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Planet Zero

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A spaceship crash survivor, Addie Rye is lucky to be alive. But being stuck on a primitive planet isn’t exactly the epitome of luck. With no way home, Addie has no choice but learn how to use stone tools and catch her dinner before cooking it while attempting to befriend a tribe of wild nomads who inhabit this planet.

His injuries rendering him useless in the eyes of his tribe, embattled Zoark is content to occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder. When Addie ingratiates herself into his tribe, he doesn’t trust her and goes out of his way to make her feel unwelcome. But soon, he is captivated by her grit and resilience and enchanted by her human spirit. Against his will, his long-dormant protective instincts come to life.

As the tribe moves around this vast alien steppe, tensions mount among its people, augmented by dwindling resources, violent predators, and marauding rivals. Only the strongest will survive, and Zoark needs Addie to keep him going. Knowing the fate of the tribe may one day depend on this man, Addie agrees to his impersonal proposition. But can her human heart remain detached?

560 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2021

203 people are currently reading
1621 people want to read

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Lydia Hope

14 books427 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 301 reviews
Profile Image for Ruby Dixon.
Author 161 books19.7k followers
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October 14, 2021
I went ahead and read this one while on a break from TOG.

Really, really interesting. Very intense world building that was fascinating (and super rough for the characters). I'm still thinking about this one hours after I finished it. I feel it's less of a romance (though there is a good one) and more of a scifi adventure that happens to have a romance, if that makes sense? Kinda like Last Hour of Gann was 60/40 scifi adventure / romance. This was similar.

The author def doesn't do epilogues, which made me a lil sad because I wanted that sappy wrap up. Overall though, an excellent read and can't wait to buy the next of whatever this author writes. :)
Profile Image for Amanda.
804 reviews184 followers
October 21, 2021
Here we are once again for another Mixed Bag Review, where I treat GR as my LiveJournal...and I will figure out the rating as I go. Hell if I know what it's going to be, other than not an extreme on either end. Not a 4 either.



There will be some mild spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

Like so many SciFi/SFR lovers, I fell hard in love with a little book that debuted last January and became an unexpected favorite of many: I've read it several times myself. Mx. Hope can really tell a story when she wants to.

However.

That success has not translated into her later works. Her second book had many issues and those same issues plague this story as well.

Let's start the +/- list.

Mx. Hope's work in a lot of ways reminds me of some of my other scifi/paranormal romance-adjacent authors who get misclassed as Romance like R Lee Smith and Pixie Unger: she seems to enjoy writing stories that have a budding romantic relationship in them and to leave them open-ended instead of giving 2 epilogues with extra sex scenes and 8 babies. She still has a way to go before her story telling is consistently equal with either. I'm fine with that, but if you're someone expecting this to be a Romance, then you're going to be disappointed. This is a science fiction story with romantic and sexual components to it.

+ This story starts strong, and like Hope's second work, it has an interesting premise to it—not the most original and the influences on it are a bit too obvious. The first 25% of this story is genuinely enjoyable to read.

But.

- The execution and follow-through just isn't there. And it's really clear to see where in the story Hope struggled to get this written and decided to just release it. Sometimes it's better to trunk a story and let it marinate than just push it out to be done with it. I suspect this story isn't as polished as the author would have liked, and I have my suspicions as to what could help. (Seriously: strong beta readers who are not worried they'll hurt your feelings and will find your typos, push back and question your ideas and characters to help you develop them, and then... more revisions.)

- Multiple characters including our main, Addie, have non-sensical personality shifts throughout the story. Addie in the first 25% of the book is not the Addie we get the rest of the story, and that's a bummer, because who likes seeing a character devolve and get more prejudiced as the plot progresses? The attitudes should have been flip-flopped to illustrate growth, but alas, none was to be had. Unless you count her changed attitude about f*cking one alien. Then, I...guess she had some development?

Yeah. Not really.

And why wasn't a nurse the least bit intellectually curious about the people whose planet she's now living on? She was there for 2 years. More than long enough to get over her THEY ARE BEASTS! attitude, realize that yeah, they are people, and notice some of their biological peculiarities and inquire about them to learn more.

+ But!! We get a rare female protagonist who was married and without all of the justifications that he was terrible so readers can feel more comfortable that she will love again. What happened to Addie is awful, made worse by the fact she still loved and missed her husband who she'd never see again. So this excited me, because how many white women do we need to read about who Never Had Any Friends, Has No Non-Abusive Family, Is An Orphan, Everyone Hates Her...and how they all magically ended up in space to find their HEA? Of course there are going to be people who had families, spouses, friends they'll never see again.

