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Zenith

(The Androma Saga #1)

Sasha Alsberg (Goodreads Author),

Lindsay Cummings (Goodreads Author)

3.10 · Rating details · 4,743 ratings · 1,453 reviews

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the m ...more

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Hardcover, 534 pages

Published January 16th 2018 by Harlequin Teen

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Wires and Nerve, Volume 2 by Marissa Meyer

YA Releases of January, 2018

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YA Novels of 2017

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· 4,743 ratings · 1,453 reviews

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Oct 03, 2017 sapphia rated it did not like it

Shelves: cringe, ugh, dnf

So, I received an arc of this and I just... I just can't.
It's so stupid.
It's so bad.

I was either cringing or laughing whilst reading this and only managed to get through ~100 pages before I started skimming.

This is the flimsiest sci-fi I've encountered. It's laughable.

Spoilers, ahoy.

The "world-building" is SO LAME. People are constantly described with kooky features; red and white striped eyes, webbed feet(on someone who's evidently barefoot on a spaceship), glowing eyes, slitted nostrils, horns ...more

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Feb 05, 2018 Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, owned

2.5* possibly?

** An author is not their book. I am going to be honest whether I know the author or not. Me critiquing a book is not a personal attack on the author, no matter who they may be. I am super proud of these ladies for getting BookTubers names on a published book, whether I liked the book or not does not change that fact.**

The audiobook was definitely the route to go with this one for me. The story overall was entertaining and pretty enjoyable, though a bit corny. I had a few issues w ...more

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Jan 28, 2018 Emma Giordano rated it liked it

Edit 4/7 - After further reflection, I've decided to drop my rating to 3 stars. All of my previous likes/dislikes of Zenith still stand, but I feel 3 stars is a better representation of my positives/negatives for this novel. While there were so many things about Zenith that I enjoyed from an entertaining perspective, the criticisms I have expressed below are more present in my mind than I originally felt.

4 stars! I really enjoyed Zenith. High-concept sci-fi isn’t really my thing but as I’ve read ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 ambsreads rated it did not like it

Shelves: high-fantasy, science-fiction, annoying-male-leads, fantasy, romance, young-adult, annoying-female-leads, best-covers

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own

Trigger Warnings: murder, PTSD (bad rep), grief
EDIT 20/01/18: I’m not sure if I missed it, but a rape subplot is in the final copy.

CLICK HERE TO GO OVER TO MY BLOG WHERE THIS REVIEW AND OTHERS ARE FEATURED

R A M B L E

Here’s the thing, I knew Zenith wasn’t going to be the book for me. I knew it in my soul. I had read the small snippet that was released last year. I hated it. At first, I was shocked, because it was pretty good on my first read ...more

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Sep 16, 2017 ✨ jami ✨ rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2018-reads, series-i-wont-finish, science-fiction, young-adult, really-didnt-like

FULL REVIEW WITH RECEIPTS NOW POSTED

god this is a mess I don't even know where to start. With the honestly awful writing? The boring and poorly written characters? the predictable plot? I just don't know it's all a mess. the concept is fine, the execution is terrible Thus, this review may be rambly. I'm so sorry

standard disclaimer: I didn't request an arc of this book so I could trash it. I didn't even go into this with bad expectations. I've genuinely enjoyed Sasha's youtube in the past, an ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Joce (squibblesreads) rated it did not like it

I am much more eloquent on camera than in writing, so please click here for my full video review!

1.5 stars:

- Random pointless italicized words
- Repeating sentence structure for EMPHASIS but ultimately failed
- "Hope is a raging asshole"
- "wet feline"
- "she flashed him her teeth"
- Bloody Baroness = Whaboom schtick from the Bachelorette

Here's the link again if you missed it the first time. ...more

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Aug 24, 2017 Ben Alderson rated it really liked it

FIRST like mentioned before that:

Yes I am friends with Sasha
NO, I am not being paid to review this
and ALL THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN.
I am 23 years old and just because I am friends with the other means I will review it positively.
I have even spoken to Sasha before I started and told her I would be honest and OF COURSE, she understands because she would do the same.

