Camp Zero, Michelle Min Sterling

About the Book

In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is break­ing ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a chance to join the Blooms, a group hired to entertain the men in camp—but her real mission is to secretly monitor the mercurial architect in charge. In return, she’ll receive a home for her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother and herself.

Rose quickly secures the trust of her target, only to discover that everyone has a hidden agenda, and nothing is as it seems. Through skill­fully braided perspectives, including those of a young professor longing to escape his wealthy family and an all-woman military research unit struggling for survival at a climate station, the fate of Camp Zero’s inhabitants reaches a stunning crescendo.

Atmospheric, fiercely original, and utterly gripping, Camp Zero is an electrifying page-turner and a masterful exploration of who and what will survive in a warming world, and how falling in love and building community can be the most daring acts of all.

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My Thoughts

Global warming is at a fever pitch. Engineers have made a floating city, and anything outside the north is getting too warm to live comfortably. It’s a great premise for a novel, and yet, we don’t fully explore how devastating the world has gotten. Instead, we focus more on the alternating perspectives, which is completely okay, but I was hoping for more world-building. If there’s a floating city, what more have they come up with in all this time?

I enjoyed the concept of the flick, which is essentially built in access to the web. Whenever I have a doctor’s appointment, most people in the waiting room have their heads down to their phones. Sterling shows us how things probably will go and, for these characters, the repercussions of being forever hooked up and online. It’s scary because it’s a feasible idea. We’re seeing so many more climate events than we used to, so when an author puts that into a book, it makes it scary and a thrill to read.

I liked the alternating perspectives and how this one came together, but the ending was a bit of a sore spot, as it felt unfulfilling. Though sometimes we don’t always get the endings we want or hope for. Perhaps there will be a book 2 down the road. The world felt so bleak that it would be nice to revisit this world and watch it crumble or be saved; I’m okay with either direction. This lovely debut tackles many real-world issues that will appeal to many readers.

Thank you, Atria, for sending over an ARC.