I enjoyed this book. It’s funny how it was able to stick with me. I started reading this book Back in May, got away from reading for quite some time yet I still had this book with me when I picked it back up to finish it.

Zoomers Vs. Boomers is such a fun read and worth checking out! I can't wait to read more by Sawyer. The story is fast-paced and really grabs your attention.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

This is, to put it simply, good, campy fun. I could definitely see this one as a slasher film. Sure, the message is a bit heavy-handed, but look at the title of the book- that shouldn't be surprising. What is surprising is how gory and genuinely mean-spirited the book gets; I don't mean this in a bad way, it just caught me off-guard a little for something so campy.

Quick, fun read that doesn't require much brain power.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn't completely sure what I would think of this one, but I didn't hate it. Its a slightly over-done horror/thriller - drop a group of kids on an island and one by one they die off - but the whole Baby Boomers being the killers thing added a fun element of satire. I enjoyed this, but can see it being an either love it or hate it style of book. Either you'll read all the way through it, or you'll DNF it. I believe there may be a select few that would force themselves to push through to finish it, but not necessarily enjoying it.. I truly don't feel like there's an in between.

I liked the basic premise, but it sure felt like needed a bit of extra work. The majority of the characters had very little backstory and felt very shallow. On top of that the story felt rushed at just over 200 pages. There were several pages with almost nothing but dialogue. I would have instead welcomed some additional description to get a better sense of each character. There was also a tendency for characters to repeat the same info to each other multiple times. I could also go without the video game name dropping as it felt way out of place once the action started up.

I read through this book quickly. If fits quite well in the horror genre. Although, I think younger readers might enjoy it more, it is a good read for horror fans of all ages.
Thank you NetGalley and Sterling & Stone.

A bunch of zoomer social media influencers are chosen to participate in a contest for one million dollars. After being dropped off and locked in they soon find that they are being hunted. Then the slashing begins. I loved the slasher part of the book. The kills were interesting and brutal. However, I didn't like any of the characters, zoomers or boomers. Plus there was a lot of attention paid to race, sexual orientation, and feminism. With nothing profound to say, sexual and political commentary is not what I want to find in a slasher. That put a big damper on the whole book for me. Remove that and the rest was a good slasher.

CW: murder, blood, gore, mentions of racism, bullying, homophobia

We all know I love a good horror novel – but when you pit Gen Z against the “Boomers”, I have to stop and take notice. I’m going to do the usual CAWPILE but I’m not going to detail specific characters because there’s just too many.

Characters
Our characters range from “we are rooting for this guy” to the “please just kill this dude already, seriously, before I jump in and do it for you”. For me, this was not an exaggeration. There were people – on the bad guys’ side – that I was wishing someone would hurry up and just off them so I didn’t have to put up with reading their idiocy anymore.

There were a couple of characters on the “good guys” side that I kind of wanted to die too… just because they were annoying. But they were supposed to be annoying so I suppose… but ugh. All in all the characters did their jobs. They either annoyed the daylights out of you or they made you want to cheer for them. They weren’t particularly well developed, but for the sake of the story, they didn’t need to be. The ones that needed building and development got it, the ones that didn’t, well… didn’t.

Atmosphere
Nothing like a run down, creepy-ass school to be the backdrop for your murder-fest, am I right? The atmosphere was creepy enough, although it seemed to me the depictions were more just gross and dirty than actually creepy. But there were some factors to make it a bit creepier than it seems at first glance. It was a decent atmosphere for the book and didn’t distract from the main story.

Writing
Sawyer Black has a great writing style. The book was paced great, moved quickly but not too quickly. It doesn’t drag along with unnecessary descriptions of everything but it does give descriptions of what you need to have described to you. The writing was clear and easy to understand, something I’ve noticed some writers are not very good at. Definitely a fan of Sawyer Black’s writing style.

Plot
Ok, so this plot is pretty great. Taking a bunch of high school students who are addicted to their electronic devices and streaming their lives, having them be the winners of a contest to enter another contest… then having the entire thing be a front for something else? Awesome. But you’ll have to read the book to find out why the entire thing was a front for something else, because I’m not telling you the entire plot. I will say it’s a fairly unique plot and I’m quite happy with it.

Intrigue
So for this book, the intrigue is mostly wondering who is going to make it out of this book alive. I admit, I had a hard time putting the book down because I was so invested in who was going to die and who was going to live. I think it deserves a lot of credit for this.

Logic
I’m going to say it – this book didn’t use a lot of logic, but then again, it’s a horror novel. Exactly how much logic would you expect from a horror novel? Just saying.

