Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have come to the conclusion that I don't like dystopian fiction.

I can't tell you what this book is about because I have no clue. I was so confused most of the book. I felt there was too much going on and too many characters.

Unfortunately, it took every piece of me to read the entire book. The writing is mediocre. There isn't any depth aside from the massive holes dug into the ground for oil.

The author merely skated across the vast, frozen landscape of the Far North. Neither the characters nor the setting jumped off the page. They were just plopped down and there they stayed.

This was a tough one for me to pen an honest review...but here I go.

Being a dystopian setting/genre, I feel like there was just too much going on and not enough symmetry and closure. Leaving a reader open at the end of a book is one thing, but leaving vital details out of the book which makes the story hard to follow is another.

I'd like to start by saying that the PDF format of this book that was sent to me was not the greatest to view on my kindle (not sure why), so when I was able to get the audiobook from my library, I quickly switched to that version.
Unfortunately, it didn't help having the audio version because there were too many characters and I easily lost track of the who's and what's and where's of the story lines.

Needless to say that there were some characters and storylines that had potential, but all fell flat and were not relatable for me, leaving me more in wonder and questioning "what did I just read" instead of "what's going to happen next?"

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this publication. In return, I have promised to provide an unbiased review.

Camp zero was a thought provoking, intriguing book. Certainly an appropriate topic for todays world. I’m not usually interested in apocalyptic books but this one pulled me in. The book is not for everyone and I did find myself confused a few times while reading. However, the reader is left with hope after finishing the book.

Camp Zero is an excellent novel, filled with enough intrigue to keep you guessing. Who are the main players? What do they know? How do the various pieces fit? I was most interested in White Alice and how this band of women created a life for themselves in a northern outpost, but could not foresee how they were connected to the northern towns. Dealing with climate disaster, this dystopian tale focuses less on the environment and more on the people who wish to exploit no matter the cost. What happens in a world when everything, and everyone, can be expendable?

I think I misunderstood the genre of this book, which really changed how I felt about it. I expected an exciting page turner of a mystery set in a dystopia future in Northern Canada. Instead, I got more of a character study of people. I realized this when I got about 70% through and I still wasn't sure what the plot was of the book. There are a lot of characters and it took up so much of the book just telling their backstory. Meanwhile some of the more potentially interesting characters in the book, I feel like I barely knew.
Overall, I think there are people who will love this book for it's character driven plot. But I was looking for something very different.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a free copy in return for a review.

I loved this exciting dystopian read! I really enjoyed the strong and resilient female characters in this story. The twists took me by surprise. The book ends on a hopeful note.

This thought-provoking and intriguing read had me hooked from the beginning, with its portrayal of a world utterly changed by rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions. As a result, the greedy powerbrokers and plunderers of earth's riches turn their sights to Canada's northern regions—the only place in North America where cold temperatures make life bearable and fresh water, ice and snow actually exist. Also the only place still hiding precious mineral reserves under the permafrost.
The story follows Rose, a paid escort/prostitute who travels north from The Floating City (in Boston Harbour), to a bleak camp in Northern Alberta's old oil patch where a reclusive architect is supposedly building an idyllic campus dedicated to finding ways to live in harmony with nature. Rose's new life is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale in that she's there simply to "service" the project's management who subscribe to a strongly patriarchal version of life. Another story strand follows Grant, an idealistic young academic, eager to escape his power-magnate father and forge his own future path. But the most fascinating story is of "White Alice" an all-female research group of scientists sent to the far north to monitor climate change. Instead they gradually discover the real reason why they've been sent there.
The author paints a vision of a future world that is entirely possible, and poses the question that even when earth's resources are dwindling and we are on the brink of potential disaster, how far will power-hungry men go to continue to amass personal wealth even when the consequences might be the destruction of humanity and possibly our world and how can women band together and work in harmony to prevent them?

Camp zero was one of my most highly anticipated books this year and I was SO excited to receive an ebook ARC copy to review. Climate fiction is usually a slam dunk for me, and the comparisons to Station Eleven, one of my all time favorites, was icing on the cake. Unfortunately, I had the hardest time getting into this one. The storylines were so disconnected from one another and I just wasn't invested enough to keep reading to find out if and how they ultimately come together. I ended up DNFing this one as it just didn't work for me

This book is not my typical choice of genre, but I really liked it.

What a thrill to escape to the barren north in 2049, and also, I really hope that’s not what life is like in a couple of short decades.