No one's magically hand-picking "orphaned" 23 year olds to keep as breeders.

But with the current trends of later marriage ages that it's safe to assume will continue, what are the odds that a college educated woman of 27 was married all that long to her spouse? I would have loved to see Addie a bit older and more seasoned. 30 is still young. So is 35. 40 isn't terribly old either.

- For all the length, there's a serious lack of background for our narrator, Addie, nor her 2 years so far on Planet Zero. Details were brought up later without the seeds sown in the first part of the book. Particularly the tent city that was allegedly a Den of Iniquity!!!! It took me way too long to figure out that the leader of the tent city was actually a human woman. Like. The last 15% of the story.

- Description is sorely lacking. I still could not tell you exactly what the For look like except tall and maybe wolf or saber tooth tiger or bat faced?? Hairy but not their chests, I guess? So many words in this book but they were spent in odd places. If you're going to write a 400+ page story, you can spare half a page here and there to sprinkle in some details. No need to be stingy. I'm always quick to snark that apparently the author has no idea what their aliens look like either when this happens.

- For female antagonists, Hope falls back on Sneaky Bitches™ and Jealous Bitches™, which I'm never down for. It's gross. Hints at a lack of ideas. And similar plot points could have come around with more nuance and frankly, interest. Is there anything more tired than a woman who is jealous and plotting against every other woman...including her daughter? All while fluttering her lashes at The Men and playing victim?



But it takes skill and a lot of revision to get there. It's easier to paste in a flat caricature and call it a day. (The male antagonists were equally as bad. Arrogant Religious Leader On A Power Trip and Spineless Leader are tired and busted too.)

Another review described this as a story of hard to like characters, and I'm going to have to agree with that. But they're not enjoyable to read either. Pity.

And on and on. I'm going to have a novella myself if I keep dissecting. These are the biggest points that jumped out at me to talk about.



TW/CW: constant traumatic events—including attacks by creatures and other people that are described in detail, gore, a shit ton of ableist thought and language choices, kidnapping, implied sexual slavery, attempted perceived child marriage, child abuse

Taking all of this into consideration....

Real Rating: 2.5 stars
---------------------
And now for the problematic ding. Someday I hope to never have to do another one of these, seriously.

Appropriation of indigenous terms when other choices were available.

"Teepee" is a bastardized term to refer to a specific group of indigenous peoples' portable tents. Tents in all forms exist in many cultures and the ones in this story could have been called...a tent. Or given a For name for Addie to use. If the image of a conical tent with the supports sticking out of the top was needed, she could have used that in the exposition without using the term. This paired with other uncomfortably close stereotypes of indigenous plains' people made me feel the ding was necessary.

(Un-Fun fact: the alleged origin of alien romance was to prolong use of indigenous American stereotypes without being called out for writing racist romances. Just take those Othering stereotypes and make them aliens. Problem fixed! [Any child of the 70s and 80s with a parent who read romance surely saw more than a few of that particular flavor romance.])

And.

Persistent use of offensive and objectifying language toward disabled people. It's one thing for a fictional society that does not value disabled and impaired members of their community to use offensive and demeaning terms towards them, but there was no need for an allegedly empathetic and "enlightened" protagonist to also. The word "cripple" to describe Zoark is used by Addie in here a lot.

When you know better, you do better.
Profile Image for Bex (Beckie Bookworm).
2,516 reviews1,592 followers
September 23, 2025



This was a fantastic read I had exceedingly high hopes after previously reading Homebound and devouring it so this one had a hell of a lot to live up to. The world-building here was immense and so well done some of the best I’ve encountered to date. This really showcased the strength and will to survive that was possessed by one human woman. But not just surviving also managing to forge a whole new place for herself on this strange brutal planet and then actually be happy. The resilience and dogged determination Addie possessed, her compassion and backbone she was one hell of a woman. Every time she was knocked down she just came back at life a whole lot stronger and all the time staying true to her own character and big heart.

This isn’t your typical sci-fi romance it’s so much deeper. It’s not incredibly graphic and it's all very slow-burn. The Romance here also isn’t the focus either to me it seemed more of a building background concern in fact I’m not sure if I’d even label this as a romance. It’s there of course but the focus here appeared to be more about survival and acceptance with some romantic overtones thrown in for good measure.

