Survival is the name of the game as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself in Alexandra Oliva’s fast-paced novel of suspense.She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go this far. It begins with a reality TV show. Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible … something terrible happens—but how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? Cut off from society, the contestants know nothing of it. When one of them—a young woman the show’s producers call Zoo—stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game.
Alone and disoriented, Zoo is heavy with doubt regarding the life—and husband—she left behind, but she refuses to quit. Staggering countless miles across unfamiliar territory, Zoo must summon all her survival skills—and learn new ones as she goes.
But as her emotional and physical reserves dwindle, she grasps that the real world might have been altered in terrifying ways—and her ability to parse the charade will be either her triumph or her undoing.
Sophisticated and provocative, The Last One is a novel that forces us to confront the role that media plays in our perception of what is real: how readily we cast our judgments, how easily we are manipulated.
Praise for The Last One
“[Alexandra] Oliva brilliantly scrutinizes the recorded (and heavily revised) narratives we believe, and the last one hundred pages will have the reader constantly guessing just what Zoo is capable of doing to find her way back home.”—Washington Post
“A high-concept, high-octane affair . . . The conceit is undoubtedly clever and . . . well executed, but what makes The Last One such a page-turner is Zoo herself: practical, tough-minded and appealing.”—The Guardian
“Oliva takes this (possibly) post-apocalyptic setting, grafts on a knowledgeable skewering of the inner workings of reality television and gives us a gripping story of survival. . . . This is the genius of Oliva’s storytelling. . . . [She] makes a stunning debut with this page turner, and becomes a writer to watch.”—Seattle Times
“Oliva delivers a pulse-pounding psychological tale of survival. . . . [She] masterfully manipulates her characters and the setting, creating a mash-up of popular TV genres: Survivor meets The Walking Dead.”—Bookpage
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At first glimpse the book touches on two quite dissimilar subjects: a dystopian apocalyptic future and a look behind the scenes at reality TV. However, once it gets going the novel’s structure gives it a distinct feel going back and forth, with one chapter focused on the before and behind the scenes of the show, while every other chapter tells the after from the perspective of one particular contestant.
Most of the entertainment comes from the reality show bits, while the dystopian serves for further introspection and a bit of soul searching that will prove foreboding when the character realizes what has happened.
This is a fine addition to the apocalyptic canon of books like “The Road” and “Station Eleven.”
I loved the original concept of this storyline. The heroine: Zoo signs up for a survival-based reality TV show and while competing, an epidemic of apocalyptic proportions occurs. However, she believes all the horrific real life surrounding her is a setup for the show. Her physical and mental fatigue show genuine reactions on her part, but she always has the thought in the back of her mind, “This isn’t real.” OMG, this element was incredibly scary for me as a reader. Ms. Oliva lets the reader known what is going on and we’re left to watch Zoo wander around in a very dangerous wasteland thinking otherwise. The suspense was cringeworthy!
Personally, I wish the book only focused on Zoo and her survival during the apocalypse, but it doesn’t. Flashbacks of the reality TV show are incorporated throughout which I initially found confusing for multiple reasons. The flashbacks refer to the characters by the nicknames producers assigned them for the show and Zoo’s internal diaglogue uses their real names. It was quite the puzzle to match them up and I finally got to the point I stopped trying because I didn’t care about the flashbacks anyway. Compared to what Zoo was going through present-day, the TV show just didn’t matter to me anymore. But maybe that was the point Ms. Oliva was trying to make. Reality TV is not real and real-life is much more interesting. Hmmm…
I really liked this one. The plague concept is clever, especially when mixed with the idea of a reality TV survival show. The pacing was good and I found it completely engrossing.
When NetGalley offered this novel, I was so psyched! The dystopia and adventure genres are my groove. Behind the scenes in a carefully produced Survivoresque reality show? Terrifying events outside the show blurring the lines between fiction and reality? I’ve got chills!
Sign. Me. Up.
