I really struggled to rate 27 Hours. My main issue was that whilst there was a great cast of diverse characters, at times the novel felt gimmicky and cheap. The plot seemed to be full of action, yet was still slow-moving somehow and I struggled to finish this book.
27 Hours had a great premise, set on a planet with 'alien-like creatures' that the colonising humans were fighting, but I personally didn't enjoy it's execution, 
Great novel in theory but sadly wasn't my cup of tea.

This is the first book in the series and I honestly can’t wait to read the next one.
I have to admit sometimes I worry when I hear about all these fantastic books before hand and all the hype if it will live up to it and if at this time I will enjoy it as much as I was hoping I would when I first heard about it and I have to say yes I loved the book just as much as I was hoping I would.
This is a debut novel and it seems like I have been reading quite a few debut novels lately which I absolutely love because its another new author and another new book and series to devour when the rest come out.
As you can guess the story takes place in 27 hours. Which I have to say I am loving this concept of books. Although I didn’t stay up for 27 hours  I did read this fairly quickly and I think if I was younger I would have attempted to do just that to feel as though I was a part of the book. Did anyone else who read this actually do that?
So with it being told in 27 hours you know that the pace of the book will probably hit the ground running and it did. There was enough happening that you wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next and with the twist and turns you had to keep reading and trust me at times I had a hard time to put the book down.
As I was reading this I realized that I have been reading a lot of Sci-Fi/fantasy books lately as you might have noticed. This was once a genre I never would read but I am thinking with just the right books it makes it enjoyable.
I loved that the Tristina included a wide variety of characters in her book. In the past this probably would have been taboo to have in books but I think as things progress we need to have more books with characters that are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and asexual. Especially with it hitting so close to home.
I should begin with something that I struggled with and had to have a piece of paper handy to make notes and that was this book is told in several points of view so in order to keep things easy and not complicated I made notes about each character so I wouldn’t confuse them with someone else. With those notes it made things easier.
The setting is quite different from anything I have read before as it takes place on the moon planet called Sahara. Several hundred years ago it was colonized by humans. It was thought that no one lived on the planet even though life could survive on it. This is where the chimera’s come in and they have lived there for many years. The Humans have built a lake and it floods the nest of the chimera’s who needless to say aren’t happy and the two have been fighting ever since.  The chimera’s have attacked the Hub2 and basically killed everyone except one person that is Rumor. Everyone in his colony is dead. The chimera’s have declared war in 27 hours so hence the name of the book.
Can they band together before its too late?

IN SUMMARY:
27 HOURS is a fast-paced and action-packed story with a diverse cast and exciting plot. Though suffering from some world-building and narrative problems, skipping over scenes, and problematic issues in regards to racial and a-spec representation, 27 HOURS is an enjoyable read.

MY THOUGHTS:
I was sort of nervous when I received an ARC of 27 HOURS because it had been touted so much on Twitter I was afraid it would fall below expectations, but it turned out to be exactly the book I wanted to read. Stuffed full of action in a sci-fi environment with a widely diverse cast, with a smidgen of romance in between. I did have some qualms with the book though!

Firstly, and almost obviously, the diverse cast. I cannot praise it highly enough. Between the characters, there was gay, bi, ace, pan, trans, and non-binary representation. It’s so normalised in this world that nobody blinks twice when someone reveals their sexuality, or asks for the correct pronouns. I can’t talk about how well done the rep was (except for my ace son Braeden) but glancing over other reviews I gather the other characters were written excellently.

(There's also the problem of centering the colonist's narrative.)

In regards to Braeden, I have to wonder: Braeden is explicitly asexual, but is he also aromantic? At one point, he says this to Nyx:

“I don’t pretend to know the first thing about romance, but I know you and Dahlia”…

It’s great that he’s confirmed ace, but this line confused me because it seems to conflate his asexuality with aromanticism. I would have thought a book with rep this great would be more unambiguous with Braeden being aro as well as ace, hence why it seems the narrative has muddled the two different sexualities.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of it; I saw someone on Twitter (not the author) say that Braeden was aro-spec as well as ace, but I’d like actual confirmation from the text/ author.

Also, Braeden was not snarky enough. He had some genius lines of dialogue, but not enough to make me think he was worthy of people thinking he was the resident Snark Master. 

The narrative skipped over the potentially amazing scenes for summary. We have the protagonist at the brink of a disaster, or finding out a serious plot-twist. End of chapter – fab hook. But when it’s their chapter next… it takes place afterwards and the previous event is summarised.

Also unfortunately to do with the narrative, the writing was just too vague. It affected every part of the book. The setting, the actions, the character and chimera descriptions.