THAT SAID I did really enjoy this. You can find out what my detailed thoughts are on an upcoming video. Here is a sneak peak.

POSITIVES:
-th ...more

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May 08, 2017 Ellen rated it did not like it

I'm so over books being published because of fame. I get it that there's some work involved but it's so Ivanka Trump when people who are famous tell me in their high-pitched, fluttery voices: "I worked so hard just like everybody else to be successful" and I'm like, no. You're successful because you worked hard at being famous. Big Difference. Not the other way around. God I miss that time in our society when hard work could get you places instead of working hard to be famous first. I think this ...more

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Aug 04, 2020 LilyCReads rated it it was ok

Watch my full video review here:
https://youtu.be/UYbIu28Noq8 ...more

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Nov 16, 2017 Alex ✰ Comets and Comments ✰ rated it it was ok

Shelves: arc, unlikeable-characters, upcoming, fantasy-me-up, thin-line-between-love-and-hate, young-adult, we-are-in-space-babes, alex-rolled-her-eyes-way-too-often, unpopular-opinion

“We’ll have to move quickly once we get inside. No more than forty minutes.”
“Plenty of time to raise hell,” Gilly said

description

We are raised with the common precept of "Don't judge a book by it's cover." However, in the very special case of Zenith, I found myself telling myself "Don't judge a book by it's author." I took away from all the low ratings and the stigma against this book, and I read it for what it was.

Did it work? Yes.

Did it enable a five star rating? No.

description

_________________

The Story

description

I ...more

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Sep 06, 2017 Melanie marked it as dnf

Shelves: arc, fantasy, sci-fi, young-adult, read-in-2017, buddy-reads

ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at Chapter 41

I’m sorry, everyone, I just can’t do this anymore. The incredibly short chapters that jump around to a million different points of view are just too much for me. This is such a jarring read that is really lacking any real cohesiveness.

Zenith is the first book in a YA series that stars Androma, AKA: the Bloody Baroness, and her crew, who are forced to do a very dangerous mission. This mission is the dir ...more

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Nov 22, 2017 Beatrice in Bookland rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

*I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

DNF @15% because I can't be bothered to read a six of crows fanfiction starring a bland copy of Celaena Sardothien as a protagonist ...more

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Nov 27, 2017 Natasha rated it did not like it

Shelves: arcs-and-review-copies

Review also on my blog • Twitter • Bookstagram

I received an arc from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, where do I even start with this book? There's so many points I could touch on really. The cliched writing, the uninteresting characters, the arrogant love interest I wanted to strangle, the unbelievable romance, the lacklustre world building, I just don't know where.

I guess I'll give a briefing of what this book is even about. Zenith follows an all female crew of ...more

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May 09, 2018 R.K. Gold added it

I want to give it another try!
I may try the audiobook.

flag 139 likes · Like · see review

Jan 20, 2018 High Lady of The Night Court rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction-read

I LOVED this book from start to finish and there is no part of this book that I don’t like. This Sci-fi world is one of the best I have ever read, it is a work of art. The plot was very elaborate and thought out, the story unravels beautifully and I was not disappointed by anything. I have been waiting to read this book ever since it was announced and it flew past all of my expectations.

The book follows a group of badass female space pirates who make a deal with the dreaded General Cortas that m ...more

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May 17, 2017 Jules ♈ (witchyrover) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: no one, actually

Shelves: dnf, from-net-galley

Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I mean it!
Professional Reader

DNF 30%. Couldn't do it. #sorrynotsorry. I stand by my previous review on the 60-page sneak peek. To sum up that former rant, here it is: this book is definitely NOT my cup of tea. I do not like the writing style; I can tell from 100 miles away that there are two people writing this book.

It is what it is. ...more

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Jul 03, 2017 Emily Madson rated it it was ok

  
    Zenith: The Andromeda Saga

  
    Zenith: The Andromeda Saga

N ow I know there’s a lot of controversy being brought to the forefront surrounding Zenith because of the editor and I wasn’t quite sure if it was a book I was going to pick up, but as I got an ARC from my friend for free I decided to review it.

