To be honest, it took me longer than normal to read this book. That's not a bad thing. I think it's somewhat normal for me with sci fi and fantasy, but I also think I was in a bit of a reading slump. The first 40% went slower than I liked, but the last 60% was fast paced which really helped me out.

I loved all the people, but also the chimera in ths book. Rumor was probably the hardest to like, but I understood his anger. Rumor watched his mom die from "monsters" when he was young and then watched as gargoyles, hellhounds, and dragons destroyed his home and everyone on it. He was raised by his father to kill and not trust.

My absolute favorites in the book were Jude and Braeden. Jude was just sweet. He's that kind of guy you can't help but love. Braeden has that sarcastic personality that I like so much. But he was also loyal with a good heart.

There was plenty of diversity in this book. I don't know that anyone was really straight and that was nice. The sign language was also a pleasant surprise that really added to the story. I really liked how Nyx could feel the vibrations from the moon.

The chimera and the history were the best parts of the book. Human arrived from earth and took over their land. Obviously some similarities there to real life. There was a lot of action in 27 Hours. Plenty of blood and a little romance here and there. But I found that the focus was more on friendship of the group. They were a family and each one would protect the others with their lives. I panicked a few times and even cried during one scene.

I'm glad there will be another book. I can't wait to find out what happened. There were a lot of betrayals in this one and I want to know who we can really trust.

I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you to Entangled Teen and Netgalley for the chance to read this one early.

Well.

Hmm.

This review is going to be really hard to write, and I almost regret having accepted the ARC because then I wouldn't really be obligated to write this review. I do want to say that I know this book will be important to people. I know that it is important to people. But, it also has to be known that, while Tristina was looking to be inclusive, she may have overlooked some rep she wrote, and the nuances that go into writing them.

I want to start with the positive, though, so I'll get to the rep further into the review.

Tristina's writing was lyrical with interspersed metaphors and similes that added to the atmosphere of the moon, known as Sahara. Her descriptions and imagery were top notch, and I often found myself entranced with the setting solely from the writing. The action scenes were intense and heart-pounding, although there was a few times when I was confused with what limb was doing what. Despite that, I was engaged with the action and story, and wanted more.

27 Hours starts out with a heart-stopping fight scene, and it barely slows down from there. There are a few spots where you're heart can go back to beating at a normal speed, but they are fairly brief. As much as I loved the fast-pace, there were times when I was confused on the world-building because Tristina hadn't taken the time to slow down and develop her setting. The descriptions were there, and were beautiful, but I didn't know what the descriptions were relating to or why what she was describing mattered.

Probably the best part of this book was the characters. I adored every last one of the characters, even the bad guy. Just as before, the descriptions left nothing to be imaged for most if not all of the characters. Reaper's description was really fitting. Rumor and Jude were just *clenches fist* perfect. Dahlia and Nyx were beautiful. Braeden and Trick were lovely. Yi-Min, Kai, George, Angel, Vala, Bailey, and Sara were all amazing characters, and they were all amazingly developed. I can't remember reading this many developed and well-rounded characters in one novel, and it's really impressive that Tristina took the time to develop all of them.

But. The rep. There's a lot of it, and not all of it is perfect. The rep I can come up with just as I'm writing this review is: Deaf, pansexual, asexual, bisexual, Indian, Nigerian, Latinx, non-binary, and transgender. Since I'm not every single one of these sexualities, genders, or ethnicities, I won't be commenting on all of them. I will be linking other reviews though.

My biggest, biggest problem is with the gender rep. I originally heard of this book because of the trans and non-binary rep, and the way people were putting it--they were saying that one of the main characters was non-binary. That is wrong. One of the main characters is trans, but not non-binary. Now, the non-binary rep that is there, though, isn't exactly non-binary rep. Is a character really non-binary if they just use neutral pronouns? They were never confirmed non-binary, unlike every other ID in the novel. Is this really the non-binary rep that was promised? There was another non-binary character, and by that I mean another character that used neutral pronouns (but who wasn't "human".)

Now, minor spoilers, but I think it's kind of important. Take note: there's two characters who use neutral pronouns, and one trans character. One of them dies, and the other two were mortally wounded. Only one other character got an injury of that scale. Another thing that really bothers me is that every character is described in detail . . . except the character with neutral pronouns.