This starts two years after Addie’s ship crash-landed here and I loved that she had an established start so different from the usual sci-fi stories in this genre She’s a nurse by profession a natural healer and she finds herself now living in a permanent settlement with some others of her kind along with rejects of the For people. The woman of her kind provide a sort of needed service to the male natives and it all felt a bit sordid. Thankfully this is something Addie has managed to avoid up till now with her abilities as a healer.

The impression I got from these aliens was they lived in nomad tribes and were very like prehistoric humans in custom their appearance I’m still a little slightly confused over as it wasn’t described in any great detail but I sought of imagined them as Neanderthal looking but with sharp teeth and strange red eyes. They have some strange ways and customs and they despise weakness including permanent injuries usually ostracising those afflicted from the tribe.

When Addie's settlement is destroyed by Wrennlins (think of the film tremors) she finds herself alone with all of her people now dead she sets out across the plains. Meeting native For’s from a nearby tribe Addie slowly integrates into their life. Learning so much from them. But not everyone is as accepting and Addie earns herself enemies from the onset. One For Zoark seems to particularly dislike her looking down on her with derision and scorn from day one.

Zoarke can speak Addie's language he initially spent time in Addie's old settlement giving him a very low opinion of human women which he isn’t afraid to voice. But Zoarke is termed a cripple (not my words) this society is very biased towards disabilities and Zoarke has a bum leg and scars left over from a Wrennlin attack labelling him as such by the other For’s in his tribe he is now awarded the lowest place on the totem pole without influence and considered practically worthless by the others.

As I said earlier this one is massively slow on the romance front it really is a soft slow burn and these two definitely aren’t initially lusting after each other. So If you are after a steaming hot romance with plenty of sauce this probably isn’t the story for you this one is less steam more substance for sure. but if you like richly crafted fantasy worlds and epic sagas this is for you and though this one is labelled a sci-fi it could very well be any barbarian type historical it very much had that particular Vibe about it just one set on an alien planet. This is all told from Addies POV it’s extremely well written and the words definitely paint a vivid picture of life on this alien planet. I definitely recommend this and the elaborate world-building certainly deserves all the stars.

Untitled design

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com
284 reviews
October 3, 2021
Ugh another perfect read. Wonderful. It was hard to not compare it to the G.O.A.T., Homebound, but I enjoyed this one ALMOST as much. I really really wish that Addie had just told Zoark from the beginning that she hadn't slept with any men in the camp, from before. But I guess it really didn't matter. They came to love each other as they were.
Definitely got some The Last Hour of Gann vibes, which is a huge deal because TLHOG is my other favorite book alongside Homebound. This had all my favorite things, surviving out in the wilderness, long journies(journeys??), slow burn, aliens, a little violence and a sprinkle of suffering! Perfection. I'm super excited to see what the author produces next(especially Cricket's story!!! Eeeeek)

Disclaimer: this review was written while I was sick, on a lot of cough medicine, and at 1 am so bear with me 😊😂
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Rain.
2,575 reviews21 followers
October 10, 2021
Planet Zero is about a spaceship crash survivor on an incredibly inhospitable planet (there’s no water!) referred to as TY75734b. I think 'Planet Zero' rolls off the tongue much easier. I adore this kind of storytelling, the reader is plopped down on this planet after Addie has been there for two years. Information is dolled out in increments as the journey goes along.

I absolutely loved Lydia Hope previous story, Homebound. Hope writes characters that slowly learn about each other, no insta-lusting here. I wouldn’t classify this as a sci-fi romance, it’s more science fiction with a dash of romance. Addie is a wonderful heroine. She’s your average Earth woman, struggling to understand a new planet, it’s different inhabitants, and how to stay alive.

Zoark is a somewhat swoony asshole hero. He is a “For" male, that is the type of species he is, a For. This confused the heck out of me until I understood it wasn’t an editing issue, but a type of alien. Zoark is worthless to his tribe. He had previously broken his leg and it never healed properly, so he walks with a limp and isn’t allowed to hunt with the tribe. Not being allowed to contribute seriously wounds his pride. He is further ostracized for other reasons, later explained in the story.

This is an alien story with an actual alien.
He wasn’t handsome. If anything, the animal aspect was more pronounced in his high, flat cheekbones, in the large tiger nose with sharp nostrils that quivered, in the twin slashes of his heavy browns. His wide mouth was downturned at the corners and curiously petulant, even cute. Until he bared his teeth.
I wish there had been more details on the population, it all felt very unclear. I couldn’t quite picture them, I think they had furry bellies and cat-like ears?

