This is an awesome addition to the sci-fi genre: tense (there's a clock down) and full of futuristic technology. Fans of the worlds of Illuminae and Gemina will like this book: there's a visually stunning foreign planet, human space colonies, a fascinating indigenous alien race, and SPACE DRAGONS. And of course the diverse, inclusive cast is great and fun to see in any genre book. In spite of all the technology and whats-it happening, the main focus is on the characters, friendship, family, love and relationships. The world-building occasionally got muddled and there were a few flat character moments when the characters rode a zig-zagging plot wherever it took them, but on the whole, this was fantastic.

I am honestly hesitant to post this review since I have read/heard about the author's behavior on Twitter and it is completely deplorable. However, I will still review this book as honestly as I can.

It's a DNF for me at 30%. I give every book at least 30% and I just couldn't do this one. This book felt like someone took every spice in the spice cabinet, put them all in a pot and asked "What's the worst that can happen?"

My main issue with this book was the colonialist centered POVs. I think that Aimal's review pretty much says it all. To read her review click here: my link text. As an Ukrainian - I have come across racism, probably not as much as Aimal or people of color, but it's there. Furthermore, I have studied post-colonialism and let me tell you the marks which it leaves on the psyche of the individuals and on nations as a whole are disturbing, egregious and long lasting. Colonialism is not something that should be glorified, no matter how diverse the cast of characters is. The fact that this novel had none of the POVs from the occupied species, just made me sick to my stomach. How can one promote diversity with one hand while silencing the voice of another group?

Moving on, the writing was so flowery that I honestly zoned out on a lot of it. I had to read sentences over, and over and over again. Let me just say, I have read Salman Rushdie - the king of beautiful prose - and even his sentences were not as convoluted as these were. It seems like the author made them complicated for the sake of them being complicated.

Honestly, I would have loved the cast of MCs this diverse (w/o their prejudices) in another book, but this disturbing futuristic tale was just not for me. I gave it a month. I am done.

I really loved this book. I loved the diversity in this story and loved just the world building so much. I loved easy the represnrtion was built in the story and all the characters that we meet. We did meet so many characters so sometimes the details of who was connected to who confused me a tad but it was such a fun read. I loved the political elements of the story and also the "powers" these kids had. I loved the unexpected twists that happened in the story and will def tune in of for the sequel book in this series.

I was contacted by Entangled Teen to see if I would be interested in a review copy of 27 Hours and as this was already an anticipated release for me there was no way in hell I was saying anything other than yes.

I’d heard so many positive things about this book due to its diverse cast and as I love science fiction I was excited to get started.

From the first few chapters two things are clear to me. One, this is going to be an action packed journey. Two, the praise it was getting for a diverse cast is true and it didn’t feel forced.

I was about half way through and loving the book when 27 Hours blew up on my twitter feed again. This time though it was in a much more negative light. There is no way I can write this review without addressing the important and informative criticism it has received on how it centers on colonist guilt so I’ll direct you to Aimal’s review so you can get a better view of things. I believe Aimal has addressed very important issues and you can’t read my review without hers because the aspects she’s been critical on shouldn’t be swept under the rug. I’m not super eloquent so hopefully I’ve made sense here.

However, I still really enjoyed the book. That isn’t to say the book doesn’t have flaws. Its clearly it does.

I like my books how I like my movies. Fast paced and action packed.
Things I liked:
The characters

27 Hours is from multiple point of views which I find very hit and miss as I think its easy for characters voices and identities to get lost. However I didn’t find this the case for this book.

I really loved getting to know these characters in this format and how there was a clear focus to make sure Nyx was included in all the scenes that feature her, and done so correctly. The mention of signing, or the well too known look of someone not knowing how to converse with her, and many others all made me smile.

The fact that queerness is openly talked about indicating its not taboo made me very happy too. As did the other rep too!

A really huge bonus was how well the characters interacted and connected with each other as one big group but also the smaller pairings too. I thought it was great seeing how each person adapted to their new lives, how differently they fought and viewed their world.
The Plot

As mentioned, I really enjoyed how full of action this story was.

I also liked how this wasn’t a story of good vs evil. Both sides had done bad things, some in retaliation and some in ignorance. Following the story from a younger generations point of view as they uncover the truth about their world and the lies/propaganda their elders have spread felt rather relevant and helped me see how their was still hope for peace.

There was some almost sex scenes on page too! Which I don’t think happens very often in YA. Both were fully consensual and one even had some great puns. (I love puns guys, give me more)

Two of the characters have some special abilities too. Its not fully explained as to why but one can see people’s colours/auras and another can hear the moon speak to them. I think these two additions helped to add another layer to how the story was told, particularly the latter as it connects well with how the chimera experience things too.

Lastly, I guess this falls under both character and plot. There is a mysterious hooded person with no aura. But who is features twice (I think?) and both time appears to be helping the rebels. I’m really intrigued by this person and their importance to the saga overall.
Things I didn’t like:
Timing

The story takes place over 27 hours. *roll credits*

That is the length of one night. I find stories that take place over a day/time like this usually bother me as it makes me question when the characters have time to sleep, eat, shower, and go to the toilet.

