This is the first novel from Peevyhouse that I have read and I am interested to see more. I was at odds with this title but it did leave me with mostly good vibes.
The world building in this novel was mostly well done. It was a little hard to wrap my brain around, but as this is new technology for the characters as well, it moved along well in my opinion. I wish there was more descriptions of the ship. It was a very bland space environment that could have benefitted from a few more details. The tar like substance was also somewhat generic and, in the end, needed a better explanation. The sim world was easy to picture with a real world skyline and familiar places.
The characters were interesting, but also quite forgettable. I did not connect with either main character and did not find that they changed much throughout the story.
This all sounds quite bad, but I did enjoy seeing where the book would go and how everything would be managed in the end. There was a very new and timely idea at the heart of this book that needed to be flushed out with more detail and depth.

Um excuse me, do we all see those comps? "Strange Exit is Parker Peevyhouse's next suspenseful, near-future, stand-alone thriller, perfect for fans of Kass Morgan's The 100 and Patrick Ness's More Than This". Yeah, that is obviously going to the top of my TBR. And I will say, that it absolutely had vibes of those two books, so while it's high praise, it's also earned.

This is my favorite of Peevyhouse's books (each one better than the last actually which is really making me extra excited for her next one). Also like her other books, it's very hard to review without veering into spoiler territory. But I'll try!

What I Liked:

• So it really does give off those The 100 vibes! Definitely more the Kass Morgan version than the Jason Rothenburg version (ie, a little tamer which is totally fine, just worth noting) but it's set in space as these kids are trying to get back to Earth after a cataclysmic event. Now, it's safe to return, only there's a holdup. And I am absolutely a sucker for this type of story, so I was loving it!

• It's fast-paced and engaging, making it a quick read. Honestly I needed to know what was going to be come of (possibly) what was left of humanity. And sure, I wanted to know for our individual main characters Lake and Taren, but I won't pretend I didn't care a wee bit more about the human race 🤷‍♀️

• The simulations were really imaginative! Like, what would you dream up? I think it shed so much light on each character (even some of the more minor ones) where they'd choose to go and such. So fascinating!

• There were twists! I shan't talk about them but things definitely didn't get boring, ever.

• I loved the ferocity of which Lake cared for her sister. I mean. Bellamy Blake, anyone?

What I Didn't:

• Okay I did need more worldbuilding. Like, what I got I loved, I just needed more. More details on the end of the world, and then like, more details about after. I know I am being vague, but it's on purpose and I just wanted more details okay? Maybe a sequel? I'd totally be up for a sequel!

• I would have liked to be a bit more connected to the characters. I liked them well enough, I just didn't feel like I truly knew them, you know? Which is kind of to be expected, at least to some extent, as they're in simulations and just trying to not die most of the time.

Bottom Line: Fast paced, fun, and entertaining, I'd definitely recommend it, even if sci-fi isn't usually your jam.

This was my first Syfy book with a VR theme. I enjoyed this story it kept me engaged and entertained. The author did a good job with the world-building. Through the use of vivid imagery, the details came to life for me. The plot was intriguing, great concepts. I do wish they had been fleshed out a bit more, there was a lot left off the table. It doesn't detract from the story, I just think that there was untapped potential. The story was well written and the flow is sound. I would recommend it to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic stories but wants something a little less intense than the norm. Also, I really liked the cover.

DNF @ 20%

I am having a hard time getting into this story. So far, there is no character development and there doesn't seem to be enough context for what is happening in the book. There is some MG humour that has me shaking my head as well. Fart jokes aren't my cup of tea.

I found this to be just okay for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main characters and I didn’t find their emotions to be so concrete as they changed so fast. The ending happened so fast and I didn’t have time to understand it and I still don’t fully understand it. Nothing really made me dislike the book but nothing made me like the book either so this book didn’t really do much for me and I’m feeling very neutral. The concept is very interesting and I would recommend if you’re interested because it wasn’t a bad book for me.

This the second Parker Peevyhouse novel I’ve read and while I’m convinced she has an adoring audience, I don’t seem to fit in.

