I found this a really strange read. Maybe it's because I'm not bright enough to understand what was going on but things weren't all that clear until the last 10%. It's an apocalyptic story where the world is coming to an end. It takes place on a coastal area called The spit. Anna and Ava meet each other while waiting for the wave.

Ava is obsessed with Anna, who has everything she doesn't. She is an influencer, with the perfect husband and son. Ava sells sex in the woods and wants more. Anna's daughter Ada to anorexia. Both characters seem to be dissociated from their worlds in general and being involved in each other brings some excitement to a life living on borrowed time.

I'm not going to lie, I found this a really strange read. There were no speech dialogues as such, it reminded me a lot of Normal People, which oddly was another book I didn't get on well with. This one just wasn't my cup of tea in the end.

This is a short, sharp, deeply intense book. We are at the end of days in an unnamed costal town where the Watchers have gathered to await The Wave. Everyone has a Value Meter, which it drops to a point they are not useful, they are deported.
Anna has lost her daughter to anorexia and is mad with grief. Into her world stumbles Ava, a broken young woman, strangely alike her lost daughter, who has admired Anna’s cosseted world on The Screen.
It is a terrible combination and they drive each to ever more reckless behaviour in their search for some realise from their awful lives.
It is a book that you read through your fingers, it’s relentless and full of the most awful characters and events. However, I couldn’t put it down. I should imagine there are trigger warnings on the hard copy and I would take note if you are likely to be upset. Strong meat indeed.

It’s difficult to write about this book except to say ‘I felt it!’. An intense, dark dystopic novel that won’t be for everyone but that absolutely was for me.

Warning! This is a ‘near future dystopia’ that comes with a long list of trigger warnings. I can’t say it was an enjoyable read but it was highly original, and I couldn’t put it down.

The book has an unusual narrative structure, switching POVs between We, Ava, Anna and sometimes Anna and Ava collectively. This structure was great at highlighting the unreliability of each narrator, I never knew who to trust.

The story unfolds over a week of blistering heat and the expected arrival of The Wave. The suspense and general insanity grow as the week progresses. The short chapters and alternating POVs propelled the narrative along at quite a pace. The chapters from the POV of We provide narrative and some respite from the intensity of Anna and Ava. Having said that they were still creepy but really got me thinking e.g. “We’d had enough of it and them…, their touching belief that a beautiful life would be enough to insulate them from the horror of life….so we came for them, as they went, life returned…”

All the characters are dislikeable but utterly beguiling. Just as I thought they couldn’t get any worse they did something to prove me wrong. The author has written these complex and layered characters in a way that made me eager to find out more about them whilst being horrified at their behaviour.

For me the main themes of the book were.
1. Our lack of real concern over climate change. “Nobody seemed to care, not really…we watched disasters happening on the TV but couldn’t connect them to ourselves…”
2. Our preoccupation with social media and the manufacturing of our reality. The characters are constantly monitored and always trying to increase the numbers on The Value Meter. “People thought it was easy, that all I did was snap something and put it on The Screen, whereas in reality it was difficult to construct a whole other version of reality.” “He was becoming obsessive with it….checking it all the time for fluctuations, getting alerts sent to his phone.”

The book is expertly written, and I fully intend to read it again as I’m sure I will get more from it second time around. I would defiantly recommend but only after checking the trigger warnings, some of which are child loss, animal cruelty, self-harm, toxic relationships etc etc.

Thanks to the author, White Rabbit, and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

A powerful debut about a very serious topic, definitely one to recommend. The intensity throughout matches the feeling we should all have regarding climate change. Fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for the advance reader copy.

I don’t think this book was for me. I’m still unsure about the story and also what it was trying to say.

All the characters are for use of better words, the worst. Which left me feeling nothing during this book.

I found it was a task to read and finish even though I don’t think it’s that long.

This book kept me hooked, full of a range of emotions and fears. Overall this book kept me hooked throughout.

before you read this book, please-please-please, check the trigger warnings!
I can't even begin to list them all, scared of missing something!

now, that we're done with an official part... this book is fucked up!
it's fucked up and you either love it and enjoy every part of it, like I did, or chug it away and pray.

I cried, I screamed, and sometimes I even felt happy. which is an emotion I don't particularly associate with this book.

remember the craziest black mirror episode you've ever seen? double it. now you have Ava Anna Ada.
your scariest nightmare? triple it. now you have Ava Anna Ada.

it's a mommy issues universe filled with people trying to seem better than they are, chasing high numbers on Value Meters.

the book is full of different concepts like The Screen, The Wave, and The Spit, so it took me a long time to learn how to concentrate on the book properly. you miss a passage and you don't understand what the heck is happening.

it's delusional, it's a bad trip, it's hard to understand and come to terms with.

my manager at work asked me what this book is about and I couldn't answer it. you can't explain this book with a couple of sentences, you can't answer this question without going on an hour rundown of all of the events. I can't talk about this book to someone who hasn't read it.

it's a masterpiece.

thank you NetGalley for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. despite this, my review is completely honest.

"We didn't see the line we were crossing then. That's the problem with lines; they're impossible to see until after."

Anna has lost her child. Ava has lost her innocence. When they meet it is both beautiful and ugly.

This is a story pack with ideas and words so cleverly crafted it will subject you to feelings you did not think you could possess. I'm not a writer so it is difficult for me to put well into words just how beguiling this book is. It packs menace and bewitches as it delivers prose which tricks and treats in a most satisfying way. A story that is determined to stay with me as I cannot stop thinking about Ava. My word, Ali Millar is one heck of a writer and storyteller.