Nepo is a pacey thriller set in a recognisably dystopian future, in which Hollywood actors have been cloned at various stages of their lives, so they can go on performing forever, under carefully controlled instructions. When Shy, a Nepo Baby, is attacked by armed kidnappers, a viral video of him breaking agency rules to help save his bodyguard's life bring him sudden media attention, and increasing hostility at school. It also brings him a new friend: Agustin, a slum-born boy determined to clear his brother's name, and insisting that there's more to the story of Shy's attack than his agency are telling him.

Nepo is an easy, YA read, which definitely keeps you hooked and thundering along. There are a decent range of characters, both elite and slum-born "endi's" (neurodivergents), and the book attempts to tackle and hint at some of the social ties and complications between them. There are definite echoes of the Hunger Games' Capitol in the future Los Angeles's carefully constructed media, the planning and politicking of the agents and 'parents' behind the scenes.

I didn't always think the worldbuilding for this book made sense (the macguffin here is the way the multiple Nepo's of single actors... actually function, and why anyone outside the starlit sphere believes in it), and I would have ideally liked a bit more exploration of some of the darker topics this book suggests and turns away from, but this was a quick and fairly enjoyable read with interesting representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Essy Knopf for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Nepo is a delightfully fast paced story about being neurodivergent. I loved how genuine Shayan’s journey of self discovery was. The way he would recognize his traits in other people who were openly endis and feel both comforted and panicked really resonated with me. Also, I’m going to be so honest, it took me way too long to realize endi was just ND (short for neurodivergent) spelled out. This probably should have been obvious cause people do the same thing with NB/enby for nonbinary (which I am), but alas… I didn’t put the pieces together until the very end.

Additionally, I adored the actual plot and worldbuilding. It’s just such a phenomenally fascinating idea that was executed really well. I do think this book is very recognizably YA, a lot of the themes are very approachable and probably won't be new concepts to most adults. However, I think it’s great to see these topics like classism, and ableism be discussed more seriously in YA, especially in a way that would be easy for YA audiences to understand.

The ending is relatively open (which is my personal preference, but I know it’s not everyone’s). It feels conclusive, but there are enough plotlines left open that it makes me wonder if the author wanted to leave the opportunity for a sequel while also ensuring Nepo worked as a standalone. While I am an avid standalone lover, I adored these characters and this world, so I would be thrilled if there ends up being a sequel in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Endi Books for the ARC in exchange for a review!

This was a fun and fast paced book with great representation! I found the premise of the book interesting and unique, and I liked reading about the world and how everything worked. The main character, Shy, had great development throughout the book. I also enjoyed the side characters as well, especially Justis.

I wish more was touched upon regarding the serious topics of the book. I did find that the ending of the book fell a bit flat compared to what was building up throughout the book. I feel that if the book was a bit longer, the author could have tied things up a bit better. I hope there is a sequel in order to expand on the ideas of the first book and to also further develop the relationship between Shy and Agustin.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, to the point that I have very few notes.
The world building is great, even if I was left wondering what an ‘enclaver’ was or how a cuddling could be disguised as a watch for a few pages. Things we explained in time.
Of course some elements of the world are very familiar to other YA novels, but the new elements are very interesting. I really enjoyed this view of neurodivergence (not the enclaver view of course).
I did find myself wondering what year the SS may have started, given that Stoeins law was from 2098 - especially when it’s mentioned that the slumborn have been under enclaver rule for a century.
The idea of a ‘Forever war’ seems a bit out there, but luckily it doesn’t really impact the plot.
The reason I am not giving the book 5 stars is that only one night was I unable to put it down and I am not sure I would reread it. That being said, I would recommend it to a friend and I am looking forward to reading the next instalment.

I do, however, think a few bits may have made it through editing. At least they read like there have been different wording previously:
At location 1491 Cleo says “Mouth breathing neck creep” which is repeated by Nikhil, only he says ‘mouth breathing neck beard’.

Location 1629 Augustin says ‘I just never thought someone like you would want to hear about my life” to which Shy responds ‘well I do care’.

Location 2264: ‘This is usually accompanied by my Niall’s lectures about how I must work harder to improve it’. I think ‘my’ isn’t supposed to be there.

Location 2925 ““but this is just an unfortunate reality of being a performer. We don’t have the final say.” “Always? How about never,” Cleo mutters.”. I think the word “always” is missing in “We don’t have the final say”.

I received this book as an e-ARC through NetGalley.

First of all, I thought the cover looked great. This is a dystopian future, YA novel. The main character, Shayan is a clone of a movie star. He still makes public appearances but is simply an earlier version of a celebrity. Beginning with a strange event that leads to an attack on Shayan and his body guard and a near-brush with someone who looks like another clone... the story evokes into a mix of mystery and sci-fi.

I liked the book, although I thought it was a bit slow to get going. Things don't really pick up until about a quarter of the way in. What I appreciated was that the world building was revealing and creative without being cumbersome to read. Sometimes, I find I get a bit winded by detail abut that didn't happen here.

While some things were resolved at the end of this Novel, it reads as though there will be a sequel. I hope there is.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.

I don't typically read YA but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the development of the main character as the storyline progressed. As a queer and neurodivergent person, I do resonate with Shayan's character development that comes full circle at the end of the book.

I do hope there will be a sequel as the ending was a bit anticlimactic for me.