I really like the premises she comes up with, but the novels never hit me the same way. I’m a very linear reader and I get the impression that Strange Exit would be enjoyed a lot more by non-linear readers who can follow the story no matter how many times it jumps off the track, does a 180, and backflips into something else.

Most of the time I was reading this book I just found myself confused. Confused where the story was going, and confused with why the characters did what they did.

The resolution brought the experience up a little, just because I was able to make a bit of sense out of it, but overall this book just wasn’t up to my expectations.

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but unfortunately I just couldn’t.

This was not what I expected and, in this case, wasn’t a bad thing! I thought this was thriller, but it’s not. It’s a wonderful sci-fi book! And a wonderful one as well set in virtual reality. I thoroughly enjoyed the story overall and the characters were great. Where it lost me was at the end. It felt like things ended a little too abruptly and things were solved quickly. But other than that, it was an enjoyable story and a great book for those wanting to start sci-fi but don’t want something too sci-fi heavy

Strange Exit is an intriguing, fast-paced, YA sci-fi book. I definitely enjoyed it as I read it in one sitting,  in just a few hours.  I'm a big fan of dystopian settings where teens are fighting for survival with no adults around, so this didn't disappoint.  I liked the concept a lot, and the main characters were fleshed out well.  The ending left me with a question or two, but not in a way that detracts from the overall story. I may look into other works of Parker Peevyhouse since this was the first I've read from this author.

Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse is a young adult science fiction fantasy. The story is a futuristic one taking place in space after a nuclear event happened on Earth. However, the setting in most of it is a virtual reality dystopian world the characters are stuck in.

Seventeen-year-old Lake is aware she is a passenger aboard a space ship that holds the survivors from Earth. Lake however spends her days searching the post-apocalyptic virtual world that the other passengers are stuck within and not remembering their own reality aboard the ship. It’s been up to Lake to find her fellow passengers and try to help them remember they are in the simulation and bring them out of it.

The thing I found with Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse was that the setting seemed to be done well with the virtual world but it almost felt the characters were somewhat forgotten compared to that. There were so many involved in the story and very few seemed to have any depth that it was one that was hard to connect to their stories. So while I generally love virtual reality stories this one was just so-so for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was a book that had a bucket load of potential, but unfortunately, it just didn't deliver for me. It tells the story of Lake, a young girl exploring the post-apocalyptic landscape day after day - or at least, the simulation of one.

The Positives: The basic premise is a really interesting one - we have a ship that escaped Earth, however many of the occupants are trapped within a virtual reality simulation of Earth and must be woken up in order for the ship to return. I thought that the mystery of what was really going on was well constructed and it did keep me guessing throughout.

The Negatives: I feel like there wasn't enough explanation of events. Consequently we just follow Lake on her journey through the sim without really understanding why she does what she does. I wanted more exploration of the ship and the politics among the groups who were awake, but we don't get any of that, which I think is a shame and a missed opportunity. I also felt that the ending was very rushed and pretty disappointing.

Overall, I think that the writing here is compelling and the story had a lot of potential, but was a bit of a let down in the end.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Following teenagers struggling to emerge from a simulation that has eased their time on a spaceship after the demise of Earth, I expected this book to give me Passenger meets Ready Player One type vibes. 

And it did...but not exactly as well as such other versions. 

First, let me say that the concept behind the simulation and the worlds the characters explore within it are interesting and the writing itself was strong. 

Unfortunately, the story overall felt too rushed. I inevitably ended up confused as the book too-quickly moved from one moment to another, and left me wanting more when it came to characterization, skipping over important details like the backstory of an already-established romance, and descriptions of our main character.

The explanations we do get are somewhat unoriginal (if they do make sense), following too-common YA tropes, my least favorite of which is an inextricable situation in which only teenagers were allowed to board the ship (Yes, this is a no-adult-allowed YA), which only has the slightest hint of logic behind it. 

There were several twists in the end which I can admit surprised me...but don’t look too closely, or you’ll see their many incongruities and plot holes in relation to the rest of the book. Even if they had been wholly logical, my meager investment in the characters made them a lot less impactful. Meanwhile, the other surprises scattered throughout the story seemed incredibly obvious.