This story reminded me slightly of The Last Hour of Gann Where enemies slowly become friends and then lovers. Just like the Gann story, the male character is a complete and utter ass to the female character for a good chunk of the book.

I want to give this story five stars simply for being the kind of story I LOVE to read, but it felt so disorganized at times and some things just didn’t make any sense. Was the author being vague on purpose, so we felt as confused as Addie? The language barrier and how that was explained seemed unrealistic. The story really drags in the middle, with nothing much happening and I felt it was a lost opportunity for character growth.

Just as Addie and Zoark’s relationship starts to take off, the book ends. ARUGH, I hate that! It really needed a long epilogue or a second book to complete their story. The way it ends does leave it wide open for a second book, so fingers crossed.

My favorites parts of the story is early on when Addie is living alone, learning to weave baskets, hunt and bath in that odd sand. It was kinda like The Valley of Horses, where the reader is learning alongside the main character. Highly recommended for fans of exploratory science fiction with a side of alien romance.
Profile Image for Cheesecake.
2,800 reviews509 followers
April 29, 2023
I loved this one!
Addie the wee human nurse and Zoark the alien outcaste.
It's a long story, but it flew by.
Addie is stranded on an alien planet. As far as she knows, after a tragedy near the start of the book, she's the only human left. She's determined to survive but after a while she realized she can't live in solitude and tries to make friends with a nomadic tribe of the local species, 'For'. There she meets Zoark who has a history with human women, and he holds it against Addie.
The For are humanoid but bigger than humans. They have cat-like faces and are very fast and dangerous.
Addie was a wonderful heroine. She's compassionate but not a push over. She's determined and resilient but not perfect. Zoark is an abrasive asshole to her for the first half but can't seem to stay away. He's a grump who is treated poorly by his own people.
I loved the way almost all the characters evolved throughout the story, sometimes for the better and sometimes very much the opposite.

Safety is good.
Profile Image for ~My Book Obsession~.
688 reviews66 followers
May 17, 2022
Please be kind to us and give us a follow up😩😁

This can’t be the end! She has got to be playing with us. We need to know want happens next! Will the baby make it. Will Kelly and O’Neil mate? Come on now don’t do this to us.
This is a wonderful story!
I haven’t given a 5 star rating in awhile. I’m telling y’all run and grab this book. The world building, the relationships that are built and broken. Just so much. I need more! I know everyone whose already read this wants more too.

~My Book Obsession Approved~
Get it on audible, paperback, or ebook you will not be let down!! 💜💜 Please be kind to us and give us a follow up!😩😁
Profile Image for Whimsey (is in a major book slump.).
125 reviews13 followers
October 26, 2021
This was an unrelentingly bleak story full of mostly unlikable characters, almost nothing that could be described as actual romance (plus very limited interactions between the FL and ML during the entirety of the story), and an ending that could barely even qualify as HFN due to how abrupt and open-ended it was.

I really enjoyed this author’s previous book (Homebound), but I honestly regret ever picking this one up.
Profile Image for DancingMarshmallow.
500 reviews
October 25, 2021
Overall: 1.5 stars? I hate to say it, but I enjoyed almost nothing about this.

I loved the author’s first book, Homebound, which builds an interesting, unique romance from a human woman/alien man pairing with a dark, depressing world as the backdrop. Planet Zero seems to be going for the same general idea, but besides having a fairly unique take on the barbarian/prison planet idea, there’s nothing really complimentary I can say about this novel, unfortunately.

As readers we’re just dumped in media res onto Planet Zero, but I never felt that there was enough explanation from the characters to really understand the situation the heroine, Addie, is in. I’m not asking for a giant exposition dump to start things off, but even over time I was mostly just as confused as when I started the book, not really having gained much insight into what Earth is like, how Addie got to Planet Zero, what her life has been like, etc etc. Everything’s sort of fuzzy, and in a book with this much weighing on the cultural differences and setting....that doesn’t really help. There are also a lot of characters who aren’t really well-defined, so distinguishing between them is difficult when they mostly just function as plot points. The romance between Zoark and Addie also felt sketchy, like it was made out of bullet points of ideas and not fully-formed.

Super bummed that this one didn’t work out for me, but I will give the author’s future works a try to see if this was just a bit of a dud for her.