First: Goodreads

This site is not Rotten Tomatoes or filled with professional critics that are held to a certain ethical standard. In Rotten Tomatoes, you get fired for crappy work and as much of a bashing the site gets most of the critics are pretty solid. First let's talk about some things Goodreads has to fix urgently. 1) The ability to prematurely rate novels. (I always knew that feature was eventually going to get way out of hand.) This has gone south in both directions for books even when fans have rated five stars trying to help an author out often a counter culture of hate starts by people who don't believe the score is earned. And there are so many suspiciously blank five star accounts that I’m starting to think Harlequin Teen’s publicity department is like “Bro, if we have another book flop we gonna have our asses handed to us!”

Which, to be fair, is true. And Laura Silverman's novel was spammed by actual Nazi's trying to derail its success so this has to be fixed pronto. 2) The Revenge of the unpaid Reviewer: In some people's mind, Sasha being apart of the main phalanx of booktubers who for a while were a bit like the mafia on this site, dictating how well a book did because of her marketing reach, has leant her a bad reputation of being a gullible crowd pleaser. Does that mean she deserve the Ivanka Trump comparison people are calling her - no - I mean despite the weird physical resemblance that’s a bit far. Lindsay Cummings also wrote this too.

Why do I think the backlash?

Times in America are seriously tough. The White Upper Middle Class – what booktubers represent – the top %20 – are coping quite a bit of flak. I think this is just spreading to Goodreads. And when someone gains their career rising up through fan culture, there’s always a tough transition when they go from fan to rich and powerful entity.

Goodreads is a sight for readers but it's also full of embittered, rejected young writers too; that's a fact; I still think there's generally a stigma against authors that get published because of social media connections. The worst thing and weirdly the best thing to come out of the past few months is people asking - "If you're successful why can't I be successful?" Had this been a year or two years ago, when people weren't asking that question, I think the publishing market would have been a lot friendlier. When she got published because of her Youtube connections - which I really don't care about - the would be authors on this site didn't take it too nicely. I get it. No one likes people who skip to the front of the line while you wait patiently with everyone else. I think there's also generally a sense that if a book goes through the querying process it has really earned its publication; people don't tend to question if the novel "deserves" its success. And to be fair I'm very sceptical of books that get published because of connections too. (Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen was published through agent connections and lordy did that novel need a red pen through it – nice cover, though!) But I don't really mind how someone gets published if the finished product is any good.

This novel. Well, just as the film industry has been hit with an epidemic of passable movies the publishing industry, YA in particular, is suffering from the same problem? Why? Creative talent is coming in through the door reserved for richly connected people and not pulling the planks of nailed wood off the door for those people with stories, but who might be too inconfident to write them. Literary agents from big companies want what is profitable not what is ground breaking and so do publishers. They want what is calculatedly safe. And booktubers have unconsciously contributed to that cycle as we have no major minority booktubers on YouTube with over a hundred thousand subscribers. Now the defence to this would be, “But I do videos about tonnes of LGBT/minority books!” That’s good but there’s something different to be gained by not being able to turn off your life experience. Not to say Sasha and Lindsay aren’t talented. I think they’re both fairly capable. Sasha’s prose seems solid. But she obviously gets the network, marketing side of publishing a lot more than the creative side; she’s incredibly PR and business savvy. The minute it was apparent people weren’t tripping over their feet to get a copy of Zenith online she switched gears, tweeting about how she didn’t use Goodreads anymore and that she barely went on it to spin potential buyers from checking the site reviews. (A little ironic since it’s the space that built her career in the first place.) And I can appreciate someone with that kind of social-media suaveness and intelligence.

The problem with this is I felt all the energy was geared towards how marketable the book was. Andi didn’t resonate much and I saw many of the plot surprises coming. I felt with this novel what I feel about a lot of books lately, that it was a pitch for a better sequel, but when you don't deliver in the first book it's hard for me to care about the sequel, as if smashing Guardians of the Galaxy with Throne of Glass and bang! would equal instant success. There was an earlier tagline for the book by Susan Dennard saying “Star lord move over” so you can tell that’s where they were aiming.

