The premise of the book seemed interesting but I had a hard time getting into the story. It's a dystopian story with a group of teens as the last survivors who are all drawn together and decide to fight back against the aliens who have invaded. The diverse characters were nice but I just couldn't connect to them. It may just have been me though.

I want to start my review off with this: The Last 8 is a book that you aren't going to want to miss this year. This book is being marketed for fans of The 5th Wave and anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE that book and movie with all my heart. The Last 8 exceeded all of my expectations. Filled with finding friendships, aliens, finding yourself in the face of disaster The Last 8 is the perfect way to bring in 2019 and alien invasions.

All of Clover's dreams and actions for working for NASA are thrown of the window when the aliens invade earth and kill off most of earth's population, all except for Clover and seven other teenagers who have been hanging out in Area 51 since the invasion. When Clover hears a radio message that leads her to Area 51 and the other teens, she finally feels like she has a chance to fight back, only: everyone is pretty content with just existing and playing video games and staying safe. Clover isn't having it though and after uncovering some dark government secrets learns that everything isn't exactly what they thought and there might be hope for them after all.

*This paragraph is going to discuss Clover's suicide attempts if you would like to skip a head to the next paragraph!*

I love Clover's character. Clover is a seventeen year old ace/aro pilot who longs to be in the sky even when it is no longer safe. From the beginning of the novel we see how intelligent and resourceful Clover is and how she continues to be through out the entirety of the novel. Though I know not many people are going to take lightly to the talk over Clover's suicide attempts I did actually appreciate them in the novel. Clover doesn't shy away from the fact that she has had struggles since the invasion, that at times she felt like life wasn't continuing. I loved the part where she acknowledges the fact that Adam is developing feelings for and she explains to him how something between them will never happen because she identifies as ace/aro. I enjoyed the fact that The Last 8 didn't need a romance aspect to move the plot forward.

I never expected a book about aliens to make me tear up but the friendships built between the characters definitely pulled at my heart strings a little bit. The plot of The Last 8 was fast paced and didn't stop for one moment. Each chapter was a new development in the plot to drive it forward. Overall I really enjoyed The Last 8 and I can't wait to see where Pohl is going to take this gang of characters next!

The Last 8 by Laura Pohl was such an amazing read. I don't read to much science fiction but this book had me hooked from the very start. I just had to keep reading to see what happened to Clover and the over seven last teenagers on Earth. Great book for fans of The 5th Wave series.

For some reason I can't explain, a book about friendship and aliens was exactly what I needed right now.

Lately, I've felt like I've been reading the same book over and over again (with slight variations) and a young adult science-fiction novel was exactly what I needed. It was incredibly refreshing on every aspect—the characters, the relationships between them, the plot, the representation, the twists and turns, etc. The Last 8 got me out of a reading slump and kept me on my toes the entire time it did it. It was such a quick, fun read and it left me wanting more! From what I'm gathering, there's going to be a sequel and I know I'll be picking it up when it's published (might be getting a little ahead of myself here, but THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS). I've already recommended it to a bunch of my friends and I couldn't be more glad I decided to move this at the top of my TBR list.

This young adult novel is about the aftermath of an alien invasion. I'm afraid to say I'm tapped out on the young adult end-of-the-world/dystopian genre, and the writing wasn't enough to hold me past 25%. A DNF for me, but I do know I'm in the minority when it comes to exhaustion with this ya subgenre.

Perfect for young adult readers (and those of us who just enjoy YA lit), this book has action and science fiction adventure in well-written form. A text I would gladly share with my students or sit back and delve into myself.

**3.5 but rounding up for the moment at the end that actually made me gasp**

A fast paced sci-fi adventure that pushes the survivors of an alien invasion to the brink and forces them to become the brave heroes they were always destined to be.

“The Last 8” begins at a crossroads where our main character Clover has her feet on the ground but wishes to spend her days in the sky and following her dream to work at NASA when an alien invasion occurs throwing everything she wants out the window. When she hears news of other survivors she quickly makes her way to the infamous Area 51 and learns that things aren’t exactly what she hoped they would be and again finds herself having to decide if she wants to live out her days waiting for death to come or to seek it out and embrace it if it offers even the slightest chance at succeeding.

It’s obvious the author of this book is a huge sci fi fan as told through the many references to pop culture classics from ‘Back to the Future’ to ‘Independence Day”, that being said there were many moments in this book that were very similar to plot points in most of those movies making it almost a mash up of your favorite alien encounters.

Those parallels aside I do have to give credit to something I thought was either a plot hole or just the characters being very lucky with all of the skills and resources at their disposal that turned out to be foreshadowing to a much larger point which was a nice touch seeing as it was something obvious enough to notice and to bug you as a reader until you get that pay off.

This isn’t a bad read and as far as the sub genre of alien invasion plots go it’s up there as one of my favorites because it doesn’t waste time jumping into the meat of the plot while still giving time for emotional character moments and having it come full circle with humanity being their greatest strength.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**