The setting: probably because the name of the moon is Sahara, I initially imagined their home world to be rocky and desert-like, only to have a total mind-flip when it is revealed there are forests and massive lakes. I struggled to picture it from then on because that initial image of Sahara had rooted in my head.

Likewise, the more immediate settings were difficult to picture, and not enough words are dedicated to filling out the environment from the beginning. What do the HUBs look like? Azrou? The medical centre interiors or the treehouses?

Actions were too vague. Several actions would occur for several people at once, when I really just wanted to know what the POV character was seeing and doing at that moment. I don’t think it helped that the writing for the action scenes plodded, i.e. the sentences were long and lethargic, often focusing on the character’s thoughts than the action itself. Even the beginning of chapters suffered from this because it would launch you into the scene with no attempt to ground you to the setting and characters first.

Finally, the characters. I have no idea what Eric or Reaper look like. The descriptions for most of the chimera are just too vague or utterly absent. They all melded together in my head because even the distinct, named chimera weren’t described well enough, and there were few hints later on in the story as to their appearance.

On more of a personal critique, I often drifted when reading. Given I read this novel at different times of the day, it wasn’t as if I was tired. Something about the story just made my mind wander. I found it difficult to invest myself. I really can’t explain it that well, but it was almost like the writing just lacked that captivating factor, y’know?

Having said that, the slower, more intimate scenes were lovely. I really loved the descriptions of how the characters felt, how Nyx felt the vibrations of the moon, and how Jude saw in colours. They were almost poetic.

The romance sometimes seemed misplaced when they were in conflict. I don’t know how to express this, but the the romance seemed like it was brought up at inappropriate times? Like, at one point Rumor makes a sex joke, in front of everyone, when they were literally about to go into a massive battle. Shouldn't you... idk, be focused on your impending fight with Reaper?

Not a single one of the characters spent a minute of their twenty-seven hours of nightside sleeping, eating, or drinking. I just find it hard to grasp adrenaline would keep you going for that long. I’d struggle for twelve hours without some form of nosh, let alone twenty-seven, and then to stay awake in all that time too? Did they spend the entire dayside beforehand sleeping? I find that hard to believe. They all should have collapsed of exhaustion far earlier than at the end.

WILL I READ ON?
Despite my qualms, I'm open to read #2.

This was an action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end that kept me on the edge of my seat.  I loved this well-written storyline with amazing characters and how everything intensified as the clock counted down.  Ms. Wright is a new author to me and after reading 27 Hours, I’m already an instant fan.  Can’t wait to read the next book that she puts out.

Rating: 4.25/5 Penguins

Quick Reasons: well-rounded, complex, diverse cast of characters; entertaining, fast-paced plot; LOVE the gargoyles; unique and fun concept; this was a race from start to finish; really loved how many POVs we were given

Huge thanks to Tristina Wright, Entangled: Teen, Chapter by Chapter Book Tours, and Netgalley for sending a free egalley of this title my way in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.

First off: this cover is absolutely stunning! I know, I haven't gushed properly over a cover in AGES but Penguins, JUST LOOK at this one! The colors, the layout, just...everything comes together in an absolutely gorgeous way! I just... ugh. This cover gets me, Penguins. This cover gets me so hard.

The characters are vibrantly written and SO believable. I was pulled into their minds from page one, and left breathless. The diversity of the characters and their endearing, fantastic personalities really helped to bring this story to life for me! I was rooting for each of them from the very start, though for very different reasons. I really give kudos to Tristina Wright for how easily she made writing characters seem in this read. I also really wish I could be friends with her characters, because I LOVE THEM SO HARD!


---Nyx supposed that was the ultimate trade-off for exploring the cosmos. They'd gained the stars, but had lost the ground they came from.---


The plot is fast-paced and super unique. Tristina Wright put a new spin on gargoyles, and I adored how seamlessly she wove these stories together. The action was intense and filled with breath-stealing, heart-pounding moments. I often caught myself clenching my fists, biting my lip, sitting on the edge of my seat in agitated anticipation! I just couldn't bear to see where things were headed, even while I was screaming for the book to tell me what happened next.

This was nonstop, action-packed awesome from start to finish, and I bow down to Tristina Wright for making it seem so easy to write such an epic read! The characters are colorful and so much fun to follow. I'd definitely recommend this to lovers of space-travel, gargoyles, and diverse characters. The clock is counting down, Penguins; which side will you fall on?

I don't normally read a lot of sci-fi but I'm so glad that I took a chance and read 27 hours! I loved the fact that all the characters are queer. I know that representation is important and that everyone deserves to have that representation.  Not only that but the characters are wonderfully written. I enjoyed the world building as well. There is also plenty of action and just the right amount of romance. I can't wait for the second book!