There are a few mentions of food and one character even passes out from exhaustion but this was set at night so surely they’re all due to go to bed. I get that adrenaline and fear are things to help but still?
Point of Views

Part of me feels like having the story be told from point of views from humans-only helped in the reveal of the plot, the truth, and how corrupt their military/government its.

But a larger part of me does feel like having a chimeras point of view would’ve helped the narrative too. Even if it was only used after the introduction of the rebels. The chimera are there. They’re interacting with the main characters. So why not?

I think I can forgive not seeing Reaper’s point of view as I think keeping the reader in the dark helps to feel how the main characters feel as they’re uncovering why all this is happening.

I would definitely like to see chimera’s point of view in the sequel though.

I dunno, there is probably more I could talk about but I’m just tired and don’t want to be ignorant? If you think I missed something vital I’m all ears.

To summarise, I really enjoyed this book. I found a few flaws with it but more importantly listen to the book community who’re informing us of much tougher flaws (and way more eloquently than I can ever handle in any review). Some of these characters will stay with me for a while for sure. #IDidn’tGetTearyOverBi+AceRepNope

This was a book that I was really looking forward to. I seriously could not wait to get my hands on this book! The synopsis of the book drew me in and I was so excited to get lost in this book. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book. I think a lot of people will love this book, but sadly, it just wasn't for me.

Even though I didn't love this book, there were some things I really enjoyed about this book. One of the best things about this book was the diversity. I SERIOUSLY LOVED THE DIVERSITY IN THIS BOOK!!! THERE WAS SO MUCH DIVERSITY AND I WAS LIVING FOR IT!! GIVE ME MORE DIVERSE BOOKS LIKE THIS ONE, PLEASE! I also really liked the characters in this book. The characters were all unique and extremely interesting. Each character was well developed and they had a lot of growth throughout the story. I know a lot of readers will really connect with the characters and love them to pieces.

One of the things I did not like about this book was the world building. I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around the world the author created in this book. I felt like there was a lot of information in a short amount of time which made it really hard for me to understand. Some of the timelines also were hard for me to really understand. The way the fantasy elements were presented just did not connect with me. I still think the author created a really imaginative world, but I just never got into it. There were also some plotlines that didn't gel with me, which caused me to lose some interest.

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style. There were some moments of really beautiful words, but most times, it felt too detailed for me. The writing was so dense and detailed at times that I got lost in the words and I couldn't even remember what I was reading about in the first place. However, the author did a great job at writing fast-paced action scenes!

Overall, I don't think this is a bad book. I am sure a lot of people will love this book, which I totally understand! This is just one of those cases where the book was not meant for me.

1 / 5 Fangs

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

Wow - what a wild ride. Action packed, vivid world and characters who also have unique abilities. My favorite character was Braeden although many of the characters had one liners I loved. Story line was good with a couple twists thrown in. Book ended well with the opening for the next one. I received a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Kudos to the author for creating such a diverse and inclusive cast of lovable characters.  And boy, do these characters get put through the wringer - nearly nonstop action, incredible world-building, tense, heart-stopping moments.  All of this, along with strong themes of family, friendship, and acceptance make for a thrilling, engaging read.  Admittedly, I struggled with the pacing at times - it's a tad over 400 pages - and some of the actions scenes were quite long.

If you're a YA sci-fi fan or searching for #ownvoices books, you can't go wrong with 27 Hours.  Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I struggled a lot with this book.
I don't like using the word "unrealistic" while talking about SFF books (and this one is set in the future and in space), but I found it so unrealistic! I'm not only talking about shit ton of stuff happening in a span of 27 hours (which may be believable but kind of wasn't) but also about the overall presentation and instalove.
As for presentation, I just feel like this book was clearly-written-in-2010s-but-trying-so-hard-to-be-futuristic. It's 300 years in the future but here were references to ninja turtles (a classic, apparently) and a lot of current language quirks. I don't know, if it's writing issue or planning issue or it's just hard to write a futuristic-set story in general, but this was my biggest problem.

Now, let me whine at you how much instalove annoyed me. Look, characters (Rumor and Jude) locked eyes and suddenly they're lusting after each other. They spent like less than 24 hours together and suddenly there is "im not here for a quickie I CARE" thing happening. I just don't believe it. I mean, I already feel like requited love is a weird concept, but requited INSTAlove? Seriously, these dudes are absolutely different, they grew up differently, they lived differently, they have absolutely different views, but they see each other, spend like 12-15 hours in each other company and suddenly there is BAM! love? I don't get it.

I also did have some issues with the writing - I couldn't focus on it. I didn't have a full picture. I don't know again, if it's writing issue actually or if my reading comprehension sucks. I also feel like Wright tried a little too hard with writing banter, because it was kinda forced. And, personally, I feel like the writing was very unemotional. I spent the whole book being either irritated or sporting a poker-face feeling nothing. But it's a debut book, so I can let it slide.