Ending
Over all the ending was really good – not great, but really good. We had the big boss fight at the end, but it seemed a bit on the rushed side as it didn’t take long to happen. But maybe I play too many video games where you have to jump through hoops A, B, & C to be able to beat the final boss. I think the “epilogue” was a better ending to the book than the ending of the plot was, but that’s just my opinion.

Conclusion
I definitely recommend Zoomers vs Boomers by Sawyer Black to horror fans and even to people who don’t like horror – this could also be considered a thriller of sorts. If you’re not too squeamish, I’d give it a try.

The book does some bold things, taking a stab at both the slasher genre and the more recent live broadcasting of horrific events. It's sort of interesting but it's also so fast and broad that it's almost impossible to invest in anyone. Within 20 pages half the people the book introduces are done for.

It just wasn't for me.

Wow this book was awful. I don’t know if I will ever get my time back thankfully it only took me about an hour to read. But wow I didn’t know a book could be that bad.


First point that almost made it a DNF was that the WHOLE book was in italics. That is a huge book turn off for me but I kept reading because the reviews were good.

Second point was that there were TOO MANY characters, so many people to keep up with and no character development so I felt like I was was just reading names for most of the book.

Third point is there are so many short sentences. It doesn’t make sense to have sentences like that, I don’t know if the author thought they were being creative or artsy, it just didn’t make sense.

Fourth and final point, it’s a YA book but was written in almost a prose, the sentences made no sense and here are some examples:


“ Walking into the bus made Craig want to put his hands in his pockets.”

“Curled up around her conversation, turning away from the rest of them.”

Zoomers vs Boomers was actually a fun, fast read and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I loved the satirical commentary on both generations with regards to social media and thought the use of a live audience watching everyone get killed was interesting; it actually reminded me of Bachman's book, The Running Man, a book I read as a teenager, but definitely made an impression on me.

The concept of this book isn't new: you take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a situation where they think one thing is going to happen but suddenly something else happens, the killing starts, and wait to find out the purpose behind it all. Every story with this format simply has its own twist and I would say the twist is that all of the players are social media influencers and the killing is live-streamed. To be honest, I thought the reason behind it all to be rather weak as it was your typical boomers hate all zoomers and think the younger generation need to be raised with more discipline and are all spoiled brats. However, I did think the game was fun, although the players themselves were ridiculously easy to pick off because they were all silly. And I guess you could say that you should never annoy a boomer as you won't know how they will react? But, on the other hand, never underestimate the resilience of a zoomer and their will to survive?

It did take a few chapters before the action started, but when it did, it didn't let up until the final chapter. And when the first major thing happened, it actually caught me by surprise as I wasn't expecting it so I liked the twists and turns that happened. The book was an easy read, short compared to other books, so I read it in one sitting, but I think I would have even if it was longer as it was good fun. Because it was so short, there wasn't a lot of time to really develop characters, so other than Craig, and maybe one or two others, I didn't really develop any empathy for them. This made it difficult because when they did die, it was hard to feel empathetic although I did wince a time or two. I would have liked to have known more about who set up the contest and how it all came together, but that was left purposely vague so I was a bit disappointed about that. The ending was satisfactory, and the overall story was tense and exciting.

Zoomers vs Boomers was quite fun, and definitely had a lot of twists and turns that kept my interest throughout. I do think it would have benefited from some type of prologue as the beginning was a bit slow, but when the action started, it didn't let up. There really wasn't a lot of character development, and a bit more of that would have helped the tension as you would have felt more empathy towards the characters when they died. Overall, a fun book and I do recommend this one to anyone who is looking for a quick, entertaining read.

This was fun for what it is. I was intrigued by the concept, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. It was a fun, fast-paced slasher story similar to other horror social media stories that are all the rage. There wasn't much character development, and some of the one liners were cringe-worthy, but for a fun, somewhat silly slasher fic, I enjoyed it.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book made me feel very old. I also learnt that I might be a boomer.
Craig was a massive whiney pain in the butt but other than that it's a great fast paced read. Lots of gore and psychos.

While I fall in neither category, Zoomers vs. Boomers was an entertaining read. The plot moves quickly and the writing is simple and gory. I definitely missed a few references as this book is probably more for young adults. But overall a fun read, would watch it as a movie. If I could give 3.5 I would.
Thank you, Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Horror is definitely not my genre but I wanted to give it a try. Zoomers vs. Boomers by Sawyer Black tells the story of 12 young social media influencers that are taken to a remote location to compete for what they are told is a college scholarship. All of the contestants have huge online audiences and spend their days producing curated content for their followers. They are all glued to their cell phones 24/7 and are desperate for the validation that they get from strangers on the internet.