Then there was the ace rep. The rep was really stereotypical, and rubbed me the wrong way. While I loved Braeden as a character, his aceness focused on him not wanting sex/never having sex, rather than sexual attraction. Ann Elise Monte has a much more thorough review on this, which can be found here.  As someone on the ace-spectrum, I was a little . . . confused with Braeden's rep.

Last thing. Which, basically most reviews of this book will be linking considering the content. 27 Hours centers colonialist points of view, and basically ignores the indigenous race that lived on Sahara. Yes, the story is to stop the war, but the fact that all four points of views were from humans was a little meh. Aimal's review here talks about it more in-depth, and it's very eye-opening. 

I wanted to love this book. I wanted to fall in with the hype, and have a new favorite book, but it just didn't happen. I love Tristina for all the work she does in the YA community, but she still has some learning to do.

Final Rating: ★★★☆☆

Overall?

I'm being generous with my rating, considering everything I mentioned in this review. But just as I said before, I know that this book is going to be important to people, and that it already is. The story and the characters were phenomenal, but Tristina still has work to do with her representation attempts. Hopefully later on, when she's learning from her mistakes, then we'll see.

Would I Recommend?

Yes, because it's a good book. Just be aware that some of the representation can be harmful, and that the plot itself might be insensitive to indigenous peoples.

27 Hours is one of those books I kept seeing on NetGalley and GR and just scrolled past it for whatever reason until I finally read the blurb and nearly punched myself because I ALMOST MISSED THIS WTF IS WRONG WITH ME. This book is equal parts epic and flawed though.

Okay so clearly this has to be the most diverse book to ever be published and correct me if I’m wrong on this, all the kudos and all the YASES for writing a book that is so inclusive and just a huge rainbow in space, oh my book feels how much I loved these characters.

Rumor Mora is a bisexual, multiracial boy with a Nigerian/Portuguese dad and an Indian mom.
Dahlia is a afrolatinx bisexual trans girl.
Jude is a gay boy with a gay brother.
Nyx is a Deaf pansexual Cuban.
Braeden is an asexual boy with lesbian moms.
I mean, YAS BOOK YAS. But the most amazing part was that these characters were not there just to check a diverse box or to simply add diversity, these characters are all equally important to the story and they each drive the plot forward. Plus I love how they interacted with each other, I couldn’t get enough of their funny dialogue and snark, they really became a huge group of friends in the end, I love the friendships here! And there’s a lot of romance going on that was just so epic and adorable.

The story starts with an attack to a HUB2 which I still don’t know what that is, Rumor is the only survivor and after the attack he is being taken care of. The attack is the first of many to follow and our characters team up to try to stop it before daybreak. Don’t want to spoil much but from the moment I opened the book till the last page I never once took my eye off the pages. 27 hours to daybreak and the story takes the readers on a thrilling ride of explosions, diplomacy, love and new friendships.

Two of the biggest issues I had with the story was

the language: the language the characters are using is very 2017. It’s really hard to believe that 400 years from now people from all over the world, living in a colonized Moon will use words like y’all and speak perfect English because that’s supposed to be the default language? I don’t think so.
And the fact that it’s a story about a colonized Moon and the main characters are fighting with the gargoyle chimera that occupied the planet. PEOPLE. COLONIZED. A. MOON. AND. ARE. FIGHTING. WITH. THE. INDIGENOUS. PEOPLE. OF. THE. AREA. WHICH. JUST. HAPPENED. TO. BE. GARGOYLE-LIKE. CREATURES.

I mean, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ABOUT? Some of the reactions and the hatred towards the chimera come from the main character, Rumor, who is of Nigerian decent and it made this part mind-blowing.

The world building is very hard to put into words and I have big gaps which need more info since it was hardly analyzed, for a Sci-Fi book there wasn’t a lot of Sci-Fi going on here and I’m looking forward to more of that on the second one since I have tons of questions and I need some damn answers.

Overall, the characters are what makes this book so amazing to read, they each have their own unique personalities that shine in the middle of a very under-developed and confusing sci-fi story.