For someone who has never seen or read this concept done before, it might be an enjoyable read, but at this point, the idea is so overdone and has been done so well in other ways and other mediums that you’d have to do something really special in order to be worth the read. And this book just doesn’t. 

I rated Strange Exit 2 out of 5 stars.

Getting past the first chapter was difficult, but I pushed past it to give this a fair chance. I didn't like it. The premise was promising yet the follow through was lacking good writing and imagination.

Strange Exit is the latest speculative science fiction novel from the mind of Parker Peevyhouse, and it is a unique reading experience. This novel blends post-apocalyptic fiction with simulations, debates about human nature, and so much more.
Lake is a determined and driven girl. Every day she goes out there and she searches for survivors in a shredded and desolate space known as earth. And every day she tries to talk them into going home. For you see, Lake is aware of a secret they’ve locked away in their minds; they’re all in a simulation.
The problem is; Lake needs everyone to leave the simulation before they can go home. She, along with dozens of other children, are on board a spaceship – their life raft, so to speak. But the spaceship won’t head back to earth until each and every one of them have left this simulation. That’s where Lake’s job begins.

“You were in the simulation. Now you’re out.”

Strange Exit was a thrilling and unique reading experience. One that blended lots of expectations and tropes into something completely new and different. It was a whirlwind of a read – the sort of novel I just couldn’t put down until I finished it.
Strange Exit caught my attention with that unique and interesting name. But it was the description that sold me. I’ve always loved the concept of joined simulations for people in cryosleep, and this novel had such a unique take on the experience. How could I say no?
There was a lot to enjoy about this novel, from Lake’s perspective and challenge, to the multiple layers of writing and plots. Picture Inception, but in book format, and with simulations instead of dreams. And now you’ve got a solid understanding of what you’re about to dive into here. And yes, it is worth reading.
Lake’s character was an interesting one. She was determined and stubborn, yet lonely and vulnerable. And then there’s Taren, who’s basically the polar opposite of her in every way. It was interesting to see these two in such stark contrast. Two different characters, with different ways of thinking, trying to solve the same problem. I loved it.
What really blew me away was the level of intricacy that Peevyhouse wove into his novel here. It was brilliant. And it really earned the title of speculative fiction in my mind. Add in the post-apocalyptic feeling, and this was one complex situation.
This was the first novel I’ve read by Peevyhouse, but I can honestly and safely say that I was impressed by what I read here. I’m absolutely going to do my best to keep his future works on my radar, especially if they’re anything like Strange Exit.

Set in a future where the Earth has been destroyed by nuclear war, we meet Lake who is trapped on a spaceship that refuses to work until all of the passengers are brought out of stasis but to make matters more complicated, the passengers' minds are stuck in a simulation which they need to want to leave so that they can be brought out of stasis. Lake have taken it upon herself to do just this. The concept sounds a lot more complicated than it is, I promise!

This book is written in a really engaging way that makes you want to continuing reading and pretty much do nothing else until you have finished it. There is a growing sense as the book progresses that everything might not be quite how it seems but you get no real sense of what it is, just an increasing feeling of unease.

I would say that I absolutely loved the first 98% or so of this book; the ending felt a little rushed and a little over-complicated for my tastes. I can't say it was unexpected, it just didn't quite sit right with me. I would definitely still recommend this book but the ending needs the reader to be fully awake to truly appreciate.

In this new SciFi story, our main character of Lake is on a malfunctioning spaceship. In order to get it working again and head back to Earth, she must find the rest of the sleepers in The Sim and convince them that they are in stasis instead of their own created pockets of reality.
Even though I have never seen Inception, this book gave me those vibes of what I imagine that movie to be. I loved the weirdness of Lake walking from one pocket to something completely different and trying to figure out what would convince the sleepers to wake.
Obviously, this book has so much more depth than that, but I loved going into it without knowing much else, and it unfolded in such a fun way. I did not want to put it down because I just needed to get to the end.
Lake was our main character and our main POV; however, there were a few chapters from others' POVs, but I didn't feel like it helped the story much to have that. Especially since most of those extra POVs were one-off characters or chapters.
There were twists and turns that I both saw and didn't see coming, and I'm glad this was my first Peevyhouse read. While not a full 5 stars, it was a great book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC.

