Nil

3.5 Stars

Book 1 of the #Booktubeathon

Full review to come but I'm really confused about how there is a sequel to this book...

Edit: I now see that it is more of a companion book than a sequel.

I'll be honest with you, the reason I picked up this book was because I was in the bookstore randomly looking for new books and this one sounded a lot like my favorite show LOST. Nil by Lynne Matson is a little bit like LOST but not really.

Nil is an island that no one can explain. It isn't on a map and no one can find it outside of the island. Sound a little familiar? Now listen to this, how you get to the island is different though. You can't be brought down by a plane crash or anything. To get to this island, teenagers (13-19 years old) see a shimmering portal and get sucked through it if they're close enough. Sounds a little crazy, huh? When you get sucked through this portal, you are transported to the island Nil where you are completely stripped of your clothes and put somewhere on the island.

[ WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ]

The main characters name is Charley and she was out returning some skirts that she bought right before her senior year of high school started. In the parking lot of Target, Charley spots a shimmering light as the sun passed it. She is then sucked into it and transported to Nil where she has nothing on her, not even her clothes. Charley was transported to a red desert like area on Nil and quickly finds some clothes on the ground. She spends a total of 12 days trying to survive before she accidentally spots some people on the beach she found and decides to reveal herself to them. This is when she spots Thad.

Thad has been on the island for over 200 something days and counting. He has become somewhat of a leader of the Nil City, as they like to call it, where the teenagers are some sort of a society. They pick their skills and contribute to the community while they can. Nil is pretty much a ticking time bomb though for peoples lives. They can only be on the island for 365 before they will die. How do you get off, you say? Well how you got in. You will have to find another shimmering portal to get yourself off of Nil.

Now the book follows two point of views, Charley and Thad. The reader gets to experience what it is like to be a new comer on the island and someone who knows as much as they can. That was really interesting to read because Thad would of explained something earlier in the book and when Charley was beginning to experience that thing, you would know the answer.

I think the best part of the book was when Charley got a theory of how the shimmering portal actually worked. I found it hard to believe though that there wasn't some scientist kid in the past trying to figure that out himself as well. Who doesn't question that sort of thing? Would you just be like “Okay... I just search around this ENTIRE island and I could possibly find a portal.” That is sort of silly. Of course there is a science behind it.

So Charley's theory turns out to be somewhat right and she corrects it later down the road. People were able to go home easier. I found the environment kind of boring though. Most people lived in peace? And there weren't many fights, accidents, or dangerous activities around. Of course there were a few, but not as much as you'd think. I guess when you know there is a way off this island, it is easier to live in peace. It is sort of like life... you do your thing and I will do mine with no killing for the most part. Most peoples priorities seemed to be on getting off the island.

This book was actually pretty predictable but I enjoyed it nevertheless. [Spoiler alert] I pretty much knew when the time would come, Thad would shove Charley through the portal instead of himself. I just knew it! I read that and closed my book screaming, HA! I KNEW IT. But everything worked out. The ending was actually really sweet and I thing Matson could end the series right now if she wanted to but nope! We get a book two!

I would recommend this book to anyone that is a LOST fan and a young adult fan. There isn't much of a mystery and there is still a lot of unsolved mysteries about the island that I hope we will find out in book 2. Maybe Thad and Charley will go back? Who knows. I gave this book about a 4/5 star rating. It was enjoyable.