The Last One creates a thoroughly original dystopia — don’t you mind those comparisons to Hunger Games — and the character development is wonderfully rich. It has its humor and also its sadness, a whole bunch of feels up in here. Not knowing what the characters don’t know creates a thrilling story, one I was so excited to tear through. There were times when I wanted to scream at Zoo, the main character, and open her eyes to what was really going on, but that was part of the thrill. It’s eye-opening to realize how just the smallest misperception can have such a huge impact on one’s “reality”. (As Archer would say, “There’s your fridge magnet.”)
I loved the nicknaming of the contestants, like Zoo, Tracker, Exorcist, and such, but it did get a little confusing when, in the Zoo-view chapters, she identified players by their “real” names. Not knocking anything off the rating for that, because I was already in the grip. I felt compelled to figure it all out, but yeah, it took some work.
Regardless, I do believe Alexandra Oliva is a writer to watch. She’s going to produce some excellent stuff, for sure. Things wrapped up nicely, but was clear The Last One was left open for a sequel, and for that alone I can’t wait.
I received this book from NetGalley. Thank you to the author, Alexandra Oliva, and the publisher, Ballantine Books, for the opportunity for the opportunity to read and review.
Reality TV meets Pandemic. 12 contestants go into the woods in a test of endurance. Most of them have more experience than “Zoo” and only the last one can win. As Zoo encounters and narrowly conquers ever increasing trials, she begins to wonder at how realistically each obstacle is staged. And the threats are so high, would the producers really allow her to be maimed or killed? As she becomes weaker and more exhausted, she wants to reject what she is finally coming to understand…
I could not put this book down. I sped through it and though about it for at least a week after I read it. I made all my friends it so we could talk about it. It’s delightfully haunting and lingering.
Chilling. I read this during the Covid19 virus pandemic. Fiction that was very realistic, gruesome in areas,. Those who like survivor type TV shows should ike this.
Story about a woman in a survivor reality show who doesn’t realize that a “plague” has taken over 1/3 of the country; she continues to think she is in the reality show and finding “props” instead of bodies; the ending is good mostly because the author leaves the ending a little up in the air instead of having it be a “happily ever after” ending.
Twelve contestants on a popular survivor show struggle to compete against one another in order to survive. One of the women, Zoo, wanted an adventure to help her decide whether or not to settle down and start a family. However, all of the contestants get more than they bargained for. Separated from the real world, they aren’t aware that something big is happening out there. When Zoo happens to see some clues of what is happening, she believes it is just more props of the show. Her belief that she s still on the survivor show convinces her that all the things she sees are also from the show.
Our author alternates narration between the action of the show, and a first person narration by Zoo, one of the contestants as she is separated from the others during a solo challenge. As reality becomes blurred for our contestant, so it becomes blurred for us, the readers. Both Zoo and the reader are convinced that everything she encounters are part of the show. Eventually, the reader discovers that some of the things that Zoo sees are not props but part of the tragedy occurring in the world.
This is well-written, intelligent, and difficult to put down. Packed with excitement, most readers will love this book. However, as the characters in this book became confused, I, as a reader, became confused, too. This makes the reader want to read and read, to discover the truth. In this way, the reader is able to experience a little of what the characters are experiencing. Enjoy!
This was a different story. It was really good and I like apocalyptic stories
It was an interesting concept. Although you might have guessed at some parts, it really did keep me guessing. Great, strong female protagonist who, although not perfect, did not disappoint.
Wonderful. A real page-turner. A writer to watch.
I don’t usually give 5 stars but this one was great. Very timely and believable, and it was nice to read a book (finally) without spelling & grammatical errors! It was easy to see how this could really happen. Highly recommend
I thought this book was well written and hard to put down. I liked it a lot.
I did like the whole premise for the story but found myself skipping tons of pages that to me were just yeah yeah blah de blah filler stuff that doesn’t interest me at all and zooming ahead to follow the main character that was the only halfway interesting thing as you get the idea right off the bat that none of the other characters have any pertinence to the story. Also gave it 3 because it was a novel and not a series that I am starting to loathe.