The Editor Scandal

And the editor…? I read some early comments about people boycotting this book because of the editor in charge of this book. I, personally, don’t think that’s completely fair but it’s not unwarranted. Apparently the editor of the book is Lauren Smulski: the same editor who promoted and greenlit the Black Witch and the Continent for Harlequin Teen—two books that were averred by early readers to contain someone of the most obscene instances of blatant racism. (We’re not talking some random rumour on the internet or an overly special snowflake tweeting his/her reaction to seem like some type of hero activist here—I got an ARC for The Black Witch and it reads like Kendal Jenner’s Pepsi commercial in book form.)

Listen, I don’t blame someone for making mistakes (race is a tricky thing to get right if you’re not a minority yourself and I don’t expect people to get it right a %100 of the time) but I haven’t seen this editor apologise once for her hand in getting that book on the shelf. Or better yet, If there’s one thing I don’t like on the subject of racism: it’s silence. There’s nothing wrong with fucking up, we’ve all done it at some point in our lives, but the real fuck up is when you don’t admit you fucked up and continue to do the same fuck up. Veronica Roth didn’t say anything under Carve the Mark allegations (she did the best thing a white person could do when charged with racism: get all her black friends to publicly defend her ad nauseum) and Lauren Smulski didn’t event attempt to apologise at all for her part in either the Black Witch or the Continent. And editors are just as responsible – if not more – for what hits the shelves and what doesn’t; they’re the gatekeepers of publication. I don’t think it was racist but PR-wise if you offend a huge bunch of people the right thing to do is to apologise or defend yourself. Silence just makes you look guilty. And this is 2017 how did you not think a whole bunch of people weren’t going to be triggered? Like how bad an executive can you be?!!!!

HarlequinTeen: For the sake of your company’s stock price, sit this editor town and tell her to fucking READ what she publishes next time, or, go with my Plan B: tell her that a new marketing job has opened up at Pepsi that you think is just perfect for her.

Overall, just not my cup of tea. I tried to fake enthusiasm because I feel this novel is getting a bit too much flak but I just can’t be bothered. It’s another one of those mechanical money books that are being churned out by the dozens lately. There’s nothing wrong with that. James Patterson is a millionaire after all. I’m just not very interested in something so soulless. Will see what they do in the future though. ...more

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Sep 18, 2017 rachel ☾ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-star, rep-bipoc, science-fiction, rep-dis-nd-ci-mi

Zenith is one of the more controversial releases of next year but no matter what your stance on the debate, an all-female crew of space pirates is too good of a premise to overlook. Or so I thought. The real reason this book is getting such low ratings? It's not due to the authors or the editor but the fact it is incredibly underwhelming.

The plot is a compilation of flashbacks, angst, and repetitive monologues. It offers nothing unique. It’s set in the same generic solar system following a gene ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Kiki marked it as i-am-but-a-mortal-woman

And to the surprise of probably no one, I'm throwing in the towel for now. Maybe I'll try again another time, but right now I just don't have the strength. I don't even have anything particularly funny to say about this, other than it makes me want to climb inside the wall like the corpse of William Hill and just rot there for a while until I forget about "Moon Chew".

On the subject of this book's...controversial origins, I'm really not invested enough to get into a debate about it, but I do thi And to the surprise of probably no one, I'm throwing in the towel for now. Maybe I'll try again another time, but right now I just don't have the strength. I don't even have anything particularly funny to say about this, other than it makes me want to climb inside the wall like the corpse of William Hill and just rot there for a while until I forget about "Moon Chew".

On the subject of this book's...controversial origins, I'm really not invested enough to get into a debate about it, but I do think a gentle reminder is in order: publishing is a business, and it's about making money, and just because it deals in artwork doesn't make it morally superior or somehow separate from other huge industries that use fads and gimmicks to rake in heaps of cash. There are a lot of confused stans out here wailing, "I can't believe it's not butter!" but...why, exactly? Which charges confuse you, Lord Baelish? Big media companies capitalising on well-known names is so common that it's actually banal. It's what sells, so they’ll keep doing it, and it's naïve to the point of idiocy to be surprised by that.