CW: ableism out the wazoo (lots of use of words like “crippled,” “handicapped,” and “burden”); use of the word “teepee” outside of Indigenous contexts
Profile Image for Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves.
1,457 reviews18 followers
November 17, 2022
Why did I let the reviews put me off this book for the longest?
Profile Image for Kelly.
5,661 reviews227 followers
October 23, 2021
Hoo-boy. Addie and Zoark have a sloooooow burn going on here. Slow. Gloriously slow. Even once they're physically together, they're both keeping themselves emotionally detached (more on Zoark's part, really, and he most definitely has his reasons) and it takes time and THINGS HAPPENING before they get down to the relationship thing.

Here's the thing...even after two years on this planet, there's still a lot Addie doesn't know about her new home. The settlement that took her in after the crash wasn't...hmm, how to put this? It wasn't a healthy place/group overall. Not only were most of the people there physically damaged in some way, Addie was simply left in the dark about many of the reasons and customs the drove the people. When disaster strikes and Addie is left on her own, she barely has the skills to keep herself alive. She manages, but barely.

Stumbling over Zoark's tribe and grudgingly being allowed to stay shows her the whys and hows of a lot of things she hadn't realized.

That said, Addie isn't exactly welcomed with open arms. Her medical knowledge isn't wanted and she's only tolerated amongst most of the tribe. And Zoark? He doesn't care for her. At all. Mostly because he's met other humans and one in particular soured him on them all. His injuries also make him something of an outcast which bothers Addie. As they slowly start warming to one another, things develop. Slowly, mind you, but Zoark's brooding animosity eventually fades and Addie starts seeing him as a reluctant ally.

A little danger, a human in an alien world, brooding, betrayal, and found family. Good stuff all around.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal
Profile Image for Topastro.
472 reviews
October 16, 2025
5 star

Stayed up until 3 am reading this . Absolutely loved it , and can’t wait to read more from Lydia Hope.
Profile Image for Jennasis.
398 reviews109 followers
November 2, 2021
DNF at 60%

I hate to rate this book so low, as I loved Lydia's other book "Home Bound". I rated it five stars and instant ordered a physical copy for my book shelf, so I was expecting the same with this.

and for the first 25% I did get it, the world was so different and interesting, I loved the survival aspect of it, but it also could have been delved into further. but after the first 25% the story just dragged, the characters were flat, including the main love interest. The plot devices and story development were easy to spot and see where they were taking us. After the initial introduction to this very interesting and strange world...nothing surprised me. They were all just caricatures: clingy cute child, jealous females, self important holy man, weak leader ect. They were all just pigeonholed into their roles and never deviated from that path.

A huge issue that bothered me a lot was that after reading this book I STILL have no idea what the alien race actually looks like, you know, the species that makes up 99% of the cast of this book? Yeah, I have no idea what they look like other than vague "Werewolf/sabertooth like features" thats a HUGE red flag. I never could get a visual of these characters in my head, so I just subbed in werewolves, but then when we would get a small passing description of a body part, or a way it moved, that didn't fit it threw me off.
Profile Image for Melody.
161 reviews4 followers
October 2, 2021
Lydia Hope did it again, I am obsessed with this new story and world she has crafted. And the characters, ugh, be still my heart. Zoark, Addie, little Oh’na, Melmie, Oh’Nil, etc etc.

It’s a sci fi romance with slow burn enemies to lovers trope with a happily ever after. The smart kind where people make logical decisions and there are no dumb misunderstandings and fabricated drama. Just the best snack to settle in and enjoy.
3,210 reviews67 followers
November 11, 2021
Good story, human h is stranded off world with alien tribe. They don't really accept her but she's not outcast either. It was an interesting view of alien culture where the need to dominate results in catastrophe. The heroine is resourceful and tries to care for the H. He treats her poorly but she forgives him. I love how this author thinks outside the norm.
Profile Image for Mary Lynne.
736 reviews
January 11, 2022
Deceptively rich

At first, this book seems like so many other alien romances, where human women have crash landed on a planet. But Hope is way too good an author for that. Planet Zero is a rich, full story. Yes, there’s a strong central romance. But this is also the story of a woman adjusting to the hand fate has dealt her.

Addie is a marvelous heroine. She’s full of self-doubt, unskilled at survival, and woefully unprepared for life in an alien world. But her strength of character, her belief in better days to come, and her innate empathy are equally on display in this book, making her one of the most well-rounded characters I’ve read in romance in some time.