I would say this book was good. I enjoyed the was the three perspectives intermingled. The ending felt rushed though and I would have liked a little more explanation.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

CAMP ZERO was a bleak, unflinching tale of a not so distant (and possible) future. One where the climate has permanently shifted, oil is outlawed (at least for the underprivileged) and technology is our only surviving link to what’s left of humanity.

At times the sheer amount of narrators and storylines felt overwhelming, however it was very satisfying to see them all link together at the end.

Our discussion group mentioned how much we would love to read more from this “world” (particularly the White Alice storyline!) and I completely agree. Although I do love a good ambiguous ending, I would 💯 pick up a sequel if one was written!

I had really high hopes for this book, but ended up disappointed. I couldn't immerse myself in the world and didn't really feel any connection to it. Ended up DNFing about halfway through.

In Camp Zero, author Michelle Min Sterling brings together an unusual combination of characters to create an intriguing and layered story. Camp Zero is mainly set in Dominion Lake, a former oil town in Alberta, Canada, around the end of 2049 and into 2050. A series of climate disasters, and the ongoing heating of the planet, have made it clear by this time that climate change is real. Oil has been banned, and people cope with the grim new reality as best they can. Not surprisingly, those with financial resources are able to position themselves better than those without. Many of the wealthy live in “Floating Cities,” where they ride out some of the worst effects.

The premise of Camp Zero is that a man named Meyer is trying to establish a campus that will become a future haven for American “nation dodgers” on Canadian soil. The cooler climate and the availability of natural resources are the main draws of the camp’s location in northern Alberta.

Camp Zero’s story unfolds through the perspective of three characters: a woman named Rose, a young man named Grant, and an unnamed female character working as part of an all-woman team staffing a former radar station. Rose lives in an abandoned mall, where she works as one of a group of “hostesses” called the “Blooms.” The Blooms serve as emotional and physical companions for the male leadership and management staff at the camp. After being recruited as an instructor at the camp, Grant becomes part of a men’s enclave located at a former warehouse. A two-day snowmobile trip away from Dominion Lake is a cadre of women stationed at a former Cold War outpost, now a climate research station. The women refer to their station as “White Alice,” which was the code name for a communications system established by the U.S. and Canadian Air Forces in the 1950s.

As the story progresses, flashbacks provide a better understanding of multiple motivations and factors at play under the surface. Tension heightens as we learn more about the camp and the forces that led to its creation. What’s really going on here? is a question that becomes more and more compelling as one goes deeper into the book.

As someone who believes in the importance of good stewardship of our planet, I found Camp Zero resonant. Climate change deniers might find it less compelling. Camp Zero makes several references to the role of men in destroying the planet. Depending on whether one interprets this as "men as in males" or "men as in humans," the flavour I got (perhaps incorrectly) was more the former than the latter. While it may be true that males tend to dominate positions of power, including those which influence actions taken or not taken to mitigate climate change, not all men are complicit and not all women are innocent. As I was reading, the frequency with which these comments are made by various characters stood out. Then again, it might be reasonable once the world's been irrevocably changed for people to be angry about it, and look to assign blame.

World-building is one of the features I appreciate in a good dystopian novel. Camp Zero filled the bill, providing unusual settings, circumstances, and characters. In the foreword, the author notes that the idea for Camp Zero was sparked during a trip to visit a cousin who was working as a pipefitter in the boom years in the oil patch. She tried to imagine what an oil town of the future might look like if everything went bust. She also researched sea-steading communities and remote radar stations as groundwork for some of the other venues described in the book. The blend of novel (Floating City) and mundane (abandoned malls and warehouses) settings was part of the appeal for me. For those who enjoy dystopian science fiction, there’s a lot to like in Camp Zero.

*content warnings, not necessarily all-inclusive, which may contain spoilers*
Perhaps not surprisingly for a dystopian novel, Camp Zero contains dark elements, including gun and other violence resulting in death, sometimes inflicted in a cold-blooded manner. There is also unwanted sexual contact. Readers who might find these themes disturbing should be forewarned.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing Camp Zero for review consideration. All opinions stated above are my own.

I had really high hopes for this book. I was especially excited to get this copy to read after seeing it was selected as a book of the month and a Jenna’s book club pick but this book did not live up to my expectations. The only word I can really use to describe it would be it was bleak. I disliked basically every character, especially Grant. I will say my favorite chapters were the ones dedicated to White Alice and would have been happy to have their characters explored more. I felt like the relationship between Rose/Nari and the Barber was forced and never fully developed.. I felt like it was only included because the author felt like their should be some romance in the book. Overall I really liked the idea of this book but I felt like it could have been done better. I was disappointed.