This book had me hooked from the beginning. A post-apocalyptic simulation that you don’t know is real or not? Yes please!

I really enjoyed the story and characters. The story wasn’t something I’ve read before so I was sucked into it quickly. Sometimes I felt like it was hard to follow what was going on and could have used some more world building but for the most part I really enjoyed it. Lake, Taren and Willow were all great characters; I loved Lake and Willow’s relationship.

There were some plot holes in the story but I was so engrossed that I overlooked them while reading just so I could see what happened next.

I will say the ending happened too fast and was kind of disappointing. There was one character that you don’t even know what happened to. He was a main character and basically disappears. I would have liked to know what happened to him, even if it was one line at the end of the book. Just something so I would feel some closure about him.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting read. The concept is one I've never come across before, so it was definitely original. I think the idea itself was fresh, but the actual execution wasn't as fleshed out as it could've been. The sim and that whole world could've been a lot more involved, and I did have a few questions. For instance, why was Lake the only one going into the sim and "saving"/"waking" people up? The ship was in such dire straits, so why didn't anyone else contribute? I also thought the tar plotline was very basic and superficial; it could've gone a lot deeper and added in more suspense and upped the stakes, but it seemed straightforward and a little unclear. I was confused with the Taren storyline, but I did enjoy the Lake/Willow storyline!

I knew that I needed this book when @booksandlala featured it in one of her videos. It sounded like an interesting read that I wanted to check out. The novel is about a ship full of young adults from Earth, that was inhabitable for them, but they are trapped in a simulation. Our main character, Lake, who I found easy to connect with, has been waking up these "dreamers" because the ship won't return to Earth without everyone awake and food is running out.

I found the main plot intense and original. This was my first Parker Peevyhouse novel and now I will be checking out her other two titles. I found her writing easy to connect with and struggled to put down this book. I managed to read the 288-page novel in one evening!

I do not read a lot of science fiction but I felt like this YA science fiction was great for those who don't usually read it. It mixed the traditional science fiction elements like simulations, aliens and more with a character-driven format that I enjoyed. The only thing I disliked was the ending. It left me unsatisfied.

Overall, it was an intense and quick reading experience, well-written, and full of interesting characters.

I recommend checking out this intense science fiction YA novel even if you don't care for the genre. It was a great read!

Rating:

4.5 Stars Out of 5 Stars

"'The sun never set, and you kept bringing me things, and it was the only day of my life I knew what forever would feel like. And you were there, so forever didn’t feel bad.'"

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Macmillan-Tor/Forge. Trigger warnings: death, parent/sibling death, violence, mild body horror, injury, grief, trauma, survivor’s guilt, bullying.

Lake spends every day wandering a post-apocalyptic world, looking for survivors. The catch is that the world isn’t real; it’s a simulation, and everyone has forgotten that they’re in it. When the nuclear apocalypse happened on Earth, Lake and a number of other teenagers boarded a ship to orbit the planet in stasis until it was safe to return. But the ship is failing, and the only way to regain control of it is to wake the sleepers. The only way to wake the sleepers is to convince them that they’re in a simulation. A fellow passenger, Taren, joins her in her mission to wake the rest of the ship, but the more Lake and Taren use the sim, the less connected they are to reality and the easier it is to lose themselves completely.

I enjoyed Peevyhouse’s last novel, The Echo Room, and Strange Exit reaffirms most of my initial impressions. She’s a solid YA science fiction writer, and if science fiction were more popular right now, I have a feeling a lot more readers would know her name. I’m not even that big of a sci-fi fan, so the fact that she continues to make it interesting and engaging says a lot. The science is always realistic enough to be believable but still accessible to a novice. The technology is intricate and well-developed, but I never feel like it’s going over my head. It’s a delicate balance to strike, and she makes it look effortless.

