Review: Nil by Lynne Matson

Title: Nil (Nil #1)
Author: Lynne Matson
Genre: Dystopia, 
Format: Hardcover 
Publisher: Henry Holt
Published: March 4, 2014

Summary: 

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.

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The idea behind Nil was interesting. Teenagers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen randomly being dumped in the middle of an uncharted island, without their clothes and the memory that they got there through a shimmering gate. But the book raised more questions then the author actually answered. 

I liked the characters. At the start of the book Thad is running out of time to get off the island, in 99 days he would either be home or die on the island of Nil, that gave her inhabitants 365 days to escape or die. I liked Thad more then Charley. I felt like I didn't know enough about her, just that she had a boy troubles, liked to have her hair combed, and loved sprite with crushed ice. What I didn't like what we didn't see into their pasts, they talked about it, but very briefly that I had a hard time grasping who they were before. Sure, Charley played volley ball and Thad was a snow border, what else is there to them? 

The book was slow, I was expecting something different. Maybe the government was involved or something big like that. But we don't learn what actually causes it. There is a theory about a solar flare but hat was it. It leaves me questioning now. I was eager for a big ah-ha moment but there really wasn't one. I considered DNFing this book a few times. Some parts were slow, others felt repetitive and the language was corny. I understand Thad and Charley fell in love, I was shipping them from the start, but you can only repeat your goodbyes so many times before it starts getting real annoying. Or the amount of times Charley asked Thad to sleep with her, I just didn't like it. 

The book had its good points though. Wanting to know about Nil kept you turning the pages, and who was going to die, who was catching a gate or who got killed by an animal. The ending got me, it has me content and happy though. But there is Nil Unlocked coming out in 2015 that has my eyebrows raised. The way Matson left the book off doesn't seem like there could be a sequel. So is the sequel about the secrets of the island? Or what happens to the characters left on the island? I am curious about them. I wish I could have liked this book more, but it was just blah to me. 

RATING: ★★★