Book #8 of 2024: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe | 3 DNF | Booktok is the WORST

[thistlechaser]

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James.

Quick synopsis: Through completely unbelievable plot reasons, a teenage girl all alone is left to captain the very first spaceship headed for "Earth II". Through completely unbelievable plot reasons, a teenage boy all alone is following on a second ship. The two fall in love through emails. Until BUM BUM BUUMMMMM the plot twist happens.

Plot: A teenage girl whose entire personality and character is "I have anxiety" has been captaining a space ship since her parents and all the other adults just happened to die. What are the chances!

Then one day she gets an email. A second ship is coming! One with only a teenage boy on it... Imagine that!

Half the book is the two of them exchanging emails and her writing fanfic. The author included multiple fanfics written by the character in the book...

The second half of the book is THE TWIST! And a more stupid twist you couldn't get. But, to be polite, I'll put it behind a spoiler cut anyway. Even though you should not read this book.

So turns out the teenage boy was EVIL! Not just evil, but EVIL EVIL MCEVIL. He lied to her the whole time. (He had pretended to be just like one of the characters she wrote fanfic about.) He chased her down. He tried to kill her! But then the main character's "dead" mother just happened to save the day!

Why was he lying/evil/trying to get back at her? Honestly I skimmed the second half of the book, so if there was something more subtle I missed it, but his parents were on the ship she was on. The one where all the adults JUST HAPPENED to die. And so he wanted his revenge on her. Don't think too hard about this, it doesn't make any sense.

Writing/editing: There were a number of editing issues (spelling, punctuation). The technical writing (sentence structure and such) was fine.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: There are a lot of young people online right now who have "I have anxiety" as their entire personality. Not that they're anxious, but that they claim they can't do even the most basic life tasks because "I have anxiety".

This is the book for them.

I hated the first half of the book: The quickly-falling-in-love emails were boring as hell.

I hated the second half of the book: The twist was the most stupid thing I've read in a long time.

In the first half I didn't DNF it because I was curious if they would get to "Earth II" (is that not the worst name for a new planet?).

In the second half I didn't DNF it because I wanted to know how THE TWIST would be explained.

What did I like about this book? I cannot name one single thing. I should have DNFed it early on.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: 1. (Though I suspect young readers and people for whom "I have anxiety" is their whole personality might like it.)

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DNF #5: Herophobia by Alex Lane. Set in the real world, a small percent of humans develop "superpowers". 90% of the powers are just "Empathy" though, which makes those people harmless.

Not a bad story, just really, really slow and heavy handed (hating people with superpowers being a stand-in for racism). DNFed at about 10%; I kept waiting for the plot to get going, but eventually got too bored and gave up.

DNF #6: Storm at the Edge of Time by Pamela F. Service. Three teenagers from different times (a Viking boy, a modern girl, and a half-alien boy) end up thrown together through time to do something something mumble something. The Viking boy was a little interesting, but other than him the story didn't hold my attention. I'm sure the three had to save the world somehow.

DNF #7: Cardslinger by M. G. Velasco. This is one of those rare times when I got a book based on the cover alone. The story setting seemed interesting enough though: A trading card game set in the old west. So like Magic the Gathering crossed with a western movie. It wasn't too bad, but the main character didn't feel real and I didn't believe the plot, so I DNFed it.

Comments

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

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[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

For the few who actually have clinical anxiety disorder, I am sure that daily life tasks seem overwhelming or impossible to do at all. But from the sound of it, I doubt this book even depicted that accurately? Regardless, I now have no interest in reading it thanks to your review (and I mean that with gratitude, not sarcasm)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

It didn't come off as accurate at all to me, yeah. It felt more like the author knew her readers have "I have anxiety" as their entire personality and was trying to make them like her book more. (I have a friend who teaches in high school and college, so I hear a lot of this "I have anxiety" personality thing.)

> (and I mean that with gratitude, not sarcasm)

No worries, understood! :)