There was a lot of hype surrounding 27 Hours when it was first announced, so I was really excited to read it. The book started out kind of slow for me, and it was a bit confusing at first with all the different characters and points of view. It took me a while to remember who was who, where they lived, etc. However, once I got into it I was totally hooked.

My favorite part of 27 Hours was probably the characters. Each character was very complex and unique. I absolutely  loved the lgbtq+ rep in the novel with characters who were bi, gay, asexual, pan, and trans. I loved this group so much and their relationships with each other especially Jude and Rumor, Nyx and Dahlia, and Braeden and Trick. 
Even though there are a lot of characters/povs it wasn't as jarring as I expected it to be. The transition from each character was smooth and each person had a distinguishable voice. My favorite was probably Jude, but I also enjoyed Braeden's humor and how comedic effect was used to diffuse some of the constant tension. 
One thing to note is that 27 Hours does have some harmful content regarding indigenous vs colonist narrative and racial rep which is discussed very well in this review.

Regarding the plot, the book is pretty fast paced and definitely gripping. A lot of things happened at the end which left me a bit confused, and I felt the buildup to the fight with the reaper was this grand ordeal but the actual fight seemed to end really quickly. 
While the world building was interesting, I also wish the author went into more details about Sahara (especially the part with the moon). 

Overall, I think 27 Hours is a memorable book with its sci-fi world, diverse characters, and action-filled plot.

I'm not writing a blog post on this book because I couldn't complete it. The character building in this novel straight up sucked out loud. The author should have spent more time on that vs making sure I knew the sexuality of every single character.

An important book for the LGBTQIA scene with kids having two same sex parents, girls crushing on girls, transgenders having problems adjusting and finding their way in live. Not only that, it also gives inside in the minds of humanity 200 years from now. There still exists greed and selfishness, so humanity haven't changed much. Love and kindness still fights to get things right and it's up to a bunch of teenagers to end a war they don't know is basing on lies their parents told them. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing!

This one is difficult for me to review because it’s one of my most anticipated books of 2017 and I always find it difficult to write out my feelings beyond *incoherent flailing noises* in regards to any of my most anticipated novels, whether I actually enjoyed them or not. Let’s start out like we usually do with the trigger/content warnings I noticed.

Blood
Violence
Death
War crimes
Anti-indigenous themes

I loved how the characters all fit together well while each being their own person. I really feel like the character development was beautifully done throughout 27 Hours. I enjoyed seeing everyone’s plot arc play out and I’m glad Tristina Wright used multiple points of view to tell the story. It really opened up the novel and allowed me to feel like I was truly part of everything that was happening.

The story takes place on the moon of a planet many, many light years away from Earth. It’s in the future by a couple of generations, but a the variety of cultures found on earth were already kind of melded into one large colonialist culture. I’m still not sure quite how I feel about how fast the individual cultures diminished, but it did make for an interesting setting for the book.

The story itself is really where a lot of the focus seems to be. There are so many different things going on that it’s almost difficult to keep up, but it ended up being just enough to keep me wanting to read until 1am. Oops. I did notice right away the anti-indigenous theme to the story that was mentioned in another review I read, though I can’t remember for the life of me who wrote it. I’ll keep trying to remember and I’ll edit to add the link later if I can think of it and the reviewer is okay with my sharing. The theme was relatively obvious to me, though I’m honestly not sure if that is because I already knew to look for it.

Even with the anti-indigenous theme embedded into the plot line, 27 Hours is a diverse novel. An ownvoices one at that. It’s not often that we get a sci-fi/fantasy novel with well written queer characters, so I’ve been really looking forward to reading this one since I heard about sometime around the beginning of summer. I really enjoyed the story and I love the characters, especially Nyx and her sarcasm (which is basically a character all its own).

There was one thing that I noticed (and LOVED) the absence of. There was no queermisia that I saw AT ALL in this entire novel. Gender identities and sexual orientations were accepted as just the way things were and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. It truly exceeded all my expectations for the queer representation and I’m still really excited about that fact.

I’ve gone back and forth on what to rate 27 Hours and I’m still not really sure what exact rating I would give it. I will likely read the next book in the series, though I’m not certain if that’s because I really enjoyed the book (I did) or if it’s because the ending was a cliffhanger (*shakes fist*). So, I’m not going to rate this one right now. I did enjoy reading 27 Hours and definitely recommend you read it, even if only so I have someone to gush with because I need to gush and flail about a bit.