I loved some things though! Characters are amazing, they're all different, have their own quirks,opinions and views, which are very interesting to see in dynamics. My favorite character is Jude, and apart from reading very irksome instalove stuff, I absolutely loved his POV.

My biggest favorite thing is queerness though. This book is really queer and it's amazing. I see a lot of people whining that it eclipses the plot, but lemme just tell you bros, IT DOESN'T. While characters do spend some time talking about gender and sexualities, it absolutely doesn't outshine anything. As for representation, there are non-binary characters, transgender character, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, gay, lesbian representation, e.t.c
Also, there are disabled characters, both physically and mentally, which you also rarely meet in books. A-and a lot of PoC characters!

All in all, this book didn't live up to my expectations. I feel like it had a lot of potential but it wasn't executed that well. But I'll give the series a chance and will continue it. My rating is 5 out of 10.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was an interesting sci-fi /fantasy read. There were a lot of diverse characters. ( like a lot of them). The story also uses multiple pint of views which I enjoyed.

I am going to decline to review due to the hostility that is brewing about this book. I've read half, and I am enjoying it so far.

27 Hours is a fast-paced queer sci-fi with fascinating world building that made my inner sci-fi geek squeal. While there was a lot of unnecessary exposition, and the plot dragged at certain parts, I mostly enjoyed the novel and can’t wait for the sequel.

By far the best element of 27 Hours is the incredibly diverse cast. Every single character is on the LGBTQ spectrum, and I actually believe that their society as a whole is intersectional and queer. It is very obvious that Wright did her research in regards to positive representation for sexualities and identities, and it still shocks me, in the best of ways, that a book like 27 Hours – a sci-fi fantasy book with bisexual, gay, pansexual, asexual, trans, POC, and deaf characters – even exists. It really shows how far publishing has come.

The main characters, although diverse, did not have especially distinctive voices and were actually a little bland. Rumor’s POV had a tendency to feature the action/fight scenes, and so everything moved incredibly fast and the reader had less time to connect with him, as opposed to the other characters. I still liked him, but I found his POV chapters rushed, which meant I struggled to pay attention and found myself skimming his chapters. Rumor is Nigerian, Portuguese and Indian, and bisexual; and he crushes on Jude, a boy who has been raised with the chimera – or gargoyles as the humans know them.

Jude was protective and loving to both humans and the chimera. The best way to describe him would be ‘soft’, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. He has a big heart and loves deeply. I was a little irked by the speed in which he falls for Rumor – they only know each other for perhaps an hour or two before they both begin to have romantic feelings – but I guess this was necessary considering the entire novel takes place over just 27 hours. I did really enjoy their relationship towards the end of the novel, but the pacing was a little off simply due to time constraints. That can actually be said for a lot of the issues with the book.

Nyx was by far my favourite character and I loved her from her very first POV chapter. She’s chubby, Cuban, deaf and pansexual, and has been in love with her best friend, Dahlia, for almost a year. She’s one of the novel’s strongest characters and frequently puts herself in harm’s way to protect those she loves.

Dahlia, a black Latinx bisexual trans girl, was just as protective as Nyx was, and is probably my second favourite character of the group. Although she didn’t have a POV, the reader interacts with Dahlia through both Nyx and Rumor’s chapters, as Rumor and Dahlia used to date. I just adored the relationship between Nyx and Dahlia and was glued to the page each time they interacted. Nyx could be a little jealous of Rumor and Dahlia’s bond, but she eventually comes to realise that what she and Dahlia have is just as important. Dahlia and Nyx’s growing romance is just beautiful to see develop and I can’t wait to read about them in the next book.

Braeden, one of the novel’s best characters, was asexual. He was loyal, selfless and willing to sacrifice himself if need be. He was the son of the city’s commander and often feels as though he had to live up to his mother’s legacy. Braeden was also cast the group’s joker, although there were many occasions the reader saw his vulnerable side. He used humour as a coping mechanism and a way to keep his true emotions hidden. I really enjoyed his relationships with both Nyx and Dahlia, and it was refreshing to see that this book doesn’t just focus on romantic relationships, but platonic as well.

I thought the world-building was fascinating, although it takes quite a while before everything is explained fully to the reader. Usually, I don’t mind this, but in 27 Hours there were a few occasions where an unfamiliar term was dropped into the text with no explanation until many chapters later.

There are undoubtedly issues with the novel’s world building history, and I have to say I was uncomfortable by the level of prejudice shown to the chimera. One could say this was the author’s intent – especially in today’s climate where there is decidedly an us vs. them mentality – but several characters go through eye-opening experiences as they begin to realise that their deep-seated prejudices are unfounded.

The novel tries to open a dialogue about these significant issues: your ancestors landed on this world centuries ago, to the chagrin of the indigenous species, but it’s your land now too. How do we balance this? What happens now? These are the questions 27 Hours attempts to answer, but in reality only scratches the surface. It would be remiss of me to not say the question that is on everyone’s mind: is Tristina Wright, a white author, even qualified to answer these questions? Remember what happened with Laurie Forest? This is something I think many readers should be aware of before they read this book.

