much tell and not enough show.

Her best friend is the other side character I want to touch on. Why is Mirabae (her best friend) portrayed as not as smart and a jealous bitch? It felt like the author was making Mirabae less of a person to juxtapose her against Li and make Li look like a super smart special angle snowflake girl. Couldn't we have some awesome support groups and Mirabae and Li building each other up?

I wasn't a fan of their relationship either, and it was very take-for-granted like the relationship with her half-sister.

I did, however, enjoy her relationship with her father because there was this one scene where he helps her study for her test the next day, which I found was a good example of their bond and what I wanted to see with her friends & sister.

And now to the romance & male main character, Ryn.

Ryn was bland, cookie-cutter, and mysterious. I didn't know who Ryn was, other than the fact that he doesn't have good relationships with his family and he likes marine biology and he moved around a lot. He was a case of Mysterious Boy™ and this was basically the reason why Li liked him. And the fact that he didn't have a burning hatred for humans like the rest of the aliens.

I don't really have much to say on the romance because it was just like a lot of other YA romances. It was too insta-lovey, not enough angst, and didn't feel genuine.

It did, however, work as a plot point. It was the motivator for things to happen in the last half of the novel, which helped justify why it was there, although I can't say I enjoyed it.

The plot didn't make much sense, and a lot of this had to do with the premise. There's not a lot of plot to go off of already (short book), but the idea that the aliens thought humans were not taking care of the Earth well so they decided to kill them all is just absurd.

If they were sentient alien beings who interacted with the humans, why would they kill them? Why do they have this burning hatred against them? Couldn't reform have happened instead, or dictatorship? But mass genocide? Is that really the answer?

It just seems implausible that sentient alien beings who think pretty human-like choose massacre as the answer. It just doesn't seem possible, unless the aliens harbored a hatred for humans and wanted a reason to kill them all.

But killing everyone because they destroyed the natural environment was way too extreme and a possibility I feel didn't work well with the book. Something other than this close-minded view that all humans are bad would have been better, in my opinion.

I also felt like not enough emotional weight was put on the fact that the entire human race was basically wiped away. I would be concerned. I am concerned.

This book is really short. It's under 300 pages and my favorite part was the pacing. It was a fast and quick, easy read, which was good while I read it because I was less frustrated reading than I am writing this review.

Because thinking about this novel is not as enjoyable as reading it. It was fast, it was mildly entertaining when it wasn't frustrating, but it was overall very unrealistic and lacking in many aspects. I unfortunately would not recommend this novel.

Thank you to my library and Random House for providing me with this (uncatalogued) ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Tez · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are stereotypes about book packagers - that they figure out what a market wants, and write to the market. (Rather than write first, figure out how to market it later.)

I've read enjoyable books by book packagers before, including this packager - Alloy Entertainment. (I like Katharine McGee's The Thousandth Floor.) But this book? It doesn't work. (Checking other Goodreads user's notes, I'm not alone.) Albeit, at age 33 I am not the target market.

I usually appreciate short books, but this one came across as completing a checklist, but lacking soul. Things happen quickly (e.g. a character finds something to use as a weapon and kills another character, all within one paragraph), and nothing is really dwelled on. There's an old quote, "I hate writing, but I love having written." I definitely got that vibe here, intentionally or otherwise.

It's sad when the most interesting character in a YA book is the father. Li's dad definitely has the most interesting backstory. Instead, we're stuck in a story that skims the surface, remains shallow, and never dives deep.

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

"You have to be just as strong and fast and smart as everyone else on this planet. You have to be more than human, Li. You have to be one of us."

Li is the last human on earth. Literally. Sixteen years ago, an alien race known as the Abdoloreans came to Earth, saw the destruction humans had wreaked on it, and declared that humanity was not fit to live. While they bombed the planet and eradicated the human race, Li's adoptive father, a human-sympathizer, spirited her away and raised her as his own. Li has lived her entire life as an Abdolorean with only her father and her sister as her confidantes. But exceeding her humanity isn't easy; Abdoloreans are stronger, faster, smarter, and hardier than humans, and Li mustn't let her humanness show. She pins her future on becoming an officer in the Forces, the Abdolorean military that requires a seven-year conscription. Li must not only work harder than everyone else, she must keep her secret and not get distracted by the attractive Abdolorean boy who is clearly interested in her.

I was prepared to give The Last Girl on Earth two stars up until the last 50 or so pages. By that time, this slim book (around 250 pages) was wearing me out. I fully admit to skimming large portions of this book, continually checking my page number to see how close I was to finishing, and actively rolling my eyes - 1 star.

The idea for the book isn't bad. I mean, it's kind of a mashup between Alienated and Dove Arising, with a heavy (and I mean heavy) focus on the romance. But the issue is that this book is heavily cliched in every manner possible.

For instance, I didn't care about a single character. I didn't. And it totally sucks. Li was like a wet sheet of paper, her family were less than one-dimensional, if that's even possible, her "best friend" Maribae is hardly worth noting, her love interest is dull and disgustingly "perfect" while being incredibly like every single boring male lead you've ever seen before. They don't stand out. I don't care about them, I didn't understand them.

From there, I didn't think this world had any attention given to it. There are all these planets and races mentioned, and none of them mean anything to us. Even the Abdoloreans are just... there. Apparently they're physically human in every way, except for the fact that they have gills that allow them to breathe underwater (and no, it's not explained why.) They are superior than humans in almost every regard; they are stronger and faster, they have more endurance, they learn quicker, their memories are impeccable, their bodies are less prone to injury. Yet this doesn't stop Li from murdering Braxon with... a stick?

And, honestly, the blurb makes it seem that Li is struggling with who she is; she's been raised as an Abdolorean, but she's human and she's aware of what the aliens have done to the native humanoids.

For the first time, what I'm doing becomes fully clear to me. I'm joining the same military that eliminated my entire species, the military that bombed my home planet, the one that killed my family.

But, like, the idea of prejudice between races exists for .3 seconds. Li has people to make out with, after all.

Which leads to the fact that the entire book was overshadowed by hardcore instalove. To be fair, I'm not sure that we're really missing much to begin with. Li describes her day-to-day life in boring detail, from the games she plays with her sister, Zo, to the way her apple tastes for breakfast.

There's a mild focus on the training for their "Assessment" test, which will place Li and her friends in their military posts depending on their performance. It's one part training montage (with not a lot of training, to be honest) and one part exam. Li keeps saying that it's important, that she must do well, and it inspires a rivalry between her and one of her unit teammates, who also wants to be an officer (but, like, I don't know why they both can't be?)

But really, this book is about love. Well, love as Li and Ryn see it. They see each other and it's googly eyes from the very start. Li has lived her entire life knowing that she can't get close to others, for fear that they'll discover her secret, but she just can't stop herself from being attracted to Ryn, whose characterization relies on the fact that he doesn't want to be a commander in the military, like his father before him. It even comes to the point where Li is weighing her relationship with Ryn over her goal of becoming an officer, which is, for some reason, described as being the only way for her to protect her secret (though I don't know why.) Another character flat out tells her not to get distracted, and she's like "but I love him!" I totally admit to making a very unladylike gagging sound when I read that. I did. How rude of me.

But the real kicker was that ending. Because it just ends. Conclusion? What's that? I haven't seen anything saying that this would be a sequel (and I wouldn't read it even if there was), but I certainly don't feel like that's the ending to a standalone. Everything is still up in the air.

In short, I want those three hours of my life back. Luckily, since this was a short book, once I started skimming it didn't take that long to get through it. This was majorly not a book for me. I found it too cliché and too much like a sad copy of other books, and I just couldn't make myself like it.