"We have to save them," he whispered.
"You can't save everyone," Trick said.
Jude tore his attention away and met his brother's gaze. "I can try."


Okay, this has been one of the hardest reviews I had to do because for the longest of times I didn't know how to talk about what I felt while reading it, or the things that I enjoyed and didn't, and I have come to the conclusion that this wasn't a book for me. It had the potential and I actually enjoyed some of the things that happened, but overall it wasn't a significant book for me or one that I would think about a lot, and I'm so sad because the premise sounded so freaking fantastic.

First of all, I want to thank the publisher for giving me an ARC of this novel, because it was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and having an entire cast of queer and diverse people was something I was so looking for. 


"Nyx supposed that was the ultimate trade-off for exploring the cosmos. They'd gained the stars, but had lost the ground they came from."


I have to say as the publication date came close by, there were a few negative reviews circulating the internet saying there were a few problems regarding colonization and race representation. Unfortunately I don't have any of those links, but if you do please tell me so I can link them in this review! 

And well, I can't talk about those things because I feel I'm not the right person to do so, but it's true that I noticed those things people were talking about on Twitter. There problem with colonization in my opinion was that our protagonists, the coloners, were talking about the chimera (they called them gargoyles) as beasts without mind of their own and that only wanted to kill, whereas they were the good guys (Rumor, yes, I'm mostly talking about you here). They spent more than half of the book saying that, and to be frankly honest, it kind of annoyed me a bit, mostly because you could see that wasn't true.

It was very gory as well, which surprised me I think the most. I didn't expect it to be that bloody or explicit, but I think that gave the story more realism. However if you have any type of problem with explicit content, well... I've warned you.


"There was once a time and a place when children didn't carry weapons. So he'd heard in the stories from their home world.
But the children of the Saharan moon were born with guns in their hands."


Now the thing regarding some of the characters. All our main characters are queer, and let me tell you I almost screamed when I knew that. There were so cute and adorable relationships going on, and they were super cute. But I felt that two of the relationships were so in depth described and developed, whereas the one regarding Braeden, our asexual boy, wasn't really talked about throughout the story. I don't know if it's going to be more important in the sequels, but I was kind of sad to see he was a bit left out. 

The pacing of the story was incredibly fast. I was shocked to see that, because I thought it was going to be slower and more descriptive, but turns out it wasn't. It was very action- packed, which I think made the story quicker, because you wanted to know what happened next. Sadly the ending was a bit clique for me, and it didn't surprise me that much, which was a bit disappointing. 

Overall, despite all the amazing things and everything happening in the book, I didn't quite connect with the story or the characters, so sadly I don't know if I'm going to be continuing reading the next installments. 

I recieved an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn’t change my opinion whatsoever. All thoughts are my own.

I did it. I've read my 100th book this year for my GR challenge. 

How. Come. No. One. Told. Me. This. Was. A. Fucking. Cliffhanger????????????????

I have issues with Cliffy's you guys. I have this deep seeded need to now how shit ends. I like my stuff wrapped up in a pretty bow and pretty wrapping and self satisfied smirk that I read a book, liked it and didnt DNF it. 

And truth be told I'm actually super shocked I got through this book. Sci-Fi and me work about 20% of the time. 
But I liked the characters, I liked how diverse it was but I was also so so so very confused at times that I scratched my head, re-read sentences as I tried to picture this world in my head. 
I didnt always win. But that's reading sometimes. Sometimes you gotta separate yourself from reality and just go with it... so that's what I did. 

I really wish the world building was done a little better. 
The book just started with a bang and ended with one too. 
And that ending, ugh, cliffy........ 

When does the next book come out? Is it a duology? Is it 3 books? Is it a series???

So many questions and really not enough answers to leave me warm and fuzzy. 

Mare~Slitsread

4.5 Stars

'27 Hours' is one of the best YA science fiction novels I've read this year, and I'm so happy that it's just the start to a new series. I enjoy SF enough to read quite a few, but this book felt like it transcended so many genre labels for me. I liked every single thing about the story and was actually pretty blown away by it. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star review is my own personal feelings about point of view. The book is told from the third person, from several characters' perspectives, and I fully understand why the author chose to do it. But I always prefer first person and it always seems to detract at least a little bit from my experience. Again - this is completely my opinion and it's not even an issue for everyone else.

I don't want to ramble on and have this review make no sense, so I'll try to just hit on a few of my favorite things. All of the characters were fantastic and realistic. Even though it's done in the third person POV, I felt like I knew each of them personally. The main characters, namely Rumor, Nyx, Jude, and Braeden, were all well rounded with distinct personalities, qualities, and flaws. It made each of them believable and easy to identify with on some level. I loved getting to know each of them and their stories, and especially liked watching their stories overlap and intertwine into the bigger plot. The author did a fantastic job of weaving each character's personal story line into the book's main plot. And what makes it more wonderful is being able to do it with not only one or two main characters, but four of them - which is amazing.

