“It was all just a matter of time before something like this happened. I told you before – the future is going to be bleak as hell. People get so excited that we have all this fun new technology. They never sit back and consider how dangerous it might be. We’re just a bunch of monkeys playing with a box of matches.” – Other Earth, pg. 39

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

Happy book release day to “Other Earth” by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller! In my last post, I reviewed “Other World” (the first book in this series), you can read my review by clicking here! In short: I absolutely loved and DEVOURED it! I was really happy to have recieved an ARC of “Other Earth” (thanks to Penguin Random House) so I didn’t have to wait for the sequel.

NOTE: This is the second book in the “Last Reality” series written by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. Since this is a sequel, I may (unintentionally) spoil parts of the first book. If you haven’t read it, I would HIGHLY recommend it! You can read my review for the first book in this series, titled “Otherworld” here!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Simon saved his best friend, Kat, from the clutches of the Company and their high-tech VR gaming experience, Otherworld. But it was at a steep price. Now he, Kat, and their friend Busara are on the run. They know too much. About the Company’s dark secrets. About the real-life consequences of playing Otherworld. And about Kat’s stepfather’s involvement in everything. The group is headed to New Mexico to find Simon’s old roommate, who is a tech genius and possibly the only person who can help them reveal the truth about the Company before it’s too late and the line between what’s real and what’s fantasy is erased . . . forever.
Imagine a future in which you can leave reality behind and give in to your greatest desires. That future is now. And the future is terrifying.

If you would have told me that I would not be rating this book 5/5 stars before I read the last 30 pages, I would not have believed you. I LOVED this book, even more than the last one. That being said, I absolutely HATED the ending. While I understand that since this is a series, there can really be no final conclusion, I still was expecting a lot more from the ending. I found it incredibly confusing (which may have been the point – I’m not so sure). It left me unhappy, and honestly kind of turned me away from finishing the series (still undecided on continuing with it or not).

I still loved reading from Simon’s perspective about his thoughts and the other events going on with the other characters. While Kat was still a very important part of this story, the introduction of Elvis (no, not that one), and the new found relevance of Busara’s character, made the book feel like it had a better social dynamic. Rather than in the previous one, where Simon was quite independent. I wish Busara’s dad had a much bigger role in this story. Since he was essentially the original creator, I would have loved to have read more about the process of coming up with the idea for this world, and his overall opinions on the Company itself. One of my favourite parts of this book had to do with the dynamic between Simon and his mother. I felt like there was a lack of family at the beginning of this book, so when Simon’s mother appeared, I was so happy to read about it. She played a small but mighty role in this story, and to see the trust she had in Simon was incredible. It made me love her character that much more!

In this continuation of “Otherworld”, there was a much better balance of Simon’s time between the Otherworld and his time on earth. Since the four main characters could not go into Otherworld all together, they relied on each other to dive into the world to accomplish their goals, and then report back to them to see how they could continue there journey of ultimately taking down the Company. They were also a lot of scenes in the real world that were very important to the events in the Otherworld, so I enjoyed reading about the person that was behind the avatar.

Like in the previous book, I found this one very fast paced and entertaining. None of the events dragged on, and each event was related to the next. However, I did not enjoy the writing style as much as I did in the first one. By the end of the book, it almost seemed like it was a middle grade novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, minus the confusing ending. I gave it 4.5/5 stars on Goodreads!

Thanks again to Penguin Random House for the ARC!

Thanks for reading my review of “Other Earth” by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller. To read my initial thoughts while I was reading the book, click here (scroll down to “Reading Progress”.

Good Night Book Owls!