"27 Hours" is an intriguing YA sci-fi/action/adventure about several teens living on a colony in space called Sahara. Sahara is actually a moon which was inhabited by different species before humans came to colonize it. Most humans live in cities around a central "Hub" (colonists) although some have left the cities to live in the wilderness at peace with the indigenous species. There is a long (27 hours) nightside which is followed by dayside. The intelligent life lives in tunnels underground during dayside and is only able to surface during nightside. The book follows several teens during a nightside cycle when war is heating up between the indigenous species and humans.

Immediately, the book begins with an attack on Hub2, where Rumor lives with his father. The gargoyles (as colonists call them- they prefer to be called Chimera) are attacking and we are thrust into the action of a brutal battle. As the book continues, we slowly gather the pieces of this new world and what is going on. It is somewhat reminiscent of themes of human history with colonists and conquerors across Earth viewing indigenous people as lesser (and even giving them names that they do not like/would not choose for themselves). The Chimera are clearly intelligent, although viewed as savage animals that humans must wipe out. The teens slowly begin to learn more about them as the book continues. However, battle after battle/action scene after action scene leads us to slowly get world-building/information about the new world and species that inhabit it. The Chimera seemed like an afterthought, and while we learn a little about them, we don't learn much.

I think it's pretty rare that a book seems way too fast-paced, but I felt this book was too much like an action movie and not enough like a sci-fi book. We run from battle to battle without much pause for breath or knowledge (and it's a really fascinating world that the author has created with new species and new context for humanity). There are a huge cast of characters, many of which I wish we got to know better, as we are bounced between many characters and don't quite settle on one or two as main. There are two major romances, one of which has (unobserved) context and the other which was insta-love. We observe both romances escalate at the same times/same places in the book during a brief pause in battles/action; to the point where it almost felt like it just seemed like time for all the romance to happen. I think I would have preferred one main couple to root for and follow on this journey with more background information. I also would have loved to learn more directly from the Chimera, perhaps with sections directly from their perspectives, as I felt they were a little glossed over for such a complex species and for being the "enemy" with a side that is perhaps even more valuable to hear in this war (it was their world first and humans began by killing a lot of them upon arrival).

Overall, I personally wish there had been more world development and less action, but fans of action/adventure may love this focus! One of the great things about this book was the inclusion of so many diverse characters (it would also have been interesting to include more background on the evolution of the human race to arrive at this future). Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Where do I even begin with this book? There were so many positives, I don't think I could even begin to mention them all. First off, I have to shout out for all the representation in this book. I'll discuss more what each character is but it's so incredibly awesome that an author would find a way to organically fit in all this representation. It wasn't forced. The characters' sexuality wasn't a plot twist. It felt legit and I can accept that.

This book takes place over the course of 27 hours, which is how long the night last on this planet. I don't think I could even sleep for 27 hours no matter how tired I was. I thought this was a cool aspect though. I also really liked the reimagination of gargoyles, dragons and chimeras.

The POVs are from Rumor, who is a gay teen and is very angry. Jude, a gay teen that can see colors (almost like auras) surrounding people. Nyx, a Deaf pansexual lesbian. Braeden, an asexual teen boy. Each brought something to the table and not just their sexuality. Each character had distinct personalities and they were all incredibly likeable.

Nyx was my favorite. I simply loved this little human. She is Deaf and is not afraid to let people know that they shouldn't be taking around her. She appreciated any and all attempts of communication, even if they didn't know how. She didn't freak out if they did something wrong. She loved the fact that they were trying. I think I loved that most about her. She didn't let her Deafness hinder her. You will be seeing her on my top 10 favorite females after Hermione.

I really appreciated all the work Tristiana Wright went into helping the reader understand pansexuiality and asexuality. I'm going to be honest and say that the terms did confuse me even though I tried my hardest to understand. I now understand a little bit better. If I could have one teeny tiny complaint, it's that I would have loved a Dahlia POV. She would have brought a little extra to the table and plus I just love her and Nyx. Overall, you really can't go wrong by reading this book!

