Review Detail

SYLO is certainly an interesting read. Within the first five pages, a football player dies suddenly — and that’s only the beginning. Between mysterious viruses, a quarantined island, and an invasion by a branch of the navy that no one has ever heard of, Pemberwick Island has its fair share of secrets. Nothing is what it seems, and you’re never quite sure who to trust.

Unfortunately, despite its strong start, the story progressed far too slowly for my liking. I began to lose interest at about page 50, and didn’t become engaged in the plot again until halfway through the novel. The mystery is drawn out for far too long; a lot of my questions weren’t answered until the very end, while many weren’t answered at all. After reading through ~400 pages, I still don’t really know anything about the quarantine and SYLO, which simultaneously frustrates me and makes me want to read the sequel.

I didn’t really connect with any of the characters in SYLO, as my lack of reaction during a certain scene can certainly attest to. Tucker, Tori and Quinn are flawed and realistic characters who are equally important to the plot in different ways, though they’re not particularly memorable. I neither liked them nor disliked them; they were just there.

Overall, SYLO is an action-packed read with an intriguing premise. Despite my complaints, there were many enjoyable parts of this book, so I’ll likely pick up the sequel at some point.