Hilariously strange AI end of the world YA. If that got your attention then yeah this books for you, personall not my tea like a 3.2/5 but here everyones got there thing just learning AI isnt mine.

This was a very strange book to try and get into to, I did finish but it took much longer than it should have what is a shorter novel.
I'll start with positives, the book is hilarious,, the twins very developed and fleshed out characters. However the book itself is... like some sort of acid trip? It reminds my of Hitchiker's guide in it's nonsensical nature but sadly this one lacks cult status.

I tried three times to read this novel. It’s a great concept, but I found it incredibly hard to keep up with the narrators. The voice is like nothing I’ve ever seen, but it made it a bit confusing at times.

Babylon Twins is a hilariously strange book following a set of twins named El and Clo, who have lived in the forest of an apocalyptic future earth for the past ten years, with their mother and little brother. The story is told through the views of both twins at the same time. El and Clo also have their own secret twin language that they speak throughout most of the story.

I have to say, that the cover and description of the book really doesn't tell you too much about what's really inside of it. Though the book is really, and I don't say this lightly, weird, it's so weird that it just makes me kind of love it. The twins go through their daily life until one day their mother just leaves, leaving them alone without really telling them why. This drives them to try to survive in the forest themselves, until things other than robots begin attacking them. This is when they leave the forest and venture out into the cities around them.

This launches the characters into an adventure that almost reminds me of a fever dream, now that I've finished it I keep thinking about it like, did that really happen? Full of robots and tentacle monsters and crazy people in general, this book isn't something I'll forget about anytime soon. It's hilarious and kind of cute, and super descriptive in all the right ways. Before the end of the world, the twins were eight years old and fighting kids at school. Now, as eighteen year olds, they have to figure out their live all alone, as almost insane things happen around them, and they're just trying to figure out what kind of women they need to be.

Thanks for reading!
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I did not finish this one fairly early on, and I just wish there was a way to leave reviews without starring them in these situations! I always feel bad leaving a rating when I haven't finished a book. That being said, this one was a bit out of my usual wheelhouse - I tend to go for supernatural fantasy, and veer away from dystopian sci fi, but something about the cover and plot of this caught my eye.

Unfortunately, I struggled with the narrative style from the start, and couldn't quite figure out who was even talking. Some parts of it felt aimed at a very young audience, while other parts were more adult, and overall it created a jarring juxtaposition that prevented me from being absorbed in the story.

Sci-fi fans with a preference for irreverence may enjoy this, it just wasn't my particular cup of tea.

Hovering between 2.5 and 3 stars. There's a lot to love about this book, and a lot that didn't work for me.

The good:

- Interesting, unique take on the end of the world.

- Intriguing and descriptive world-building. Again, a unique take that was refreshing - will avoid saying much more in fear of spoiling things, but there's creepy androids, insect-like cars, and other cool stuff. In general the world, as well as the quirky storytelling, reminded me somewhat of Jeff VanderMeer's "Borne" novel.

- Some unique twists and turns.

- For the most part, good pacing from an adventure point of view. Lots of new locations to explore, different baddies to encounter, etc.

- The tone - to a small degree. The twins banter is witty and sharp, but quickly turns into too much (see below).

- A gorgeous cover, though that has no impact on a book's qualities.


The bad:

The witty dialogue is way, way too much. Books like "The Martian" manage to nail this aspect without it coming across like it's fake. Babylon Twins very much goes way too far way too often, and it becomes exhausting.

- Every single name - EVERY. SINGLE. NAME.. - is something cutesy. The car isn't a car, it's "Bouncy McBounceface". A person later on in the story is called 'Butler McButlerface' (groan, really? two in one book are needed?). One of the deer creatures is called "Vambi" because it was hard to kill. The twins use some sort of cutesy name for EVERYTHING, on every single instance of discussing the [person/animal/etc] and it's just too much.

- The twins are written to be too witty, and they're turned to 11 all the time. It doesn't feel organic and it started to wear down on me quickly. As one example, one of the twins, at EIGHT YEARS OLD, says "Way to go full paleo, Mama". What? 8-year-old children are supposed to be naturally aware of trendy dieting options, and would actually say such a thing on a whim? Every statement is a quip or one liner material. Every person who does anything is a badass. The twins are borderline, or flat out, obnoxious at every turn, including their introduction where they break a kid's nose just to prove they shouldn't be messed with.

Additionally:

- While I was following the story for awhile, by the end I wasn't completely sure what happened. While a unique take on the apocalypse, the world building became too complex and convoluted. Or maybe I just didn't get it.

- There's an unfortunate sex scene that happens near the end of the book that was completely unnecessary, and imo trivializes and makes a mockery of one of the more interesting secondary characters.

I'd like to see future books from this author to see if the witty balance situation can be improved, as there seems to be plenty of promising aspects to Babylon Twins. It just didn't work well for me in the end.

*Received a free ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The description is what hooked me- murderous twins surviving the AI apocalypse? Yes, please! I was engaged during the first 100 pages but afterward, it felt like the story lost its steam and I wound up not really caring for it.

The characters could've been better developed in my opinion. Clo and El had the potential to be amazing heroines but this was a very plot-driven book and thus Clo and El were never fully fleshed out. I could tell you what their signature weapons were but other than that there wasn't much to them so they fell flat.

I did enjoy the writing style and the way Clo and El's POV was written. Very unique and I liked that you could see how both twins were reacting and perceiving events instead of alternating POVs.

The plot... the beginning was pretty good but it seemed to drag on in places and I couldn't really tell what the main conflict in some areas. I did appreciate the humor though- it was probably one of the only reasons I continued reading this book.

Even though I was very engaged in the middle, I was interested towards the ending and though I didn't really enjoy this book, it is highly likely I will read the sequel to see if things pick up and develop further.

*Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing a free ARC*

This book was…something. I think the blurb made this book sound a lot more interesting than it actually was, because this book was pretty much the opposite of the way I thought it would be.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing style of the author, and I think that took a lot away from this story for me.
The plot and world building was so convoluted, so unclear, (kinda weird but I think that was the point), and just cobbled together as the book went along, and it was an overall unenjoyable read.
Character development wasn’t very well done, the characters weren’t very fleshed out, were kind of immature, and were a bit wooden and two-dimensional.
There were these relationships tossed in that took away from the plot, and were weird, boring, bland and sounded like they were written by someone who had never been in a relationship before.
Even though I found this book to not be my cup of tea, I was sucked in towards the middle and was interested to see how it ended.

Boring, weird and just plain stupid. The synopsis was better than the book itself. I thought maybe if I kept reading, it would get better. Boy was I wrong! I wouldn't recommend this book.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
1/5 stars.