Nil

Author: Lynne Matson
Goodreads Rating: 3.95
Pages: 384
Format: ARC provided by Publisher

On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have one year. Exactly 365 days--to escape, or you die.
Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s lying naked in an empty rock field.
Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that to save their future, Charley must first save him. And on an island rife with dangers, their greatest threat is time.

The first thing that I want to say about Nil is how much more I like the new cover to the old one. My ARC cover is bright yellow and orange with some blue thrown in for the ocean with the countdown all around the teens. I really enjoyed this book once the plot picked up and you were able to really get into the story.

I found that the plot was really original and different. I wasn't sure what I was going to be getting into and I never knew what to expect when I got to the end. I really appreciated that I couldn't predict who was going to make it off the island and who was going to perish. I loved that it was so unpredictable. The downside of it being unpredictable meant seeing bad things happen to characters you loved and never knowing who was going to be next.

I really liked Thad and Charley's relationship until the "L" word reared its ugly head. I loved that although they both kept holding onto who they were even as Nil changed how they had to act and what they needed to do. I did find fault with how quickly Charley figured out what was going on. I understood that it was necessary, but some of the conclusions she reached, I didn't know how.

I thought that Nil was a really interesting place, and I appreciated that we were able to get some sort of back story into why this was all happening, even if it was one small interaction that gave us a clue at what was happening. I was more than satisfied with the ending, and I cannot wait to see what Matson will come up with next. If you check back, you'll get to find out more about the Island of Nil and it's creator Lynn Matson.

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