Her hero Zoark is harder to understand because the book is told entirely from Addie’s point of view. He does have a few moments with Addie that, will not dub con, come across as, shall we say, dutiful con. Zoark is also built to be a good match to Addie more than anything.

But the story of Addie, and the incredible depth of characterization that Hope gives to the tribe Addie ends up living with, are just fantastic. The beginning of this book starts in a tough place, and I found it hard to get into at first. But keep reading. Planet Zero takes off, and doesn’t let you down.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
49 reviews30 followers
October 2, 2021
A strong story in some ways

This story has many strong elements, and i don't want to downplay the fact that there was good storytelling here. But the romance was really underdeveloped and I struggled with understanding why certain elements were exhaustively described and others perplexingly missing altogether. For a long while I didn't even know what the aliens looked like.
Profile Image for Eliza.
712 reviews56 followers
October 20, 2021
3.5
I hate to give a low rating for this book, but the second half just flat out sucked. I can understand the comparison,The Last Hour of Gann but this book was nowhere equal to that amazing book.

First, the world building was hard for me to understand. I could not visualize the landscape that Addie had come to live/survive on. I wish there had been a little more time spent on the surroundings because I think that would have made me appreciate the hard work Addie put into surviving.

Second, while I think it’s unique that the author decided to start the show 2 years AFTER Addies crash onto Plant Zero, it also made it confusing for me. Why were there other humans on an alien planet if none of Addie's crew survived? Did another ship crash somewhere and I missed that part? Why did Zoark already know Addie’s language? It was almost like I was reading a series and missed book one. Honestly I shouldn't deduct starts for something I probably read and didn't realize.

The biggest issue I had was the romance- or lack of romance. I was really hoping for an illicit romance, but the aliens on this planet seemed totally fine integrating and breeding with humans. I would expect the aliens to be a little apprehensive or conduct a few experiments before they start banging humans, but apparently when people fell from the sky the aliens deemed them A-Okay for bumping uglies right away.

Our MC's are like oil and water. Neither likes or is attracted to each other and I love how we started off with Zoark being an all-around a-hole to Addie. The problem was, if you're going to be a dick, then I want to see the transformation happen. You know that beautiful moment when the hero realizes he can't be without the heroine? I want to see the relationship blossom and become something epic, however, this book really left me high and dry. I mean, we do have a baby scene towards the end of the book, but after the author teased me the whole last 30%, I really didn't care or believe Zoark declaration.

The ending was a HFN- and I wasn’t exactly confident they were going to live a long happy life. It felt like the author ran out of steam and said “fuck it, I’m done with this book” because the end was wrapped up way too conveniently and quickly. The adventure was a coin operated rocket ship outside the local ice cream shop when IT COULD HAVE BEEN a badass roller coaster full of twists and turns. A letdown for sure.
Profile Image for Tim.
696 reviews5 followers
October 20, 2022
Good enough to get to the end; not good enough to recommend. I really want to give this a 2-2.5, but the writing is solid. The story is just ok.
Profile Image for Sabine.
340 reviews15 followers
April 16, 2025
3.5 Yuux stars
Although I have some reservations about some of the physiology and physics (how can there be clouds without water, and how can the For have liquid blood and not pee), I really appreciated the world-building, the effort to build a totally foreign world.
Like the previous book I read from the author (Homebound), the overall tone is quite dark and bleak and the MCs come together through trying times (not a lot of romance though).
I really liked the first half of the book, but the second half felt very long and a couple of different points were quite problematic. For example, the FMC refusing bodily autonomy to another woman made me furious and knocked the rating down for me.
Profile Image for SheLove2Read.
3,102 reviews203 followers
March 8, 2023
A complicated, involved, but fascinating read. You have to slog through 3 or 4 early chapters where I felt a little lost, but the author does begin to slowly explain and worldbuild around chapter 5 (fairly short chapters). The more I read, the more I wanted to read. I really hope there is another book in this world.
Profile Image for Jazzy.
410 reviews9 followers
June 15, 2022
4 stars ✨

Another great slowburn alien romance featuring a woman - formerly a nurse- stranded on a planet full of ableist aliens who are against healing, medicine and basic human compassion.
Profile Image for Martina.
204 reviews6 followers
July 28, 2025
First 50 pages or so were so boring I almost dnf-ed it. However the rest of the book was so good I can turn a little blind eye to it 🫣
Profile Image for evi ౨ৎ˚⟡˖.
222 reviews
October 27, 2021
Good world building and a solid protagonist but the romance was severely lacking. The story focused more on the every day life of surviving in a tribe on an alien planet instead of the romance. More group politics and Addie making friends and finding herself than an epic love story.