When the competition begins, each competitor is strapped with a body cam and a special cell phone that live streams the footage to their followers. Little do they know, a group of crazed Boomers have lured them to an abandoned school to essentially hunt and kill them, and only two of them will get out alive.

I went into this one with an open mind, but it kind of read like a cheesy CW show to me and I couldn't relate to any of the characters. I also really struggled with understanding all of the video game terminology and references. Maybe I'm just an old millennial that doesn't get it, but I think that might have helped me to better understand parts of the story.

All in all, it wasn't the worst or the best, it just fell flat somewhere in the middle. I don't think I would recommend this book to a friend because I think the target audience is a very niche group. Anyways thanks again NetGalley, Sterling & Stone, and Sawyer Black for the read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sawyer Black and Sterling and Stone for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I went back and forth over whether or not I wanted to request this one, but I was always drawn back to the cover. So I tried it and I am not at all disappointed that I did. This was gory, gruesome, fast paced and so easy to read. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this one. Such a unique premise and one I’ll be thinking about for a bit. Definitely slasheresque and right up my horror alley!

They’re live-streaming for their lives.
When the influencers and live-streamers of Jackson High are selected as the winner of the Operation Gen Z contest, Craig Boucher and his friends can’t believe their luck. Sure, it’s a little awkward that Craig’s ex is on the team – and so is the former best friend who abandoned him for the cool crowd freshman year. But at least Craig’s got his BFF to lean on. And his hundreds of thousands of followers, of course.
The Zoomers think they’ve been chosen to compete in a secret competition to win a million-dollar scholarship. But when they get to the site – the rundown building that used to be the Oakridge Academy, an infamous school shut down after rumors of torture and brainwashing – they discover that they’re pawns in a brutal game of survival.
As they search for a way out of the booby-trapped campus, Craig and his friends are hunted by three fanatical Boomers determined to prove that Generation Z embodies everything that’s wrong with the modern world.
Millions tune in as the live stream goes viral, and the cameras transmit every move to the enemy. As the streamers begin to turn on each other in their attempts to survive, Craig doesn’t know who to trust or how to keep his friends alive.
Can these Zoomers come together to defeat the worst of the Greatest Generation? Or will they die before uncovering the truth behind this vicious contest?

Wow! What a read this was!
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

As a gen xer the title really called to me. It was a fun and exciting book. There's some really cool death scenes/kill scenes and it's in a really good job poking fun and the differences, albeit stereotypical, between the two generations of people being skewered in this book. Original fun and entertaining. I'll recommend this book to anybody who doesn't want to read anything too serious, and wants to have a good time.

This one was a wild ride! At first I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it, I mean, I am a millenial so Gen Z's do annoy me from time to time. Just like every generation as they age watching youth be ridiculous. This took it to a drastic level but hey at least the millenials got out unscathed haha. Well... one of them might have been a millienal but we didn't like her anyways.

This ended up being a gory, thrilling, wild ride. The scenery was a bit interesting, old building covered in garbage. I thought the outside would be utilized more but I could really envision the setting that was created.

I also loved how the author didn't mind, uh, getting rid of people. I was routing for someone and then, poof, adios. I love when an author isn't afraid to hurt us.

The ending, as much as someone could argue that it's the classic ending, I still loved it. It wrapped up so well.

When the influencers and live-streamers of Jackson High are selected as the winner of the Operation Gen Z contest, Craig Boucher and his friends can't believe their luck. Sure, it's a little awkward that Craig's ex is on the team – and so is the former best friend who abandoned him for the cool crowd freshman year. But at least Craig's got his BFF to lean on. And his hundreds of thousands of followers, of course. 
 
The Zoomers think they've been chosen to compete in a secret competition to win a million-dollar scholarship. But when they get to the site – the rundown building that used to be the Oakridge Academy, an infamous school shut down after rumors of torture and brainwashing – they discover that they're pawns in a brutal game of survival.

These social media ‘Hunger Games’ stories seem to be all the craze at the moment and I’ve read quite a few of them over the past few months, but this one initially intrigued me as it wasn’t solely focused on the ‘Zoomers’ generation but included characters from ‘simpler’ boomer years.

Nevertheless, this novel was a fast-paced, slasher-fest with blood and gore from the outset. I quite enjoyed it for what it was, if you’re looking for an easy read with not much character development, a silly plot-line and some cringy one liners that is exactly what you’ll get. This book is fun, fast and frantic… but it might just make you want to read the small print before entering any competitions in the future.