The plot and setting were both fascinating and amazing. The author uses great attention to detail and description along with vivid imagery to bring this futuristic world to life in front of my eyes. The plot was full of action, adventure, suspense, danger, and even some romance. For me, it goes beyond just the science fiction genre. I also want to mention the wonderful way the author has LGBTQ main characters for the book, which also puts it into a diversity category - which is a huge thing right now and I'm glad that she brought it into the series. Anyway, I think I said as much as I can. I very highly recommend this book to fans of all genres - you definitely want to pick this one up. I'm so excited this was just the first book and I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment!

I really tried to like this book but I just couldn't. 
there was just too many things about this that didn't settle that well with me. I won't go into the colonizing issues brought up in much more eloquent reviews than my own. but there's other flaws beside those. it is a messy book, with poor and scattering world building, too many characters, too many pages and seemingly nothing interesting happening most times. it just didn't click with me, at all.

Just not for me--too much going on, the world was hard to picture/imagine given what we knew, and the fact that the "monsters" were actually sentient beings who clearly were not happy about being pushed out of their place on the moon and understandably fighting back--I DNFed this one just past 25%.. I did appreciate the diversity of the characters, though.

Thanks for the opportunity!

I think I first heard about this book in February, and it's been a long wait with a great deal of anticipation behind it until this book was actually released. You better believe I got my hands on it as soon as it was available. 

This is a space opera set on the moon and its colonies and revolving around half a dozen kids who have inherited a war based on lies their parents told them. 

That's a very broad summary, but I think it fits. 

We have four PoV characters. They are:

Rumor, the blunt instrument, and the one who has grown up separate to any of our other main characters. When gargoyles come and destroy his colony, he is the only surviver. He has a bucketful of rage to give when he comes up against our other main characters. 

Nyx is a sixteen year old who I love because she actually makes the comment about how ridiculous it is that she's planning an assassination that could turn the tide of a war that had started before she was born. That's pretty much my main complaint with this story, to be honest, but the way that Nyx (also a deaf character in the midst of this war) views the world around her somehow makes it easier to swallow. Oh, and Nyx is in love with Rumor's ex-girlfriend, Dahlia.

Braeden is somewhere between best friend and sibling to Nyx and Dahlia. He's quiet and unassuming and utterly sweet. He has two mums, around whom a great deal of the plot in the latter part of the novel, revolves. He is also ace. I quite liked a lot of the ideas on love and romance that come from his point of view particularly. Like my younger self, he almost doesn't seem to think he's allowed to have a romantic relationship for most of the story because he's not interested in being sexual with people he loves. 

And then there's Jude. Jude knows what none of the other four characters know: gargoyles, or as he calls them, chimera are as different as humans, some good, some bad, many in between. Because of this belief, he's on the outs with the colonists, which is kind of awkward when he comes up against Rumor and there is instant attraction between them. The way Tristiana wrote this pull between these two characters were some of my other favourite scenes herein. 

The only other important character I haven't yet mentioned is Trick (not a PoV character), who I think will become very important to Braeden's narrative in the next novel in the series. In this novel, he is Jude's adopted brother, and another part of the rebels storyline.

27 hours is a SFF featuring an all QUEER cast that knocked my socks of with the story but left me feeling disappointed with some of the representation!

First of all let’s talk about what I loved the most about this book. It was so QUEER! And I loved every minute of it. Not only do we get a m|m romance but we also get the most perfect w|w romance. All of our main protagonists were queer. Rumor is bisexual, Jude is gay, Nyx is pansexual, Braedan is asexual and Dahlia is a bisexual trans woman. Three of our main characters are also POC. We also have side characters who are non-binary. There were literally no heterosexuals. I’m sorry not sorry but this is all I ever wanted in any book never mind a science fantasy fiction which unfortunately normally has rampant homophobia and Racism.

I do have some problems with the way Braedans asexuality was presented. As someone who is part of the aro/ace spectrum I was confused to wether Braedan was also aromantic. Aromantic is not being romantically attracted to someone while asexuality is not being sexually attracted. This is never stated or cleared up. Apart from one paragraph at the beginning of the novel in which Braedan says he is asexual. We never actually know if Braedan is also Aromantic. However some things Braedan said gave off major aromantic vibes.

An example is:
“You Know, if I were attracted to people, you’d be really high on the list right now.”
Aromantism and Asexuality are two different things and the author should have known this or stated it.

