The Final Six
So this book was like a cross between The Hunger Games and Apollo 13 in which it deals with teenagers and a ravenous competition, but this time the victors go to space instead of surviving and winning food for their district.
If this seems like an odd mix, you are not wrong. In fact, this book had so many unrealistic aspects to it that not only was I constantly reminded that what I was reading was considered juvenile fiction, but also how much cliche and repetitive tropes are saturated within this genre as a whole.
Sometimes YA fiction can be amazing. It can hold magic and details and pacing that parent fiction lacks and can bring people of all ages together over magnanimous characters like Harry Potter or swoon-worthy characters like Edward Cullen or history and friendship like Percy Jackson.
However, these are the good examples and more often than not, also the exceptions. I’ve been on a fairly decent binge recently with YA books and the maturity and fluidity they’ve contained, but this book very heavily reminds me of how most of the genre is: mundane and uninspiring.
The Final Six by Alexandra Monir is pretty basic. It isn't awful, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, but that’s the whole point. It’s not much of anything worth any kind of remarkable substance at all. Our two main characters, Naomi from America and Leo from Italy, are two of several finalists chosen from around the world to go start a new civilization of the human race on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. I know what you're thinking right now…What?
What is right.
The premise is already pretty recycled from the get-go. The world is ending, natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes plague the world due to excessive pollution and the destruction of earth’s environment has turned it into an apocalyptic death-trap, and no one can come up with a better solution than sending six teenagers to Jupiter’s moon to start another civilization to save the human race. Yeah.
So, the idea at first is pretty cringe-worthy but the promise of an Iranian-American biracial female character chosen for her intelligence and cunning was too much of an alluring draw to resist.
Unfortunately, Naomi becomes nothing more than a hero-worshipping flat character that my 11-year-old-self could have eaten and spit out for a short story assignment in sixth-grade English.
There’s nothing to Naomi. She is selfless perfection wrapped up in a pretty bow: no flaws, character detriments, or complexities. In other words, she’s the embodiment of a Mary-Sue and so unoriginal that I wonder how the book got published in the first place with her spearheading it.
The time of goody-two shoe characters who are also brilliantly smart, have great families, and get the boy are so overrated I want to rip my hair out. Where is the depth? The challenge? The humanity? How can she never think selfishly? Or badly? How can she not mess up once or be too lazy? This character is boring to read about because she’s not relatable or even realistic.
Our other main character, Leo, is a bit better, but still cliche. Having lost his whole family to a tsunami that wiped out Italy makes Leo a bit more desperate with a lot more at stake, and yet he’s still a heartfelt young man that doesn’t seem to be too angry and wishes the best for everyone.
Please.
Even the so-called villain of the novel, Beckett, seems very one-dimensional and flat. Namely: my mommy and daddy don’t pay attention to me because they’re filthy rich and my life is hard as a straight white handsome male and I’m sad cause I want more love and attention so I’ll walk all over others to get there.
Boo freakity hoo.
The other thing about this novel that drove me up the wall were the scenes that frankly made no damn sense or were so completely unrealistic I was laughing… sardonically. Like why on earth does the serum that allows people to go up to Jupiter’s moon only work on teenagers??
And why on earth would you have a three-month competition to determine six finalists that are saving the entirety of the human race reduced to a few weeks?? And how on earth could Naomi hack into the most intelligent AI in existence and not get caught??? There were so many scenes that were downright baffling and it made the whole book lose credit and any ethos it managed to scrounge together.
Overall, despite my bashing and criticism, this book wasn’t awful. It’s cliche and the characters are so shallow even babies could swim in it, but it’s not the worst YA book out there by far.
If you want a really easy read and are fascinated by space and the consequences of not being eco-friendly then this could be a golden catch for you. The cute relationship between Leonardo and Naomi actually seems genuine (despite the rushed timing) and the diversity of the characters is refreshing, but overall not a landmark novel for the YA category.
Recommendation: If you’ve been waiting for a Hunger Games fan fiction space AU this whole time, your moment is finally here. Otherwise, you’re better off getting your apocalyptic space needs somewhere else-namely the discovery channel or your local observatory.
Score: 3/10