All of this drama was cooked up by the same people, both without and within the industry, who harp on and on and on about how a "good book" is all you need to get published. "Just write a good book". Girl, spare me. We're all adults here, so stop with the gaslighting and the mind games. The truth is that marketability matters. If a big industry finds a creator with an established audience who they know will be a financial asset (and who can guarantee a certain quantity of sales) then they're going to jump on that. It's exactly the same tactic they employ when it comes to celebrity cookbooks. I mean, who the fuck is buying cookbooks in 2019? Just use Google if you don't know how to make a fucking chowder. But people will spend money when they see a face or a name they recognise and respect. I've certainly bought into that before. It's nothing new and it's not a mystery, and it's not worth getting mad about. It's just business.

Do I think that mining social media for cash-ins is a great and totally foolproof idea? Of course not. It's certainly not in the traditional (dubious) spirit of the artiste. Then again, people don't get this mad when every other YouTuber opens up a merch store, and they certainly don't get this pissed off about book packagers. Whether or not books published in this manner are "morally pure" and whether or not that even fucking matters... I don't care. I might have in the past, but I don't care anymore. I'd just like to put this out there: building a platform on social media is an insane amount of work, and to claim that the author in question has "not worked" for her success is ludicrous. It's a vicious circle: Sasha Alsberg is so good at what she does that her content looks effortless, and people see that effortlessness and actually think it's genuine. It's not. It's effortful to the nth degree. I can't even imagine the hours she spends cleaning, organising, and meticulously arranging her sets, reading under duress, scripting her videos, filming the videos, editing them, replying to kind comments and fielding the cruel ones, attending functions and festivals, hosting meet-and-greets, organising activities in order to update her Instagram story daily, editing and posting Instagram photos, conversing with her audience on Twitter, marketing her brand, writing her book, and all this without mentioning the mammoth task of looking pretty all the fucking time. My point is that her book is fair game as a piece of published work that she released into the world (and that we all spent money on), but to claim she hasn't worked for her success is simply bogus.

As for the quality of the story itself? It's not great, but it's really not the worst book I've ever read. I can see why others might find it fun. It just didn't hold my attention for longer than about seventeen seconds at a time, which doesn't bode well for a book that's over 400 pages. I got about a hundred pages in and realised that there were better things I could be doing, and I put the book down, and that was the end of it. I know this seems a bit click-baity, but I truly have nothing more to add to this other than the aforementioned reality check.

(My initial review of this wasn't quite so spicy, but I'm treating myself to a cigarette to celebrate the new year and after 9 months on diet baby-nicotine vape liquid, it's got me fucked up! Happy 2019 to all of you.)

In my experience, a person needs to be in a certain headspace for a book like this, where "galaxies" are made up of like three planetary systems in a straight line (the Milky Way alone has around 250 billion stars), "dark matter" is marked on a map (??? If you don't know what things are, just don't put them in your book!!!) an asteroid belt has "thousands" of "space rocks" (our asteroid belt has nearly two million asteroids, and it's fairly modest in size), and space battles end with "bodies burning in the sky" (things don't burn in space, not even stars). I'll admit to applying very minimal effort to this one, but when it comes to space I have a delicate constitution; I want it done right or not at all.

FIN ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 Jeann (Happy Indulgence) rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish

As a massive sci-fi fan, I was really looking forward to reading Zenith, until I came to Goodreads and realised how many negative reviews there were. Still curious, I went into the book with promise.

The book starts off in a promising way, with a ruthless assassin, Andi, the Bloody Baroness captured by a bounter hunter who she's obviously shared a romantic history with. They had a lot of witty banter but it's clear that Andi absolutely hates Dex and I wanted to know why. There were also a few exc ...more

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Apr 28, 2018 Trina (Between Chapters) rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2018, sci-fi, audiobooks

3.5 stars. Honestly, I didn't think this was that bad!

Since I'm a BookTuber, I figure a few of you may be curious about if I know Sasha. I do not. I've followed her channel and Twitter for a few years and left a few comments, but we aren't mutuals, have never met, and I doubt she has any idea who I am. So there's nothing at stake for either of us in how I review her book.