The plot of the book was faced paced which I enjoyed. I’m a sucker for action books. The world -building took a while for me to get a hang off but once I did I was blown away. The author created this world and made it her own. Some of the descriptive passages were really beautiful and I found myself lost in space, as the novel intended. However it did take a while for my mind to come to terms with the plot and world building, especially at the beginning. We got a little overloaded with information.

The friendship that developed between the characters was the best part. If there’s one thing the author can write it’s good dialogue. The interactions between the characters had be both laughing and crying. The romance on the other hand. Okay I loved that it was queer centric. To be fair I love Nyx and Dahila’s romance because it felt real. They were best friends pinning for eachother for a long time. Jude and Rumor I found myself shipping towards the end. However I find it hard to believe because of the 27 hour time limit. Seriously I’m expected to believe these two fell for each other within 24 hours? I did like them together I just didn’t really believe in their “love” I’m curious to see what happens in the sequel.

Everything happening in 27 hours limited a lot in this novel. Had it been happening over a couple of day s or even a week or two I would have had fate in so much more.

Overall I personally enjoyed this novel. I feel like the representation though brilliant for some is also harmful for others. I feel like the author tried so hard to make a book that was perfect for everyone. Which is impossible. While I loved most of the queer representation I’ve read reviews from others who have been hurt by it. The author brushed a very important topic( conalization) to the side and in doing so hurt even more readers. I would recommend this book because personally I really liked it and I loved many of the characters but be mindful of the problematic aspects.

*Thank you to NetGalley and The Publisher for providing me with a free copy to review. All opinions are my own.*

I know I’ve probably said this before about other book reviews but this is honestly the hardest review I’ve had to write since I started this blog, which is almost two years ago. I feel so torn and conficted about it because, if you follow me of Twitter you might’ve noticed that this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year so imagine how thrilled I was when I got sent an eArc but… but I couldn’t help but be disappointed. This is one of the hardest reviews to write because as much as I couldn’t fully love it, I couldn’t fully hate it either and that for reasons that I’m sure you’ve seen discussed before. Or most of them at least. But I’m still going to give you my two cents about it.

I really liked the writing in this one. It’s simple, quick to read and yet still gorgeous. I love when I don’t need extra efforts to get a sense of the general feeling of a scene and Wright has a way of making that effortless. I could feel every emotions characters felt effortlessly, sadness, fear, love, heartbreak, happiness (eventhough there wasn’t much of it) which made not getting attached to the characters really hard -and I ultimately failed. Speaking of characters, 27 hours is written from the perspectives of four different characters, all of which I loved. Rumor, Nyx, Jude and Breaden and surprise, surprise, they’re all hella queer. Their voices are all different and I had no trouble figuring out who was saying what and when. Another character that to me was as proeminent as the others but doesn’t get a POV is Dahlia.

I’m only going to be talking about every character briefly because otherwise, this review will be way way too long, and we don’t want that. All I can say is that they’re very well crafted, not only as individuals but also their relationships with each other and with the side characters. Rumor is an angry bisexual boy I couldn’t help but want to protect at all cost. Nyx is a delicate pansexual girl who can kick your ass, she’s also Deaf and definitely my favorite out of the bunch because of how raw her emotions are. Dahlia is a caring bisexual trans girl who’d do anything for the people she loves. Jude is gay and passionate about what he believes in. Last but not least is Breadan, who is very cocky and very asexual. And here start my problems with the book.

My issue is how Breaden’s romantic orientation was handled. Because it wasn’t. It’s not acknowledged anywhere inside the pages of the book and as someone who’s demiromantic that was quite the bummer. Breaden is heavily coded as aroace. He is said to be disinterested in sex AND in relationships but not once is his romantic orientations explicitely stated. It seemed to me like it was lumped with his sexual attraction as one and the same which isn’t the case.

You may also have noticed that I didn’t mention the characters’ race/ethinicity and no I haven’t forgotten. 2/4 of the POV characters are POC. Rumor is brown and Indian/Nigerian, and Nyx is latina and although I, personally, wouldn’t say that rep was necessarily bad, but it was forgettable. There wasn’t much effort put into it. I appreciate the fact that characters do not have to worry about being discriminated about due to their skin color and that they’re not defined by it, I would’ve loved for it to be more to it than just one mention of their ethnicity or skin color a couple times.