This novel is set in a dystopian future where a chosen few live in climate controlled coastal floating cities, everyone else tries to survive on the mainland and humanity is dependent on a implanted device which allows continuous online use. When Rose accepts an offer to work temporarily as an escort at Camp Zero, she sees it as one step towards securing a home for her mother and herself. After all, Camp Zero is located in northern Canada and is at first glance an improvement from her life in the south. Once Rose arrives at the camp, she discovers the reality is much different.

Rose is the primary protagonist, however, two other storylines rise from a young professor as well as a group of militant woman. Secrets and/or hidden motivations are revealed through flashbacks. While seemingly disparate, the storyline lines intertwine as the novel reaches its conclusion. I think it was a decent read because it was atmospheric, interspersed with suspense and I appreciated the intricately woven plot. Based on how the novel ended, I suspect there may be a second novel, however, I’m not sure whether I will pick it up or not.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this ebook for an objective and unbiased review.

I thought this book has a lot of potential. I love dystopian, and or post apocalyptic themes, especially when set in Canada. I’ve been looking for books in the “for fans of Station Eleven” category. The beginning of this book was very promising, but as other reviews, if noted, the midsection dragged a bit, and the ending structure could use some work. Overall good read, I would still recommend it.

I had high hopes for this book based on the description. The beginning was promising, but then nothing much happened in the middle (except for numerous flashbacks) and then the book just...ended. I was also unhappy about the number of plot holes left unaddressed. For example, how did the members of White Alice manage to infiltrate the work camp? They just showed up out of nowhere and they were hired? It seems unbelievable.

It was a good premise that didn't quite work in practice.

Camp Zero by Saadia Faruqi is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel set in a near-future world ravaged by climate change. The story follows the lives of several characters whose fates become intertwined in a remote settlement in northern Canada called Camp Zero. This novel is a must-read for fans of Station Eleven and The Power, and anyone who enjoys immersive and transportive storytelling.

Faruqi's writing is both atmospheric and original, bringing to life a world where summer temperatures are intolerably high, the fossil fuel industry has shut down, and humans are implanted with a ‘Flick’ at birth, which allows them to remain perpetually online. The top echelons of society live in Floating Cities off the coast, while people on the mainland struggle to survive. The world-building in this novel is intricate and nuanced, and the author skillfully imagines a future that is both terrifying and captivating.

The characters in Camp Zero are diverse and complex, and their stories are skillfully entwined. Rose, a hostess in the city's elite club, is offered a job as an escort at Camp Zero in return for a home for her mother and herself. However, once she arrives at the settlement, she discovers that all is not as it seems. The fate of the Camp and its inhabitants is in the hands of a young professor, a group of highly trained women engaged in climate surveillance, and others whose lives become intertwined in unexpected ways.

Camp Zero interrogates the seductive and chilling notion of a utopia, and asks who and what will survive as global tensions rise. Yet, at its heart, it is a novel about love and the ways in which it can sustain us even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Overall, Camp Zero is a beautifully written and utterly gripping novel that will transport readers to a vividly imagined future. It is a timely and important book that offers both a warning and a message of hope. Highly recommended.

This was a really compelling read. I have mixed feelings on this because on the one part it was underwhelming but at the same time it was captivating. It was interesting and a very unique book.

This author creates a dystopian world set in 2050 where all of the earth’s resources have been destroyed and used up by the greediness of humans and the disaster of climate change. The story is told from differing points of view including a group of women professionals living in a research commune referred to as ‘White Alice.’ The Blooms are a group of women courtesans who live in a camp seemingly at the end of world, the uninhabitable Canadian north. Their stories are similar- smart women fighting for survival in a world where they do not matter and their stories seamlessly converge near the end of the novel bringing it to its satisfying conclusion. The novel is entertaining and captivating as it spins the reader’s thoughts to the destructive reality of climate change in a world where stratified income inequality prizes the haves over the have nots. We can readily apply these concepts today in our present world.
I enjoyed the beginning author’s note where she outlines the setting of Northern Alberta which inspired Dominion Lake. As an Alberta resident, I could easily see the oil patch workers and the bleak landscape of the oil (tar) sands and the environmental crisis that is at our front door.
Ultimately, I saw this book as a community of characters all wanting to create a better future, united in the hope that they could escape the dystopia.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great debut novel that I took a chance on through NetGalley because I was craving a sci-fi dystopian read and it’s description grabbed me immediately.

I must admit that the first few chapters had me slightly confused with introductions to five main protagonists who did not seem to fit together, but when the bigger picture started to take shape, I was hooked!

I enjoyed the read and think it may just be this summers sci-fi hit!