The ensemble cast in this is really poorly served by the pacing, there are about twice as many characters as can be fit into and developed well in the amount of space this book contains. Also, I feel that by hand-waving away racism and homophobia and Cissexism the author has robbed herself of a chance for depth in the plot--a cast of black and brown queer kids interacting with colonized aliens SHOULD be very interesting, but because Wright has chosen to erase racial politics and individual cultures in favor of a monolithic western-assimilated "human" culture (which is a science fiction trope I REALLY dislike) and also has no mention of homophobia or transphobia, the interactions feel very shallow and the diversity of the cast feels more like a veneer than anything more than skin-deep coloring. I was actually deeply disappointed in this book despite a few very nice character moments. There's a really sweet introduction of a trans character, and a nice moment where a Deaf character reminds her friend that she can't read her lips if she turns away, but a lot of the identity introductions felt clumsy, and I didn't get a good sense of anyone's personality except that Rumor is angry and also kinda hypersexual, which, considering he's black, was maybe not better than no personality at all. I don't know, I really wanted to like this but it just doesn't come together for me at all.

Rumor loves his friend Jude. One loves monsters, one kills them.
Nyx loves her best friend Dahlia but can't tell her.
Braeden Tennant wants answers.
One night on their planet lasts 27 hours. In this time they need to stop a war. Battling sci fi's answer to gargoyles and dragons can these friends stop the threat of extinction.
Love, terror, and friends bonding in a unique read. Definitely worth a try.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for providing me with advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review*

Rating: 4/5 stars

This book follows the stories of many teens, most importantly Rumor, Jude, Nyx and Braeden. It is set over a 27-hour period (hence the title) where they must prevent a war from happening between humans and gargoyles. It is set on an fantasy planet in space and the main characters are all part of the LGBT community.

I had begun hearing a lot about it on social media and I knew that I had to read it. I was drawn in by the queer representation and let me tell you: it did not disappoint! There were so many different representations, I was absolutely thrilled. To name a few there were bisexuality, pansexuality, and ace represented in the main characters. I find this to be so important both to the young adults this book is targeted towards and for anyone who wishes to see their sexuality represented in YA. They were represented well and accurately, which also made me super happy! I could sort of guess where the relationships would go once the characters were introduced, but it didn’t make the book any less enjoyable and the interactions between the characters were lighthearted but meaningful. I found the romances in this story not forced at all and I really loved Nyx and Delilah’s romance throughout the story. Nyx had to be my favorite character in this book: she was so innocent and sweet, afraid that Delilah wouldn’t feel the same way. At the same time, she was such a strong character and proved to be one of the few that ‘saved’ the day. I also liked Jude. A lot. I was confused as to his part in the plot at first but really grew to love him. His power had to be the coolest thing I’ve read lately, though: he is able to sense people’s auras, a little bit like an empath, I would describe it as. He sees them in colors, like synesthesia, and that was such a cool addition into the story. It also plays a part in his relationships with the other characters, such as Rumor. Finally, I would add that Braeden is fantastic comic relief. I laughed out loud a few times at some of his lines and his bravery is truly something courageous. The characters were extremely relatable and I thought that their romances were woven in nicely with the rest of the story and both elements were given equal attention, so one did not dominate the other.

All this being said, I feel that it was a little hyped up for me. I didn’t receive the 5-star read that I was expecting but I think that was due to my personal taste. I didn’t care for the gargoyles as the monsters/villains in the story: they just didn’t seem to fit in. The premise of the book is definitely interesting to me and I did enjoy how it was told. The story was set on a planet and I wished that it had incorporated more space elements, such as a new alien race. Gargoyles and humans at odds with each other in space didn’t really work for me. I also wanted to know more about the humans that lived in the forest! We got a glimpse with characters such as Jude, but I wanted to know more about their way of life and their history with the gargoyles. I expect that it will be expanded on in the next book but it was an element that tied the whole story together so it was important to me. I also think that the alternating POVs were a bit confusing to me. I would have preferred a third-person POV because there was a lot of jumping around between narrators that threw me off at some points and I had to go back to check whose chapter it was. But, that being said, I found the book to be gripping and I read it all in one sitting! I have to add that the cliffhanger in this book killed. me. Oh my gosh, I almost threw my iPad across the room! It was so good and left me sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering what’s going to happen in the next book. I love/hate (love) when books do this and this was no exception.

I would recommend this book to those who are looking for a diverse representation of the LGBT community as well as who love stories about a group of teenagers that triumph against all odds. Also, for those who are fans of Star Trek because I got a very Trekkie vibe from this.

Thank you netgalley for this fantastic arc for an honest review. It was something I usually like and don't usually like all in one, but I fell in love with this story and Tristina Wright's writing skills. It was magical.