It is also probably important to note that for the humans, issues of culture and ethnicity no longer exist between them. That has been left behind on Earth, as Nyx frequently explains, and the most humans ever talk about it is to find out where they come from, because they’re simply interested.

27 Hours is an interesting novel, but all in all I found it quite average. There are important issues the novel attempts to address, but ultimately doesn’t. The representation was amazing, but I still felt a few characters to be bland and similar to each other. If you’re interested in queer sci-fi, definitely check this book out. Just make yourself aware of the problems beforehand.

DNF - 43%

Even though I don't agree with anything the author says - I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley - I told myself that I was going to do my damn best to separate the art from the artist and read this book as I would any other book. I was doing alright, the beginning was actually really good, it started right into the action, no punches held back at all and I enjoyed Rumor, he's pretty damn badass.

Then we kept switching POVs and Nyx (LOVE the name!) was kind of mean, I get it, she's lived a hard life but when she flipped off the guy just for trying to make sure she understood what he was saying... that's not cool. That made me dislike her, not to mention how when her best friend/crush was going through some hard stuff all Nyx wanted to do was make out with her. Didn't like her character at all.

There are other characters but I've got my point across with just naming these two. Now, while reading this book, I can tell you the color of every single characters' skin, if they have a disability, and their sexuality. I can also tell you that Rumor's parents are dead. That's it. 43% into the book and that's it.

How is that character development? I mean, we are way more than our skin color, our disability (if we have one), and what our sexuality is. I don't want to be known to people as the "white Apache bi-sexual girl with the really severe nerve damage". I am more than that, I love to read, I am a mother, I was a straight A student, I was class president in 8th grade. I love to write. I am overly nice to people, even when they are mean to me because I just can't help myself. I am scared of spiders. I am shy till you get to know me and then I never shut up.

These are the things that would've helped me connect to the characters, that would have made me feel invested in them and want to know more. I don't connect to a character because of their skin color or what they are sexually attracted to.

Honestly, it felt like to me that the author was just trying to add things to check off a diverse list. Which I hate. I want diversity, I want to learn more about other cultures and the people that live in them. I want to read about all kinds of different characters. I want true diversity, like what we have in the real world. The kind of diversity I see every single day when I go to work.

So while some will praise the diverse characters in this story, I think it falls short, they are nothing more than what label the author gave them. They don't feel real, they just felt like a checklist. Guess that's what you get when you read a book by an SJW author.

I don't recommend this, not only because I think the book was lackluster but because the author isn't the nicest person around and doesn't like anyone who disagrees with her. There are much better books out there if you are seeking more diversity. Books that don't feel fake and are just trying to get browny points from their fanbase.

As I always do with books I DNF, I will not rate it as I only rate books I read in full. Though I'm sure you can tell from my review what I would rate this book if did.


It will go live on my blog - 10/03/2017
http://sweetcherry69.blogspot.com/

It also will be on my Tumblr to - 09/25/2017
https://midnight-on-blake-lane.tumblr.com/

27 Hours is book one in the Nightside Saga and its one hell of start. 27 Hours starts explosive and does not let up. 

In the midst of a war loyalties are divided, peace seems unattainable and love might be found only to be ripped away. 

We have Rumor Mora, Jude Welton, Nyx Llorca, Dahlia Adams and Braeden Tennant making up the main cast. Each of these characters are really well flesh out and vivid, with their own desires and wants. You can imagine these people living their lives outside of the book. 

For me what was so magical about the book was the sheer amount of queer characters and how normalised it was. Rumor is bisexual, Nyx is pansexual, Braeden is asexual, Dahlia is transgender and bisexual and Jude is gay. A wealth of side characters are also queer. More books like this please! There's diasbility rep and PTSD rep among others. 

The twists and turns were all executed really well. 27 Hours keeps you on your toes and guessing about what might be coming next. I am so excited to see whats going to happen next.

27 Hours is one of those books I’ve really been looking forward to. The author’s presence on twitter sparked this for me. The start of the book made me hesitate on if I would like this book, but once it grabbed me it would not let go.
Right from the start we get thrown into this world that we know nothing about and into action with only little offerings of explanation. I had to do a little double take with that. It was a little jarring and I struggled to get a good hold on the world initially. But as the action slowed down we got more explanations and I was finally able to be taken in by this book.
27 Hours is a sci-fi and dystopia, set about 200 years or so in our future I believe. But this group of people is no longer on Earth. They have colonized a planet that has 27 hours of night. It is during one night that this book takes place. It is interesting because it has a lot of different things. There are obviously the small dystopian aspects to this story, the -to us- aliens, but also these interesting paranormal powers within some of our characters. It makes for an interesting mix of things to follow along. But the reason for coming here and things like that are still vague and I really hope that we will get more answers to that in the next books.
Writing wise this book is mostly strong and focuses on four point of views. However I do have a bone to pick with some of the first chapter openings for each character. As they had basically the same set up and that just didn’t really work. Unnecessary and a bit gimmicky.
The characters are diverse. There is deaf, pansexual, asexual, gay, bisexual and lesbian representation throughout the book that was great to read about.
The characters are well developed. One of the things that made me take a liking to his book was them and their interaction and (developing) relationships. There is a certain humor and snark throughout, especially with Rumor and Braeden that I love. I took an instant liking to Braeden because of this. Rumor took some warming up to but that has to do with the situation we met him in. Jude gave us a different look on things as he was on the rebel side. He was so cute (and hey, partially Dutch so obviously he is awesome by default). Nyx was the only female point of view and I felt that she fell a little behind compared to the boys. I hope she will get more attention towards her arc and powers in the next book.
There was some delicious on page chemistry between these characters and I am totally on board for Rumor and Jude.

