A quick-paced, unputdownable thriller and love story of the last human in a world overrun by robots. My only complaint is that it ended on a massive cliffhanger and there is no news on a book 2, so it feels a bit unsatisfying.

The story started interesting. I love Si-Fi novels and this "last human on earth, mixing in with the robots, doing his their best to stay hidden because it'd mean death"? One of my favourite Si-Fi-tropes.
Sadly though, I started to get very annoyed by the book after a time. I considered to give it the chop. Somehow, I finished it. 
Let's face it - I liked the book until it turned romance. I am not overly fond human-robot-relationships (never liked The Sandman by E.T.A Hoffman to be honest) and it absolutely doesn't matter whether it's a LBTQIA+ book or a "hetero"-book. Thomas was quite funny however; I really liked him when I came across him first. And then... Well, the Obvious Thing happened... 
At that point, I didn't care about that book anymore and just wanted it to end.
The end, however, was quite the turning point for me and now I am actually looking forward to the next book in the series... 

I received a free copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ben Magid’s sci-fi (and, as I’d categorise it, YA) novel is a page turner, for sure. The first of a series, it follows a strong female lead in a world populated by robots aka “Mech”. Highly enjoyable, I will definitely continue to read the series, even if there were a few cringe language choices.

The Synopsis in a Nutshell

Rebel Rae is the last human being on Earth. Having been left behind by her parents (and the rest of humanity) at the age of 12, she’s had to learn how to survive alone and later on, to live amongst (and hide from) the Mech.

Now 19 she is working on a way to bring down the “mainframe” so she can send a message to the moon, where the remaining humans are.

Then Thomas, a Mech, comes into her life. She repairs him with a special “heart” that gives him emotions, feelings and other human qualities. They become friends and she realises that the Mech could be different, near to human even.

However, Francis, a Mech, is on her tail and she still needs to send a message to the moon. Will she do it before she’s discovered as human? Will humans return to Earth? And how will her relationship with Thomas develop, or end?

My review

As you know, I hate the phrase “page turner”, but No Man’s Land is just that, it keeps you reading. Magid switches between Rebel’s current situation and her past life surviving living alone as a teenager, which changes up the pace in an amazing way. I personally love flashbacks/forwards/time hops.

Rebel is a great main character, she is head strong and independent and a real science buff. I wish I’d seen a bit more of how she got her job (which she does by dressing up as a Mech) and we don’t get to see the first time she pretends to be one at her work, or with them in a large setting.

I’m not a massive Thomas fan, he kind of irritated me a bit, but not to the point where it affected me wanting to read it. This may be me being picky, but I would have liked a little more info on how he functioned, scientifically.

I spoke above about the cringe language, and here’s my issue, which I’m SURE is a personal thing, I didn’t like the names the Mechs used. They took famous human names. Thomas is Thomas Jefferson, Francis is Francis Bacon and Rebel uses the name Anne Frank. With the Mech not being human, I feel like they wouldn’t have wanted to use human names and it would have been a nice thing for Rebel to maybe “name” Thomas, when he became different. I also didn’t like Magid’s use of the word “mainframe”, it seemed a bit sci-fi 101.

I actually loved how badly humans come off in this, because at the end of the day, some of us are total jerks and I like that Magid didn’t make the humans saviours.

Overall, a great start to a series (I’m assuming a trilogy?) and the second in trilogies tend to be my favourites, so I’m keeping an eye out for it!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

this was a really interesting read, I loved the idea of the robot uprising and the humans accidentally leaving one human. I really enjoyed the story and am excited to see where this is going.

In the near future, humans have basically destroyed the earth (sound familiar?) So they create Mech, which are androids that are programmed to save the earth. The androids do so by attacking humans and force them to escape. The ones that do not escape are hunted down and killed. But there was one 12-year-old girl left behind, and her name is Rebel. She is forced to learn how to survive and avoid detection among the Mech, and she works to find a way to contact the humans who have escaped.

This is a very readable book. Very entertaining, and actually does make you think about good and bad, enemies and heroes. The massive amount of work that Rebel has to do for years in order to assimilate is astounding. It’s told in present time with quite a few flashbacks to show Rebel when she was younger and just trying to survive. Highly detailed and entertaining, and I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley & BookBuzz for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A great read! Good story and character development. Nice plot and it kept me from wanting to put it down! A must read. 

Thank you to #NetGalley and BookBuzz for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.