Anyway, she's a peer and I'm incredibly proud of BookTubers who get publishing deals so yes, I did want to pick up this book f 3.5 stars. Honestly, I didn't think this was that bad!

Since I'm a BookTuber, I figure a few of you may be curious about if I know Sasha. I do not. I've followed her channel and Twitter for a few years and left a few comments, but we aren't mutuals, have never met, and I doubt she has any idea who I am. So there's nothing at stake for either of us in how I review her book.

Anyway, she's a peer and I'm incredibly proud of BookTubers who get publishing deals so yes, I did want to pick up this book for support (even though you may recall I didn't love Part 1 when it was e-published). I think there is nothing shady AT ALL about BookTubers getting book deals. It's completely natural that in a group of people who love books this much, that some of them want to be writers and that has nothing to do with their channel. All authors have fanbases and try to reach out to those fanbases for exposure whether it's 2 people or 200,000.

On to the book!

I had only seen bad reviews for this before I read it and so I pushed it off for a while and only picked it up now because my library had the audiobook immediately available and everything else I was interested in had wait lines and heaven forbid I go without an audiobook for even a day.

I think 2 things largely account for my enjoyment of the book:
1 - I had very low expectations due to the negative opinions I'd seen. I know there are fans of this book out there, but I wasn't exposed to the positive reviews nearly as much.
2 - I bet that listening to the audio version avoided some of the stylistic things I've seen critiqued. Like weird italics or certain phrases.

Here's what I didn't like:
- Yes, Andi was referred to as 'The Bloody Baroness' way too many times.
- There was an abundance of adjectives that felt like they were trying too hard to convince us of how epic everything was. The characters were made to sound awesome on paper, but they didn't feel genuine.

I also initially had trouble with all of the POVs, but by the end they all clicked for me and I liked how we saw some of them connect. I feel like I've heard some people say a couple of the POVs just rehashed the same things, but I never experienced that. Sometimes two characters were in the same place but it wasn't a word for word repetition of the same scene. We probably could have done without Dex's POV, but I didn't mind it.

The writing could stand to be fine tuned in the future but I did like the pacing and the plot. The ending THREW ME FOR A LOOP and made me glad I'd stuck it out. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Audiobook review: So like I said, I do think the audio format smoothed over some issues that others have pointed out so it may have lent to my enjoyment. However, I wasn't a fan of all the narrators because it's a pet peeve of mine when YA audiobooks are voiced by adults who clearly sound much older than the character. Dex and Lira sounded middle aged and I didn't feel it suited them. I also didn't like that we had so many narrators because it just means there were like 5 different voices for each character when they'd be in another POV's scene. ...more

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Jun 04, 2017 Evgenia Netrebkova added it

UPDATE June 13 2017: So, to clarify because I have received a couple of very salty comments... Look. I have no problem with Ms. Sasha Alsberg as a person. I think she is very pretty and she seems very vivacious and cool. However... what I think of her book is different. It's that simple. I've liked authors and hated their books. I've hated books and liked authors. For example, Victoria Aveyard. I don't necessary like Red Queen. However, I quite respect her for she is not afraid to speak up about ...more

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Apr 22, 2017 Pol rated it did not like it

So from the editor Lauren Smulski that brought us the Continent and the Blackwitch... *nervously grimaces*... Alright then. I'm suprised Harlequin Teen is not watching this editor like a hawk after all the racist books she's helped publish. ...more

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Apr 06, 2017 Chelsies Reading Escape rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-books, amazing-books, 2018-releases

Three words FEMALE SPACE PIRATES. If that doesnt draw you in maybe Six of Crows set in space will. This was an immersive read with a fun plot. I loved the short chapters because it made it feel like I was getting through this 500+ page book faster. I was getting distracted a lot while reading so it really helped the pacing when I was finally able to concentrate. I thought the fight scenes and character developpement were well done. We get some back story sprinkled throughout that really made the Three words FEMALE SPACE PIRATES. If that doesnt draw you in maybe Six of Crows set in space will. This was an immersive read with a fun plot. I loved the short chapters because it made it feel like I was getting through this 500+ page book faster. I was getting distracted a lot while reading so it really helped the pacing when I was finally able to concentrate. I thought the fight scenes and character developpement were well done. We get some back story sprinkled throughout that really made these characters come to life. I liked how the characters had multiple layers to them. They might be seen a certain way by other characters, but that doesnt mean thats who they truly are.