I struggled to write this review, probably more than I have in a while for a book. Part of this is because I've seen backlash on lower rated reviews for 27 Hours and there are SO MANY higher ratings that I thought that I was crazy for not enjoying this one as much as other readers have. And before I say anything more I want to add in a few disclaimers.

First, this review is not a reflection on the author as a person. I don't follow them or keep up with what's going on in regards to their work or this book. I received 27 Hours for review and that's it. Second, I cannot say whether the rep featured in this book is good or not because I am not a part of any of the groups mentioned so comments on the rep should be considered with that in mind. And finally, I read for entertainment. A book can be beautifully diverse and not entertain me, and that's where I sit with this one.

I generally like to start off with the characters. 27 Hours bounces between four different points of view. Each character is not only culturally and racially unique, but they also feature a wide variety of sexualities. It's honestly amazing. We need more of this in fiction, especially SFF. Again, I can't speak to the rep but I can say that I think the character diversity was my favorite part of this book.

But while you could write a detailed character bio for each one, I never cared about them. For all the diversity, the characters fell flat for me. I see this happen a lot when a book features multiple PoVs, especially right off the bat (compared to series that introduce more as the story progresses). I guess I never really understood why we needed this many perspectives, especially when none featured a character from the other side of the story's colonist vibe. Furthermore, this book seemed to be so focused on the diversity that it lost the story, the world, everything else that I would look for as a reader.

Now, you probably think I'm crazy. Too much diversity? No, that's not what I'm saying here. My point is that it felt like the characters became their respective diverse representations but that's where the development of their personalities and backgrounds stopped. I saw this with Sal in Mask of Shadows as well. To offer a contrasting title, Marie Lu's Warcross is not only beautifully diverse but it was written in a way that the story is fully fleshed out and engaging, and the various representations are as much a part of the book as the story and world. Nothing is sacrificed there.

Characters aside, I had issues with the world-building and the pacing. I'm picky about my science fiction. I want to feel that this world is real. Humans colonizing a new planet in the next couple centuries then forgetting where they came from? Unrealistic to me. The fact that we teach history in school NOW, for starters, makes me question if the timeline for this story should have been more removed into the future. Yet the writing style, the language used, it gave me the sense we were in the present day, not the future. I felt like this world was a lot of surface with little depth.

As for the pacing, we're thrown right into the action from Chapter 1. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there wasn't enough time spent on introducing the opening character (Rumor) so all of these things are happening but as a reader, I'm not invested in the character to care whether they make it out of the conflict or not. This became a reoccurring problem when the chapters moved between characters so quickly that I never latched on to even one of them to invest in their future. No matter how good or bad a story is, the characters make it or break it for me. If I can't get behind the characters, I can't get into the book.

So. In short, 27 Hours did a great job at bringing diversity to YA SFF but the execution of the story left me wanting more. I think this book had the potential to be amazing but didn't quite reach it. I'll reiterate once more: this is a reflection of the book, not the author. I was reading for enjoyment and I didn't get that, unfortunately.

I received a copy of 27 Hours via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


I went into 27 Hours full of anticipation and excitement. I was left with a little bit of a dullness that is hard to pinpoint. As has been stated before, 27 Hours had fantastic representation on many levels, albeit it has some racial rep issues that have been noted already. There have been many reviews talking about representation in this book, and while those are all worthy discussions to have, none of it factored into my 2 star review.

A book can have all the representation in the world, and still suffer from subpar world building and vague writing. For me, this book was a miss. I am a huge fan of Science Fiction, but this book failed to deliver what good and great SF accomplishes often, which is the wonder and total envelopment into a world that isn't quite our own but that could be, one day. Instead it felt forced, vague, and extremely rushed. It is by no means the worst book I've ever read, but I did feel like it was ultimately a waste of my time.

27 Hours is not a straightforward review. For the most part, I adored the diversity, the character’s personalities, and the fact that there is some broader alluded to conspiracy. But at the same time, there was discomfort as well lurking in there.

