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.

The Maze Runner meets Across the Universe meets Reverie meets Warcross. Sounds crazy and confusing right? 
Strange Exit was indeed very strange. I was confused almost the entire time I read it. Maybe that was the point? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Was it a thriller or scifi? Everytime I thought I had the story figured out, it would throw me off again. I like multiple povs but I also like when they have a purpose and they just seemed so random here. We never really get any answers to anything but we get a super quick happy ending??? If Strange Exit was an early manuscript I could understand all my issues with it. I would even maybe consider it a mediocre start to a series. If it is a series, I may be intrigued to pick up a sequel just to see where the story goes. Otherwise, just read the other books I mentioned instead. 

*Thank you to Netgalley and Tor/Forge for a review copy.*

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

I loved this book. The switching between reality and unreality was so well done and I really liked Lake as a character.

The idea for the book was good but a bit confusing. Characters were pretty limited and basically revolved around Lake. Some questions were never really answered for me. Ending seemed rushed and a bit of a let down.

Earth is damaged and cannot be saved but we can! 17 year old Lake has secured herself on a ship. The one designed to save the human race. And the one designed to tell them when it is safe to go back and begin to re build the world. But that time has not come...

Lake does not know how long they have been on the ship for but she does know one thing if she doesn't wake everyone up she is not going home! To do this mission Lake has to delve into the VR simulator. There is a chance that she may get stuck as you cannot always tell what is real or not. After all it was designed to feel real and be realistic.

I was not too sure about this book when I first starting to read it. It felt similar to ones I had read but then there was a shift in the plot. Everything is not as it seems!

We find out that Lake is actually in a VR simulator trying to wake everyone from their slumber. And bring them back to the ship. However no-one knows about from Tauren and Ransom that she is doing this as she conceals her identity. Can Lake get everyone to the ship before it is too late?

After a few pages into reading Strange Exit, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the storyline. A completely different take on the sci-fi genre! Remind me a bit like Wally but without all the up to date tech!

Lake was a great character and I enjoyed getting to know her along with Tauren. But I didn't know much about Ransom. They was a play on his character was he real or not real. I couldn't work it out. I would have liked his character to be better developed and find out what he was doing in the sim.

I really enjoyed reading Strange Exit but found that the ending let it down. For example what happened to Tauren?

Right from the start, you're taken into a post-apocalyptic world that has an intense aura of mystery shrouding it. By the end of the first chapter, you suddenly realize that not everything is what it seems.

Aboard an ark-ship orbiting the destroyed Earth, dozens of teens are humanity's last hope of survival. To help their bodies cope for the decades they have to wait for the earth to be safe enough for their return, the survivors are hooked up to a Matrix style artificial reality. Unfortunately, the dreamscape has malfunctioned and several of the teens are stuck within the virtual reality without knowing it and until they're free, no one can leave the ship.

At times it was hard to know what was real and what wasn't, plus the character's motivations and emotions often left me guessing. All of this added well to the ambiguous realities that they lived in, virtual and otherwise. Most of the characters were periphery, but I did connect with Lake's and Taren's plights. It was a bleak world they lived in, both aboard the ship and within the simulation.

The plot, while using some familiar devices, was quite compelling and once I started reading it I had trouble putting the book down. I just had to know what came next! There were a few plot holes that left me questioning the actual plausibility of the scenario, but I was able to suspend disbelief enough to thoroughly enjoy this well written book.

The ending is the only thing that has kept this from being a 5 star review. Like many other readers have said, when you get to the final pages you're left thinking, "Wait...what? That's it?" It was disappointing, but not enough to keep me from really enjoying this well paced science fiction novel.

Full review to come on my blog around the publication date.

I really wanted to love this, as the premise is absolutely fantastic but it ended up being a tad disappointing.
Our main character is currently aboard a spacecraft after the earth has become uninhabitable and she is responsible for bringing people out of a VR that they have been put into whilst in hypersleep otherwise they can't get off the ship. Obviously it is not as easy as it sounds, and she has to overcome various hurdles that threaten her and everyone else aboard the ship.
The VR setting was so good that it was sometimes hard to tell whether it was reality or not, which I loved! Unfortunately, the ending was what let the book down in my opinion. I felt that considering the penultimate events, it was anticlimactic, whereas it should have been filled with so much emotion that was easily relayed to the reader. Instead, it just felt so rushed and could have easily been discussed in more detail.

Overall it was okay, and I would recommend it to readers who are perhaps new to the sci-fi/virtual reality genre as it could be a good introductory read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a bit of a slow start for me but overall a good read. The characters could have been a bit more developed I feel like I didn’t quite connect with them and was left wanting more. Has a bit of a matrix feel to it the ending was just like, wait what just happened?