The worldbuilding is good. I had a little trouble picturing some things and grasping some concepts at first, as I read on, that problem got solved and my reading flowed better. The plot as a whole was promising and it was really well written. Fast paced, thrilling and really well constructed. The action scenes are detailed and I could easily follow what was happening and when it was happening, the descriptions are vivid and make everything come to life. But here’s the thing, the premise the book is built on is my biggest problem and the reason why I couldn’t enjoy it like I had hoped. By now, everyone knows it, but the book is built on colonization.

The whole premise is humans colonising a moon called Sahara (and that name in on itself is problematic to me which I’ll tackle a bit later) and being at war with the indigenous species called chimeras, for which “gargoyles” is a slur. And I don’t know if you know this but I live in a formerly colonized country and I’m still trying to decolonize myself on a daily (which I’ll maybe write a post about someday) so I did not cope well with this whole premise. And before anyone comments on this review, if you’ve gone through similar experiences and loved this book, good for you, that does not invalidate my thoughts and feelings.

To make it easier for you and for me in this review, I’ll sum up my problems with this whole colonization business in bullet points:

1- The chimera are the enemy for a major part of the story which made me very uncomfortable considering that that made it impossible for me to sympathize with anything happening to the characters because everytime someone, especially Rumor, thought “They took away X and Y from me” I couldn’t help but think “but you colonized them and killed their people”.

2- The chimera had to basically prove themselves and their “humanity” to be deemed worthy of empathy and that their deaths were actual losses which is understandable knowing how four of the five characters were endoctrinated all their lives but since the chimera are intelligent, caring, etc etc… I don’t get why one of them didn’t get a point of view, especially since Jude who co-habitates with them gets one. I think that would’ve made for a better, more wholesome view of the colonism issue.

3- Although the prejudice is slowly desconstructed throughout the novel, the core issue which is the fact that the moon was colonised is never explicitely addressed. Instead, the colonist’s guilt is what’s continuously brought up and discussed, the war is lived, continuously brought up and discussed but never anything beyond that, and again, I think this issue could’ve been solved with a chimera point of view.

4- This last point, I’ve never seen brought up -which is understandable because it’s more personal to me as a Moroccan- is the fact that a colonized moon was called Sahara. Why, you ask? A quick Google search would show that Western Sahara which a chunk of runs under Morocco (and is claimed as moroccan soil but… it’s complicated) is subject of a decades long conflict that stems from… Colonization!!!! I’m not gonna go into details because I won’t turn this review into a political rant but if you’re curious, look it up. So, even if unintentional, that name choice came off as really insensitive to me.

Don’t get me wrong, colonization is never excused in the book but it’s never discussed properly either and I think that if you choose such a heavy topic to build a book on, it should be tackled fully or not at all. Eventhough this book represents many people, it also hurts many others and as someone who felt simultaneously represented and hurt, it was a difficult book to get through (it took me a month to read) and I often considered not finishing it but that little part of me that is starving for representation and got attached to the characters kept pushing through and the result is this jumbled thoughts of a review.

Tristina Wright’s YA science fiction debut, 27 Hours, is a diverse and imaginative, action-packed story that follows four teenagers who are trying to save life as they know it from certain destruction.  

The story is set on a distant moon named Sahara, where nights last 27 hours and where three groups of individuals are not-so-peacefully coexisting.  First, we have the humans from Earth who, over the course of the past 150 or so years, have traveled to and colonized Sahara.  Second, we have the Chimera (or Gargoyles, as the humans refer to them).  The Chimera are actually a species indigenous to Sahara, so the human colonists have encroached on their land by settling there.  Not only have the colonists taken their land, but they have also deemed the Chimera dangerous monsters and have done everything in their power to eradicate as many as possible and force those that remain underground.  Needless to say, tensions between these two groups run high and they battle often.

Lastly, we have another group of humans, the forest rebels, who believe that peaceful coexistence between humans and Chimera is entirely possible.  Because they disagree with the colonists’ beliefs about the Chimera, this group chose to abandon the colonies and live on their own in the forest.  The colonists consider the forest rebels to be traitors.

While relationships between these groups has never been good, things come to a head when a group of Chimera launch a lethal assault on HUB2, one of the major hubs where the colonists live, leaving behind only one survivor, Rumor Mora.  Rumor, who has been fed stories about how monstrous the Chimera are and been trained to fight them all his life, flees to the nearby colony of Epsilon to warn them in case the Chimera expand their attacks out to other colonies.  

While at Epsilon, reeling from what has happened, Rumor becomes acquainted with a diverse group of teenagers and together they learn there is more to this Chimera attack than what they have originally been led to believe.  Realizing that someone is keeping secrets that could be getting people killed, they decide to strike out on their own to uncover the truth, and in doing so, to hopefully put a stop to the conflict once and for all.  