So the thing I enjoyed the most from 27 Hours was the amount of diversity in terms of sexuality. We have some bi-sexual, gay, lesbian, asexual, and trans characters in the main cast and side crew as well. Not only that, but these factors impact their character and are discussed in the book. Yet at the same time, they never overshadow their actual personalities. And here enters my first little caveat. While some of these characters are also diverse in terms of race, this never impacts their actual storyline or is discussed really in depth. The only real discussion is that because of their life on the moon, there are no discussions of race because those relations are seen as more ancestral - since people don’t have connections to it anymore.

Not to mention, this book is straight up action. It starts from page one and leaves you at the end, feeling like you’re run a marathon - and you have. And so have the characters. This 27 hour novel is a marathon of action, new realizations, and confusion. The characters have to grow and challenge their misconceptions of their world - to fight through the ‘business as usual’ mindset to question their society. And I enjoyed that aspect, but for me because it was paired with this intense rhetoric against the native species, it felt uncomfortable. There are very real prejudices of colonization - an intense us versus them mindset. But also in a real way. There’s no denying that pieces of that rhetoric is present in our society.

27 Hours celebrates sexual diversity in a plot that will keep you running and guessing from page one. There are some problems with the book - the lack of racial representation and the colonization narrative - but there is also a huge potential, one that I think could blossom in the next book. To me, the sequel has even more promise, not even because of the characters and their relationships.

I was extremely happy to receive an early copy of this book, especially after hearing so many great things about it. Unfortunately this did not end up being the book for me.

When the human race travelled to an abandoned moon, the first thing they did after colonization was build a lake. What they didn't know, is that during their building, they flooded the nest of the Chimera, an ancient species that has lived on this moon for many years. The war between the two species over the land has gone on since the beginning, but when the Chimera attack Hub2, Rumor ends up being the only survivor, and he relays the message that everyone in his colony are dead, and the rest of the Chimera will start a war within the next 27 hours.

This book was so good... yet so bad at the same time. It definitely had huge potential and possibly with a few minor changes, this book could have been even better. Lets break the reasons down.

The characters. This book follows four points of view. Three boys and one girl. Three colonists and one member of the human group living in the forest that is neutral between the war. Right off the bat, it felt really weird to have four points of view, without having at least one of them actually be a chimera/gargoyle, so we only get to see their side of the story from the colonists/forest group's point of view.
The thing I really liked about these characters was the diversity. Each main character is so unique and different, not only based on their background, but also on their sexuality. While I'm not a member of the glbt community, which means that my opinion here may not be the best, I really enjoyed the diversity of the main characters, and I thought that this part of the story was very well written.
On the other hand, I couldn't find myself actually get connected with any of the characters. The way the author wrote about the characters and what they were doing, they just didn't feel like real people to me, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, they just felt very flat. The POV was switching so rapidly that they all eventually just blurred into one, and I found myself forgetting who's voice I was reading in. I think, with a little more time and effort into each character I could have enjoyed it a lot more.

The world-building is where I had the most problems with this book. So this story is set about 200 years into the future, and it is set on a "moon" where it is light for 27 hours and then dark for 27 hours. The author has mentioned multiple times that the colony of humans on this planet has over the years merged into one. There are no races, no discrimination against skin colour, and everyone eventually learned a common language and now this is the only language that the humans speak. Having said all this, the book focuses a lot on ethnicity and where each character comes from, and while its not passed off in a racist way, it is still very important to the characters. To me, it seems like either the author got lazy in descriptions and just chose describe their characters as "half Nigerian and half Portuguese" to make it easier for herself, or this "world" that she's created has some major flaws in it.
The second thing that I absolutely could not stand about this world was the colonization part. You're telling me that a race of humans, which in 200 years is able to find a habitable planet, find people and technology to travel there and create cities in that short amount of time, has completely forgotten their history on Earth about colonization? These people must have obviously been extremely smart, since they were able to do so much in such little time, yet its like they've never had a history lesson in their life. The humans on this planet have completely colonized the land, and basically taken it away from the Chimera which have lived there for much longer. Ie, basically how Europeans colonized the Americas. Every history lesson will teach you that eventually the indigenous community fought back, and tons of lives were lost. The worst thing is, is that the humans on this planet are completely oblivious to what they have done. They treat the land like it belongs to them, and rather than trying to make peace with the Chimera, or at least respect their culture, they chose to act in war and portray the Chimera as monsters that must be killed on sight.
One last note on the world-building/writing. This book contains a lot of current day humor, such as slang and even some meme jokes that are currently in our pop culture. This makes no sense to me, especially since this world is set 200 years into the future. Once again, either the author was very lazy and didn't want to create her own slang/jokes, or the editing team didn't notice that the language the characters used did not fit the time frame of this story.

The pace of this story is another area where I had problems with. The action in this story starts right away, like definitely within the first 5 pages of the story. While I usually like action to start early on in books to make it entertaining, this was just a bit too early. I would have at least liked to learn more about the characters before everything happened.
With a beginning like this, I assumed the story will be action packed and keep the reader entertained throughout the whole story, and while I was right about there being tons of action, I wasn't engaged in the story at all. I think this was mostly because I couldn't connect to the characters and the fact that the writing style of the author contained excessive descriptions and lots of unnecessary details. After a few chapters I found myself skimming sections just to get to the dialogue, and only pausing during the important parts of the story.