There is nothing wrong with it being more a sci-fi book with a romance subplot than a sci-fi romance. It just didn't fit my expectations. If you are in the mood for something that is romance-lite, this may work. If you want something like the IPB series where the focus is on the romance, this probably won't work.

As a story, it was just okay. There is nothing special here that hasn't been done before and better, except for maybe some aspects of the world building that were quite unique here. This an average story at best.

⭐️ Addie made this book. Smart and courageous, she was an easy to like protagonist (minus the slut-shaming and "not like other girls" attitude sometimes).
⭐️ The world building had some unique elements and was interesting to read about.
⭐️ The romance was a fun enemies-to-lovers relationship. Nice to see no insta-love even if there was insta-lust.
⭐️ Zoark... He was a surly yet sweet love interest. Good banter with Addie.
⭐️ Qalae...

⛔️ Not a fan of sci-fi romances spending tons of time describing every tedious aspect of living in the wild. If I wanted to know this, I would watch Man vs. Wild.
⛔️ No wow factor. This is the definition of "average" and just reading something to pass the time.
⛔️ Samantha...
⛔️ I was honestly bored a lot. This isn't an exciting or interesting story.

TW:
Ableism. The love interest is disabled and his tribe shuns and insults him for his disability. There is a negative perspective of any disability in the tribe.
Slut-shaming. Addie slut-shames other women.
Profile Image for AJ .
53 reviews1 follower
April 15, 2025
So Much Potential… But It Fell Flat

This book could have easily been a five-star read story-wise, but unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver. I’ve honestly never read a book that felt quite like this—like the author was inventing personalities, character traits, and plot details on the fly just to fit each scene. It created a jarring, disjointed reading experience. One example: the grandmother’s character suddenly shifted into an entirely different person without any explanation, purely to serve the moment. These kinds of unexplainable changes happened throughout the book and disrupted any emotional connection I was trying to build with the story.

The pacing was also strange and uneven. Major questions raised early on were never answered by the end, and the whole plot felt like it was rushing ahead without laying the necessary groundwork.

Let’s talk about the spice scenes. Flat. Completely flat. They were frustrating and emotionally empty—utter failures, honestly. That’s especially disappointing in a romance novel. I think the single POV and the lack of real romantic development between the hero and heroine contributed to the lackluster intimacy. There was no believable slow burn or emotional shift into love; they just… were suddenly in it.

Character development was convoluted at best, and the writing overall felt rushed, like it needed another round of editing or developmental work. And seriously—no epilogue? A book like this needs one. It left things feeling unfinished.

This had the bones of something great, but the execution made it feel like a debut novel from a very new author. The potential was absolutely there, but it missed the mark.
Profile Image for Snigdha Prakash.
882 reviews91 followers
November 23, 2021
I wouldn't say that I loved this as much as Homebound. Simon is very very special and the relationship in that book gave me the goosebumps. And I am still pretty mad about not getting an epilogue but that's another story.

Now, while this book had a good plot, I felt it lacked in romance and had a predictability factor to it. I didn't mind either. After reading Homebound, I had guessed I'd be getting into more of a slow burn romance but the romance did feel lacking at places. The ending kinda sorta made up for it but I still wanted more from Zoark and Addie.

Zoark was a good enough hero but gosh, Addie was such a star. I loved her.

And I really do love the intense world-building by Lydia Hope. I will be reading more stuff from her in future.
Profile Image for Kay ❣.
554 reviews91 followers
October 30, 2021
This is not the typical "space traveler crashes on a stone age planet". It starts out with the heroine already living this life for years. It's kinda refreshing to skip the standard crash scene and get straight to roughing it with curt aliens. The world is fascinating and the story is a slice of stone age life. It was hard to put the book down even though it isn't a thriller or super romantic
Profile Image for Jane.
Author 1 book20 followers
December 13, 2024
This book was amazing. I genuinely didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.

It was soooo romantic and the plot + world-building was fantastic.


I honestly could’ve read another 500 pages of the same story. I loved Addie and her man.


edit: Just reread. My only comment is it really needed an epilogue. Ending felt abrupt.
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