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A review by aprildiamond
Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson
4.0
This book was not really what I expected from the cover and the summary on the back. But in a good way. I really enjoyed this story and how it developed and I can't wait to see how it works out in further books.
The only reason I dropped a star was because of the beginning. The very first scene was great (the prelude) and it was, in fact, the reason I kept reading through the rest of the first part of the book.
Why I didn't like the beginning: 1) the main characters were kinda annoying throughout the first part of the story. It was constantly mentioned that Liam was going to miss Mars SO much. (I get that if you leave your home, you'd be sad, but it was a little over the top. Plus, Mars sounded kinda sucky.) Also, Phoebe was a little too pushy. They both mellow out after this, which makes them good characters through the rest. 2) It was pretty slow. I feel like there was too much buildup to the ACTUAL last day on Mars. It wasn't really interesting until that part, but I will say that it definitely picked up starting from then. That was when we started getting into the twists and the danger and when the antagonists started coming out to play. Basically, reading the prelude and knowing that we were eventually going to learn about the mystery with the supernovas, aliens, etc made the first part worth getting through.
The rest of the book really popped off, though. I loved the descriptions of everything, from the settings to the details of explosions. I felt like I was watching it happen, which was neat.
The plot also pulled me in, constantly. I was always really excited to find out what would happen next, or what the antagonists were planning, or their motives. In addition, things kept going wrong for Liam and Phoebe as they were trying to get off the planet and to the ship, which can be tedious in books sometimes. But in this case, the 'something goes wrong just when they're about to succeed' trope was done pretty tastefully so it ended up adding to the experience instead of taking away from it.
In the end, I enjoyed this book a lot. It was so dramatic and I loved that. I also got pretty attached to the main characters by the end, which is promising.
I have a lot of theories about what's going to happen so I'm really looking forward to the next book!
The only reason I dropped a star was because of the beginning. The very first scene was great (the prelude) and it was, in fact, the reason I kept reading through the rest of the first part of the book.
Why I didn't like the beginning: 1) the main characters were kinda annoying throughout the first part of the story. It was constantly mentioned that Liam was going to miss Mars SO much. (I get that if you leave your home, you'd be sad, but it was a little over the top. Plus, Mars sounded kinda sucky.) Also, Phoebe was a little too pushy. They both mellow out after this, which makes them good characters through the rest. 2) It was pretty slow. I feel like there was too much buildup to the ACTUAL last day on Mars. It wasn't really interesting until that part, but I will say that it definitely picked up starting from then. That was when we started getting into the twists and the danger and when the antagonists started coming out to play. Basically, reading the prelude and knowing that we were eventually going to learn about the mystery with the supernovas, aliens, etc made the first part worth getting through.
The rest of the book really popped off, though. I loved the descriptions of everything, from the settings to the details of explosions. I felt like I was watching it happen, which was neat.
The plot also pulled me in, constantly. I was always really excited to find out what would happen next, or what the antagonists were planning, or their motives. In addition, things kept going wrong for Liam and Phoebe as they were trying to get off the planet and to the ship, which can be tedious in books sometimes. But in this case, the 'something goes wrong just when they're about to succeed' trope was done pretty tastefully so it ended up adding to the experience instead of taking away from it.
In the end, I enjoyed this book a lot. It was so dramatic and I loved that. I also got pretty attached to the main characters by the end, which is promising.
I have a lot of theories about what's going to happen so I'm really looking forward to the next book!