Overall, I still want to give this book two stars because I think this book can be really important due to its huge range of diversity. If you're interested in this book, borrow a copy first and if you find yourself connecting with the main characters and enjoying the story after a few chapters then keep reading, otherwise I'd recommend just giving up, because if you don't like the beginning, then it will not get better for you.

<p>Centuries in the future, the colonization of a distant moon has led to war with the chimera, an indigenous species. &nbsp;The chimera see the humans as parasitic invaders while the colonists believe that the chimera are a violent, bloodthirsty, savage race of monsters. &nbsp;A small group of teenagers may be the only ones who have what it takes to bring the war to an end.</p><p>Enough people have gone over the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1873444239?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1">plot</a> and the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1523690254?book_show_action=true&amp;from_review_page=1">writing</a> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1765510160?book_show_action=true&amp;from_review_page=1">style</a>, so I don’t really feel like I need to do that in my review. &nbsp;I’ve also seen a ton of conflicting reviews of this book, so how about an interview-style review?</p><p><b>Was this the&nbsp;best book of 2017?</b><br>No.</p><p><b>Was this&nbsp;the worst book of 2017, like OMG how did&nbsp;it get published?</b><br>Also no.</p><p><b>Is this&nbsp;basically Tumblr: The Novel?</b><br>Yes, most definitely.</p><p><b>Is there a really diverse cast of characters?</b><br>In some ways, yes. &nbsp;In other ways, not really. &nbsp;All of the major characters are LGBT. &nbsp;There are also a number of&nbsp;POC, but&nbsp;the&nbsp;various&nbsp;cultures from Earth have&nbsp;kind of blended together in this futuristic society, so&nbsp;race doesn’t play a big role in the&nbsp;book.</p><p><b>Was it sometimes a struggle to keep reading this book?</b><br>Yes, but I think that’s mostly related to other things going on in my life. &nbsp;It’s no&nbsp;fault of the book.</p><p><b>Did I consider DNFing?</b><br>No, I was too invested in Rumor/Jude.</p><p><b>Would I read the sequel?</b><br>Maybe? &nbsp;I’m honestly not sure that a sequel is really necessary.</p><p><b>Was there sometimes too much going on?</b><br>Yes, for sure. &nbsp;Sometimes I’d get distracted while reading and have no idea what was going on. &nbsp;After going back and re-reading, I’d find that approximately eighteen things had happened over the last two pages. &nbsp;The pacing could be off sometimes, but it wasn’t a bad book.</p><p><b>Why did I give this book four stars?</b><br>Because three wasn’t enough and five was too many. &nbsp;I’m not even being sassy -- that’s my subjective opinion. &nbsp;I appreciate what Wright tried to do here and while I don’t think that she’s written the next Hunger Games or Harry Potter, I think she’s written a book that will resonate with a lot of kids and may be some much needed representation for teenagers who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender, or asexual.</p><p><b>I received a free ARC of <i>27 Hours </i>from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.</b></p>

I was super excited to be approved for this ARC as 27 Hours has been on my TBR for a long while now - for the most part, it lived up to my expectations! <3

I'll get the few negatives out of the way first. For me personally, there were too many POV characters and I did get a little mixed up as to whose perspective we were in, especially when we didn't really know our cast that well and I couldn't distinguish between a couple of the male characters. This meant when their chapter started, I had to pick up situational cues to remember where we'd last left off with that character and figure out what was going on. And once that hurdle was overcome, there was still the matter of remembering the relationship between different combinations of the six protagonists. I needed a mental Venn diagram to try and keep track of who meant what to whom!

FYI, this was my way of making sense of the cast - at the center, we have Rumor and his ex-girlfriend Dahlia, whose best friend and love interest is Nyx. Their friend Braeden trades sassy banter with Trick, whose brother is Jude, who is Rumor's love interest. Ta-da! 

The other major issue for me was that there was a central conspiracy winding throughout the story which was never resolved. The title of 27 Hours is a literal countdown with a couple of chapters showing what our heroes are doing from one hour to the next, meaning they don't have a lot of time to puzzle things out, but I don't understand why they don't ask more questions and demand answers when they encounter important figures who influence the chain of events. They throw around some snide accusations and air petty grievances, but don't cut to the heart of the matter, which doesn't seem realistic to me. 

There is something deeper and more sinister at play leading up to the devastating attack on Rumor's home, and we find out about key players in this attack later in the novel, but the logistics and motivations for it don't make sense to me and it isn't really explored. I won't go into spoilers, but if you take note of Eric's father saying 'It wasn't supposed to happen like this' in the first chapter like I did, just know that it never gets explained, so you may as well put it out of your head! (but seriously WTF?!)

