Kate Ota
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Publications/Awards
  • FAQ
  • Contact

Writing, Publishing, and Bookish Blog

Book Review: Camp Zero

6/18/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
The cover is so interesting to me, with the expression on her face and the northern lights in the background.
Camp Zero is Michelle Min Sterling's debut novel. It's a near-future cli-fi (science fiction with emphasis on climate change) with three main POVs. It's been out since the end of March, and already I've gotten so many emails from Amazon advertising it with other books.

Arguably the main POV of Camp Zero is Rose, a biracial (white/Korean) sex worker with a secret agenda who arrives at a worksite in northern Canada where a famous architect is building a new city. The second POV is Grant, an English professor/heir to billions who wants to escape his family's influence. He comes to the worksite thinking he'll be an English prof at the new college there, only to realize it's not built yet, so he tutors the construction workers. The third POV is a collective (we/us) perspective about an all-female scientific crew (includes LGBTQIA+ characters) at an even farther north research station. They've signed on for two years of isolation to study the climate, but they get a lot more than they bargained for and band ever closer together to survive.

This book was different from what I've been reading, which kept me interested. The cli-fi aspect was fresh, since a lot of cli-fi focuses on the more southern parts of the world, but this focused on what would happen in Canada. Some really cool concepts like the Floating City were done well, with not just the rich and wealthy in mind, but with a clear demonstration/criticism of how anyone but the top 1% would be treated in this scenario. 

I'm not a huge fan of sex worker characters, since in books they're almost always sexually assaulted (or an attempt is made) and that's not a scenario I enjoy reading. This book was not an exception to that. I also struggled with the collective POV, even though the idea of their predicament and the types of characters were my favorites (shout out to badass lady scientists.) I think the collective POV kept me from connecting as well with these characters, so they always felt at arm's length (aka a very distant POV.) I also didn't find the ending very satisfying.

This book is for you if you are looking for cli-fi, want a biracial (white/Korean) POV, want a sex worker character who chose and feels empowered (in most scenarios) by her job, or are interested in trying a collective POV. This book is not for you if you are looking for deep POVs or are not in the mental space to read about sexual assault, the death of a partner, or a sex worker (regardless of if she chose it.)


Have you read Camp Zero? How did you feel about the collective POV? What did you think about the ending? Let's discuss in the comments!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    July 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All
    Agent's Guide
    Announcement
    Book Review
    Character Development
    Conferences
    Crafting
    Critique
    Does It Live Up To The Hype
    Easier Editing
    Editing
    Goals
    Indie Books
    Inspiration
    Is It Worth It
    NaNoWriMo
    Novella
    Personal Essay
    Pitch Wars
    PitchWars
    Published Work
    Query Tips
    Reading
    Research
    RevPit
    Screenwriting
    Show Don't Tell
    Trope Discussion
    Updates
    Voice
    World Building
    Writing Groups
    Writing Tips
    Year In Review

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Publications/Awards
  • FAQ
  • Contact