The spaceship and alien stuff was super creative. I enjoyed reading about new alien species and futuristic technology thats easy to understand. I was happy to finally find a book where the authors took full advantage of the opportunity to create something unique with their worlds. For example, they used different colors to described things, like a purple sky and golden water. Not to mention the huge spider pulling a carriage instead of a horse, and so much more. I didnt question how naturally occuring floating mountains and a diamond filled beach was possible, I just enjoyed the image it created. Andis and Liras home planets were incredibly beautiful. The scenery was down right magical at times.

I liked how Andi was a lot more complexe than she first appeared to be. She carries around a huge amount of guilt and views herself differently because of it. After anxiously waiting to find out how she escaped her home planet I was pleased with the way the information was delivered. I was worried I wasnt going to like Dex because cocky male characters usually get on my nerves, but he eventually grew on me. Im happy this book didnt have much romance, but I was still rooting for Andi and Dex. I loved Lira and how passionate she was. It was amazing how her scales would heat up when she got emotional. I also really liked the dynamic between Gilly and Breck. The entire female crew was fantastic. Valen was a little cooky cinnamon roll.

If Valens father had just changed the terms of a deal with someone right in front of me I would not trust him. It was a little frustrating how Andi didnt doubt him more. The first couple Klaren chapters were confusing and I wish I would have known who I was following from the start so I didnt have to go back and reread those chapters once I found out. I still ended up really enjoying Queen Nors and her mothers chapters. There was also the timing during the rescue mission that didnt make sense to me. There was no way of knowing how long Andi and Dex were going to be out cold for so ringing the alarm in 1 hour doesnt make sense. Im also not sure why the other planets decided to go to war instead of helping the dying planet.

If you follow my reviews you probably know by now that Ive been really enjoying my scifi books lately and this epic story really helped satisfy my space opera craving. For the most part, the writing was quick and easy to get into, but it seemed a little awkard in places. It might get fixed in the finished copy, but either way it wasnt anything that took away from my enjoyment. The ending was incredible, intense and heartwrenching. Overall it did have a few faults, but I enjoyed myself so much that I didnt really care. The plot was so entertaining and I absoluetly loved the characters and the world. I cant wait to see what the authors do with the sequel. If you like scifi books set in space than Id give this a try.

*received for honest review consideration* ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 bella farren rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, cliche, ya, sci-fi

2.5/5 stars

I received an eARC from the publishers via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I went completely blind into this book, I did not read Zenith Part 1 when it came out a few years ago, and I successfully avoided hearing a single thing about even the basic plot. This was a little bit of a mishmash of other popular books and tv series—it had the space-criminal-pirate thing going on that reminded me of Firefly, and had some very similar plot lines to Throne of Glass.

This book fo ...more

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Jan 08, 2018 Sophie Elaina marked it as dnf

Shelves: owned-paperbacks, owned-arcs

Put down at page 112.

Nope, I can’t read anymore. Everything including the plot and characters feel so mediocre. I love Sasha, she’s one of my favourite BookTubers and I was really hoping to enjoy this book, but it was definitely not for me. Before starting it I was very excited about the premise and really thought it was going to be great. What with the whole female pirates in space thing. It even started off promising, because I adored the opening chapter, but it just went downhill from there. ...more

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Mar 02, 2018 Nina rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2018