Onto the positives - SO MANY QUEER PROTAGONISTS! Sick of the straight white default heroes? You won't find any here! Role call - bisexual Rumor, gay Jude, bisexual Dahlia, pansexual Nyx and asexual Braeden! The latter has two moms, who play a minor but recurring role in the story as well. CUE THE FLAILING OF JOY.

I'm at the point where I get giddy when a mere side character is hinted or *gasp* confirmed to be LGBT+ because I expect the least from literature and the media, so to have a book where all the main cast are queer is pure heaven to me. My heart exploded and I raced through this in two long binge-reading sessions over two consecutive nights because I couldn't stop myself. I wasn't going to linger and savor the experience, I was going to GORGE ON THIS FEAST.  

I adored all the characters, which is so rare to me! Often I find teenagers annoying (which makes my penchant for reading YA hilarious and self-defeating) and I sometimes end up struggling to finish a book because I can't stand the main character. But all these kids were endearing and lovable!

I enjoy the intersection between YA and speculative fiction because that removes the tendency for the focus to be all about the romance and provides an interesting backdrop that allows for action and suspense, and 27 Hours delivers on all fronts. Growing up on Sahara with the long-standing conflict between the chimera and humans meant they didn't have the luxury of a pampered childhood and gave them all a maturity and clarity of focus that made them easy to root for. There was the right amount of romance, but the kids weren't ruled by their hormones and were mature enough to focus on survival and saving the day first and foremost! 

I also loved that the author's focus wasn't solely on the romantic interactions between the main cast, but also delved into the friendship between the teens, whether long-established or newly developed. Braeden was an outstanding character in that respect - being ace, it would've been easy for him to fade into the background and for the author to center the attention on Nyx and Dahlia's friends-to-lovers arc or Jude and Rumor's complicated dynamic as star-crossed lovers divided by ideology. But no, Braeden got ample time to shine and frequently stole the show with his witty quips and easy banter with everyone he met.  We had some touching moments, like Braeden seeking out Trick to give him support or Dahlia offering a hug and comfort to Jude, which was lovely.

I also appreciated that Nyx was shown to be alternately jealous of Colt and Rumor as these boys had romantic connections to Dahlia, because that's all too human, of course a girl caught in the throes of a secret crush would resent her 'competition' - but she wasn't petty enough to act on it and acknowledged that Dahlia was free to date as she wished since Nyx was too timid to admit her feelings. All too often we're encouraged to dislike and root against the 'threat' to the book's OTP, but even a minor character like Colt was developed far more than the typical throwaway ex-boyfriend role. 

Potential Issues

There was a very in-depth and detailed analysis of the racial representation by Aimal on goodreads. Speaking purely for myself, when I was reading this story, I didn't identify the problematic nature of the racial politics and implications thereof - after taking a look at Goodreads, I can see that the author inadvertently incorporated some dynamics that could be offensive or inflammatory, for eg. the white characters being the ones to advocate for the indigenous species and arguing against colonialism. Bad optics, to say the least. 

There's also a lot of discussion about how the multiracial representation is tokenism at its finest because a couple centuries after migrating from Earth, people of all ethnicities have become separated from their heritage and no longer speak their native language or observe their cultural traditions, and everyone has instead adopted a Westernized lifestyle. I can understand why other readers find this hard to believe and scoff at how the characters trot out a brief bio about their background with no connection to it, for eg.

“My mom was Indian. Like India. My dad was… He was Portugese and Nigerian. I only know because we had a school project to see what, if anything, we’d kept from our Earth ancestors.”

However, personally, I relate all too well - people ask me all the time about my heritage as I'm obviously not white. My rote response is, 'I'm half-Fiji-Indian, 7/16ths Samoan and 1/16th German.' I don't speak any of those languages anymore - I grew up bilingual, fluent in Hindi and Samoan, but once I learned English and spoke it more frequently, I forgot the other two. I moved to Australia when I was 10 and have no ties to my cultural heritage. So it's all too easy for me to see how humans would become more homogenous once they migrate into space and are born and raised away from the countries and cultures that would define them here. I'm a walking testament to how that works, so it never crossed my mind when I was reading 27 Hours to question why the characters would disclose that they're Nigerian, Cuban, Afro-Latinx, etc. and not display any characteristics in the context of those cultures.

Obviously we need better representation for people of all ethnicities and this is taking the easy way out, but I don't think the author is wrong for it. You do have second or third generation Australians, Americans, Brits, etc. who are from diverse backgrounds but have thoroughly assimilated into Western society, and my view is that our protagonists are the equivalent here. I'm not going to argue that Tristina Wright couldn't have done better, because after reading the issues others have raised, I can definitely see that, but from my corner, I don't have a problem with what she's put on the page. 

In Summary

Things I didn’t like:  too many main characters when it may have been better to trim the fat so we could get to know a few protagonists a lot better, as well as unresolved plotlines with questions raised that were never answered, leaving the political landscape very hazy and confusing.

Things I liked: ALL THE QUEER TEENS <3 A variety of relationships both romantic and platonic, plus imaginative world-building with a very original setting and conflict.