DNF @ 47%

I really wanted to love Strange Exit (virtual reality and the near-future apocalypse? sign me up!) but it just didn't work for me and failed to hold my attention long enough to finish this one. I couldn't connect with the MC, Lake and there were too many POVs to keep track of. I never felt a sense of danger or urgency whilst reading this and the plot felt dull and unexciting. This book had a lot of great ideas but was lacking in its execution.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge publishers for providing a free ARC

This was interesting. I had read Echo Room and enjoyed it - I like my thrillers to have a little sci-fi (or the other way around) and these fit well into that. This was a pretty quick, fun read, with a satisfying ending.

I hope that one day Netgalley will have previews of stories on the website. Even a few pages would help a lot.

Definitely my fault for this one.

The moment the first page's words hit my eyes, I knew this would be a bumpy ride for me as what I thought would happen would be an action packed scenes from the get-go. I was also for a heartfelt moment from the realization that this was not the true reality, but a virtual one (as described in the blurb).

Off to a rocky start, we can see the character meet more characters and it is nice and we can tell who is who, but that is it. I can not say I felt anything for them as I did not feel as if they were: 1. in true danger, 2. 3D like as the only things I knew were what the author told me, and 3. there were more POVs than cared for since there were more characters than I wanted (or needed?).

I absolutely wanted to like this because of the blurb. Who doesn't want to read about a whole world full of people that believe in the lives they have now even though we are told right from the start that it is a false place that will not last forever? It is falling apart as we read and only those who leave the safety of what they've always known will live.

This author is someone who I see has amazing ideas for books, so I will definitely be on the lookout for her other stories.

PROS:
• Great virtual reality setting. This was so good that actually, a few times it was hard to tell whether I was in the book's reality or in the virtual one. Does this make sense to you? Because in my head when I formed the idea, it sounded way much better! But I think you know what I mean. Anyway, just for this reason only, I am gonna increase my initial rating from 3⭐ to 3.5⭐! Oh, and, for some reason, at some points this book reminded me of Warcross by Marie Lu, thing that it's very good since I absolutely loved that one!
• The sibling theme. Having myself a sister, I really felt the sibling connection and completely understood Lake's impossibility to let go of certain things. Though some people might tend to say that this is too much at some points, thing that I, myself, felt it, saw as a hole it will change your opinion.

CONS:
• The ending was something like "OMG, how can this happe..." FINISH! Wha... how... This is all?! By mistake, I got the shorter E-ARC with some 10-15 ish fewer pages?! Where is the emotion? Where are the images, the words? That is not a finish! Give us a proper one, PLEASE! This kind of finish:
"Who are we?
Readers!
What do we want?
To cry our soul out with happiness because we FEEL the finish of this book!"
• Lack of description for some key characters. Such as Ransom and Taren. I feel like if these two only would have been more developed, then things would have completely changed the rules of this game! They felt fade, without color. And also, Taren? What happened to him?
• For some reason was a little hard for me to get into the book. Took me about 25-30% from the start to feel comfortable and to stop finding myself thinking at pumpkins while reading.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
• For a person that wants to get more into Sci-Fi, I find this book to be great to start with. It's not too much but not too little either. Yes, it's having some low key points, but this doesn't mean at all that it's not enjoyable, or it's not worthing your time. Because it does. And who knows, before the publication date some things will be improved and this will turn out to be your next favorite book or first 2020 favorite! Anyway, I think I can safely say that this one it's almost, with some certain changes, a very good introduction into Sci-Fi and/or virtual reality world.

Should have been a 5 star.

Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the concept of this book! Unbelievably fascinating. My hopes and expectations were super high, it had the potential to be an EPIC 5 star read. It was a solid attempt and definitely wasn't bad, but in the end, I was still left disappointed. One thing that fell short for me were the characters. I didn't connect with any of them. They were all very bland. They lacked substance and depth and any personality. Our protagonist, Lake, nagged at me the most. I can't quite put my finger on what it was about her that I disliked so much, but I just found her getting on my nerves.

I would have absolutely loved to have seen more of the ship, but, I understand that's not what this book was going for.

The thing that left me the most disappointed was the ending. Literally the last page. It was WASTED! I can't really state what is was that let me down so heavily, without revealing major plot spoilers.
Let's just say.. The very last page, the line directly above the ***. That should have been the pinnacle of the entire book. I wanted to FEEL SOMETHING. I wanted to be overwhelmed with emotion. That was our moment and I just feel like it was wasted. We get one line and that's it, it's done.

I'm really really hoping that is fixed before publication because this book deserves 5 stars.

I want to thank Net Galley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC of this book, which did not impact my review.

I really enjoyed this book! It reminded me of the Matrix a little bit - what was reality and what wasn't? I love how they popped in and out of the virtual world. The premise was really interesting, and I was drawn into both worlds - the space ship and the virtual reality. Every time they were in the virtual reality I found myself wanting to yell "move faster, your ship is dying".

This was a fun, easy, quick read and I really enjoyed the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read and review Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse.
#StrangeExit
#NetGalley
I really enjoy Parker Peevyhouse novels. I am a huge Kindle user and found them on Amazon. Strange Exit is an excellent addition to her novels. Lake and Taren are well written and interesting characters in their own way. I enjoyed the virtual reality storyline.