EDIT May 7th, 2018: After some consideration, I've decided to lower my rating of this book from two stars to one star. Over the last few weeks, I've kept seeing reviews for this book on my timeline and always had to think back to how I felt about the book. Since reading Zenith, I've given two stars to a handful of other books and I just feel like I didn't struggle with any of them as much as I struggled with Zenith. I still like the fact that this book has a group of strong female characters and EDIT May 7th, 2018: After some consideration, I've decided to lower my rating of this book from two stars to one star. Over the last few weeks, I've kept seeing reviews for this book on my timeline and always had to think back to how I felt about the book. Since reading Zenith, I've given two stars to a handful of other books and I just feel like I didn't struggle with any of them as much as I struggled with Zenith. I still like the fact that this book has a group of strong female characters and I also still think that listening to the audiobook, which was done very well considering this book is a bit of a mess, made it easier for me to get through the novel. But ultimately, none of this changed the fact that this book was confusing, unorginal, boring and badly written and keeping my two-star rating just wouldn't feel fair to some of the other books (better books!), I've also given two stars to.

- END OF EDIT -

Sasha is probably one of the first booktubers I've ever subscribed to and the reason I even found out about this wonderful "thing" called booktube in the first place. That's why I've been super excited when she announced that she'd publish her first novel but now that I've read it, I have to say that I was pretty dissappointed by it.

I didn't really like the writing, most of the characters felt a lot like characters from other books (especially one of the female main characters called Andy who felt like a copy of Celaena Sardothien from the TOG books) and the first 60% to 70% of the novel were pretty confusing. The book often switches between past and present and is also written from the POVs of four or five different characters which is why I was often struggling to understand what was happening. But I listened to the audiobook of this novel which was very well done since there were different narrators for each of the perspectives included in this book. I think that actually helped me a little and I feel like I would've struggled even more if I had read the physical copy.

So overall, I didn't really enjoy this book and I'm unfortunately not interested in reading the second part of this series. But I have to say that this book definitely wasn't one of the worst books I've ever read and had some redeeming qualities just like the awesome group of strong female main characters which is why I decided to give "Zenith" a two out of five stars. ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Jessica Enriquez rated it did not like it

This book is terrible. The plot could have been something decent if the writing had been better. There were some terrible representations of PTSD and rape in this book and quite a few other things I found to be really problematic.

I go into a whole lot more detail in both of my videos:

Zenith: Midbook Negative Review
https://youtu.be/CbVFKUNOyhM

Zenith: Completed Review
https://youtu.be/wRvssm-b0v8 ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 Kyle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2018, read-in-english

4,5 stars! Sasha and Lindsay wrote an amazing story here. The writing was beautiful and these characters felt very real. They weren't always nice and definitely morally grey but that made them more believable. They are perfectly imperfect although Andi's pettiness sometimes annoyed the hell out of me! She was very unreasonable towards Dex. Dex and Lira were by far my favourite characters in this book. I'd love to read more about those two.

The world building was also very well done. I loved the ...more

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Feb 17, 2018 Sara (A Gingerly Review) rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2018, audio-book-2018

What a dumpster fire. I mean, FULL. ON. DUMPSTER. FIRE.

~~I cannot wait to write my review.~~

-----------------

Full review can be found here: https://agingerlyreview.wordpress.com...

I was not prepared for this book to be the level of bad that it was. I love a good sci-fi and the way this story was described, it certainly ticked all of the boxes. However, what was in the actual story was anything but a good sci-fi. I’m going to be frank with you, I’m not exactly sure what this was. It was set in space ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Sasha and Lindsay's fans to the rescue/false #1 NYT Bestselling author status	3	367	Apr 25, 2019 12:34PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Zenith (The Androma Saga #1) by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings - Starting August 17th 2018 AND September 1st 2018	20	112	Sep 26, 2018 04:00PM
Androma is essentially Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas	3	299	Jul 27, 2018 01:38PM
HopelessBookAddicts: Zenith	14	388	Jan 28, 2018 03:29PM
Goodreads Librari...: Incorrect Page Number for Zenith(The Androma Saga #1)	3	168	Jan 18, 2018 02:42PM

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About Sasha Alsberg

Sasha Alsberg

68,836 followers

Sasha Alsberg is the #1 NYT Bestselling Co-Author of ZENITH: The Androma Saga.

When Sasha is not writing or obsessing over Scotland she is making YouTube videos on her channel Abookutopia. She lives in Massachusetts with her dogs, Fraser and Fiona

For her writing, she is represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.