The characters are strong as well. Lake and Taren feel realistically like teenagers who are trying to solve problems that are way bigger than them. They often don’t know what to do, and they sometimes make terrible choices. Lake is particularly well-characterized in her grief over losing her sister back on Earth and her unwillingness to let her go in the simulation, even when she knows it’s hurting her. I don’t feel like we get to know Taren quite as well, and his character takes a somewhat abrupt turn near the end of the novel that doesn’t have as much build-up as it needs to feel plausible. The nice thing is that there’s no hint of romance between them. They’re more allies than friends, bound by a common cause and heavy doses of survivor’s guilt.

Plot-wise, I enjoyed the mystery aspects of the novel more than the action scenes that populate the end. We know that characters are hiding things, perhaps even from themselves, and that the more they use the simulation, the less reliable they are. There are secrets piled on top of secrets: what happened to Lake’s sister, why other people are having Lake’s dreams, what exactly is going on with Ransom–who knows he’s in a sim but still can’t leave it–and it was these that kept me going throughout the novel. There are layers to everything. The ending happens rather quickly and fails to provide closure on one of the major characters, who isn’t present in the last scenes. I was wishing for another chapter or two to help flesh this out and answer any remaining questions. Regardless, it’s a lovely, entertaining read from an underrated author.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

First off...DISCLAIMER: this title was up for grabs on NetGalley (in the Read Now section). Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge/Tor Teen for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

I know that many readers who prefer contemporary and/or fantasy are intimidated by sci-fi. But with Peevyhouse's books (she has three under her belt) it's not the case. You're not fed theories or technical explanations of how things work. In this particular book, you're swallowed into a futuristic setting and a sophisticated digital simulation you don't need to know the rules of, and you're in for an adventure - AND a love story in the widest sense. I don't know if the kind of virtual reality depicted in this book could ever get developed (which is a scary thought, if you ask me, because it feels so mesmerising and, well, real), but what I know is, I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride, and I never once questioned the hows and ifs and whys. I think the most notable aspect of this virtual world is that it replicates the alleged post-apocalyptic reality of our planet (the result of a nuclear fallout), and still there are patches of beauty and safe spots the kids connected to it were able to create, and powerful illusions, and impossible escapes (the "strange exits" the book is named after) - but you can escape only for so long before reality catches up with you. (Also, in case you're wondering, the author came up with a logical - if cruel - reason for adults not to be around...).

FAMILY FIRST

For an action and twist-packed book, Strange Exit has a lot of heart that doesn't necessarily translate into romance (though there is some). I loved how the two protagonists are allies (though in a somehow complicated relationship, which was a fresh touch...no insta-friendship in sight) instead of mutual romantic interests, and how each of them has an emotional baggage/guilt complex about their respective siblings, which they deal with in different ways. I also loved how Willow (Lake's supposedly dead sister) is an integral part of the simulation, and a self-aware one at that (there's an interesting explanation for that, too). While Lake took it upon her to save her fellow travelers from the virtual world, each visit she pays to the sim allows her to spend time with her sister and makes her risk becoming dependent from the sim itself, which is a fascinating contradiction (except the truth is much more complex than that). The sibling theme, ultimately, is not only strong - for both leads, though with a different outcome - but also as enthralling as the virtual world and its secrets.

QUICK EXIT

If I have an issue with Strange Exit, it's that the ending is kind of abrupt, and doesn't answer some of the questions the story raised. After a final twist that caught me by surprise (though, looking back, there were clues, but I was so engrossed in the story that, like the kids lost to the sim, I chose to take certain things at face value), the book comes to a screeching halt in the space of a page and a half. We never get to know the whole truth about life on the ship; we can only take a guess about its captain's fate (based on something that happened in the sim itself); and most of all, though the story's told in a dual narrative (with a handful of chapters from minor characters' POVs), in the end only one of the leads is present. I understand that Strange Exit was mainly this particular character's story, for at least a couple of reasons - but it feels weird that we aren't give the chance to meet the other one in the last pages, if briefly, to get closure about them. Those are all minor quibbles though, because as a whole, Strange Exit is a captivating read that will quench your thirst for softer, but nevertheless mind-blowing and thought-provoking sci-fi sporting brave, sometimes ill-advised (because of course 😉), hurt characters you won't be able to help rooting for.