Will they be successful or are they doomed to suffer the same fate as the first hub that was destroyed by the Chimera?



LIKES

If you think 27 Hours sounds like an intense, action-packed story, you’d be right.  I love a story that has lots of great action scenes and this one truly delivers in the action department.  It quite literally starts off with a bang when the Chimera attack HUB2, and there is rarely a lull in the action from that moment on.  

Wright skillfully weaves plenty of tension and suspense into the story by making it a race against the clock.  The humans can only stop the Chimera while they are above ground, and the Chimera only come above ground at night.  Once they go back underground, no one knows where the Chimera will next surface so Rumor and his friends must uncover the truth and stop the attacks before the night is over.  Since a night on Sahara lasts for 27 hours, that’s their timeline and the clock is already ticking when the novel begins.

In addition to the action and the suspense, I also loved the diversity that is present in this cast of characters. It’s truly the most diverse cast I’ve ever come across.  There’s Rumor, who is biracial as well as bisexual; Nyx, who is deaf, pansexual, and Latina; Dahlia, who is black, trans, and bisexual; Jude, who is gay; Braeden, who is asexual; and Yi-Min, who is gender neutral and prefers to go by “they” pronouns.  

What was especially fantastic about all of this representation was that it was the norm rather than the exception in the colonies.  Instead, being straight and white was the exception. This futuristic society has reached a point where racism and homophobia seem to have disappeared and everyone is accepted for who they are without question.  As I was reading, I just really liked Wright’s vision for our society and hope that we’ll continue to strive to get there sooner than 150-200 years from now.  

I also liked that 27 Hours explored some big themes as well: prejudice (against other species, in this case), loss and grieving, friendship, love, and, finally, humans vs. monsters and the question of which one of them really is monstrous.


DISLIKES/ISSUES

I’m not going to call them dislikes, but I did have a few areas that caused some issues for me while I was reading.  I wish these had been clearer or more fleshed.  If they had, this would have definitely been a 4 star read for me.

Lack of connection with the main characters.  27 Hours is presented from the perspective of four of the teens who are working together:  Rumor, Nyx, Braeden, and Jude.  I sympathized with each of these characters because of all they were going through – the confusion, the loss of loved ones, the fight for survival, etc. but I can’t say that I felt like I really connected with any of them.  What they were trying to accomplish interested me, but they didn’t especially interest me.  I’m hopeful that will change in future books in the series, but right now, I don’t feel like I really know these characters much at all.

Missing points of view.  While I liked seeing the story told from the perspective of each of these teens, I would have also liked getting some chapters from the point of view of one of the Chimera.  I just think it would have taken the story to the next level to give them a voice, instead of just hearing their story relayed through Jude, the forest rebel teen.

I also would have liked the worldbuilding to be a little clearer up front.  I think by the end of the book I had a clear picture of what life on Sahara was like, but it really did take most of the story for me to put all of the pieces together into a cohesive picture that made sense to me.    

Lastly, and if you read my reviews, you probably know what I’m going to talk about next: yep, the romance.  Okay, to be fair, I actually liked the pairings that Wright was trying to put forth in this story.  Nyx and Dahlia were cute together, as were Rumor and Jude.  My issue was the trying to squeeze all of these budding romances into this 27-hour window when they’re supposed to be trying to save human kind.  How is there time for the grabbing of butts and the random “I’ll show you something hard” jokes?  On more than one occasion, I found myself yelling at them:  “Come on, kids! Save the world first, unleash your hormones second!” 

FINAL THOUGHTS

While 27 Hours was not a perfect read for me, it was definitely a thrilling one.  I loved how unique the story was, as well as the energy of the book, the nonstop action, and the important themes that Wright tackled. I also enjoyed watching these teens come into their own and am ready to get to know them even better in the next book in the series, especially after the ominous cliffhanger ending that Wright leaves her readers with! 

RATING: 3.5 STARS

27 Hours is a fast paced sci-fi featuring a diverse cast of characters.  (Both POC and LGBTQIA+)  I had no idea what to expect going into this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by it.  It was fast paced and all of the characters were easy to get attached to.  The only downside I saw with the characters was that sometimes, due to the amount of POV's, I found myself getting characters confused until I got into the meat of the novel..  If writing could make or break a book for me then I think this book would have received a lower rating.  I don't think the writing was bad, but it wasn't enchanting either.  However, most of the time the descriptions or setting and character were described adequately, so I don't have much complaint there.  I have read some reviews from POC voicing their concerns with the novel.  As I am not POC I have no room in the conversation, but I've been listening and retaining information.  No one that I've seen believes that the author intended to offend, but I would def check those reviews out.