Nepo by Essy Knopf was a fun read. It was well-paced and kept my interest. What’s ready nice is that it wasn’t a demanding read by which I mean wasn’t difficult to get through as some sci-fi dystopian futuristic books can be. Didn’t involve intense understanding of the world-building as it reflected our own in a fun mirror kinda way. It made it interesting to see how the author tied our world (2025) into their futuristic one. It’s kind of uncanny to see what is modern today be spoken of as if it is the past. The connections were fun to see how one thing could then mean something different at a later time in the future. Overall, a great book I’d recommend as a fun read!

An excellent indie book, with well-polished writing and engaging characters. The dystopian setting of a near-future LA mirrors the underbelly of our current celebrity culture, and asks hard-hitting questions about identity and inclusivity. The pacing is just right, with action and intrigue mixed with the more delicate moments of character-building. A satisfying read in itself, and a great setup for a sequel: I'll be on the lookout for book 2.

The story takes place in a future Hollywood where movie studios bring back old film stars by cloning them. These clones, called "Nepos," are expected to live the same lives as their originals. The story follows the sixteen years old Shayan Soraya in his fifth version, who struggles with the pressure to be someone he never chose to be. Along the way, he faces challenges in his work, personal life, the bigger system controlling him, and political turmoil.

This YA novel creates masterfully an uneasy feeling because many of its ideas could potentially come to live in the real world.
It talks about powerful companies that take advantage of people, the loss of personal identity, and the big gap between rich and poor. The story is fast-paced and exciting, making it hard to stop reading. "Nepo" pulls you in and keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

First, I want to thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

If you love YA and want a fast-paced book packed with action and a ton of likeable and humerous characters, you will love this!

I was incredibly excited to read this and I really did enjoy my time. However, sadly, this didn't quite live up to my expectations.

The characters were very fun and they all had their own personalities. I just wish they would have gotten introduced properly. With every new character we met, it felt like we were already supposed to know who this person is but we never really got told, instead had to figure the character out all by ourselves.
I really appreciated the incredibly casual diversity of this book and its characters - from sexuality over gender to disability, just as much as race. A lot of other authors could take something away from this.

The world is very intriguing and I love the truly original concept of it. The scifi take on a future Hollywood kept me hooked and the idea really was great and impressive.

My biggest issue was the fact that while the plot actually touches very serious and important topics such as racism and classism, the writing itsef did not reflect that. Writing wise, the book aswell as the characters didn't take themselves seriously. Everything was a joke, even life threatening situations. While it definitely was entertaining, it hindred the plot and made it feel less deep and impacting than it was seemingly meant to be. Sadly, all of this led to the book feeling rather anticlimatic instead of thrilling, lacking some much needed tension.

This is still a very enjoyable read and I think it's especially fitted for younger audiences who will not mind that every detail is very on the nose and that the social critism is very much directly handed to you.

Woah this was explosive! I love how strongly unique this story was. I especially appreciate the representation in this, and diverse themes and commentary. I feel that this is a really solid YA. I do hope there is a sequel, because the ending did not wrap up in the way i was expecting.

This dystopian young adult novel initially caught my eye because the main character is a clone. One of my favorite YA books of all time also featured a clone as the main character in a dystopian future world. I was eager to see what this author did with the concept.

There was a lot of world building in this story and the author did a great job with this. The concept for the way the clones are used was unique and intriguing.

This was quite an adventure from beginning to end, and I really loved Shayna and Agustin’s characters.

The ending of the story was set up perfectly for a sequel, which I hope happens, because I’d love to see what happens next in the world these boys live in.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher/author for this copy of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley and Endi Books for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review, had a wonderful time!

What drew me in at first was the whole concept of nepos, basically clones of famous people made specifically to continue that persons ‘legacy’. The prospect of nepos having to hide their ‘alters’ aka their true identity in favour of pretending they’re someone they’re not, having these shoes to fill wether they like it or not was fascinating to me, wildly good allegory for masking if you ask me! From a story point the whole perpetuals thing sounds like the worst thing in the world, as a filmmaker myself having to watch (and god forbid direct) sequel after sequel sounds like my own personal hell.

I found the worldbuilding really cool! The book touches on various really important subjects like racism, censorship and (obviously) neurodivergence in some very easily digestible ways which I like, reading about the systematic oppression the slumborn go through really sold the world to me in a way. I also really liked all of the characters, each of them felt like their own person and not just “same kid different font” type of thing. Got really attached to some of them (looking at you Justis) which doesn’t happen with every book I read.

I’ve got a few gripes with the book which resulted in the 4.5 star rating but they’re mostly personal opinions that don’t really have much to do with the quality of the book. One is that I am no longer the target demographic for YA books so every once in a while it all felt too, teen, which is entirely on me for reading YA in the first place.

The timeline was a bit weird at times, cannot believe the whole thing happened in the span of two weeks, I feel like just the school play thing should’ve taken at least a month maybe.

This is also not really a gripe but a comment, I feel like there’s a lot left unexplored world wise so if the author decides to write a sequel I would be the first to buy and read it! You can find some spoiler-y thoughts about a possible sequel in my StoryGraph review because I can’t spoiler tag stuff here!

That being said the book does work really well as a standalone so if thats it I won’t be mad. A very refreshing read, would definitely read more of this authors books in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Endi Books for approving my request to read an arc of this book

Nepo first drew my attention because of the stunning cover art, but then the plot really sold it to me. It’s such a unique concept.
Nepo is set in dystopian universe where clones of celebrities are made so that the person’s careers can keep growing and growing. Shy is one of the clones, but he’s always felt different.
In the lower class level of the city there is a whole population of neurodivergent people that are never allowed to exist in the rich region where Shy is from. As an autistic person myself, this isn’t a foreign concept. Sadly many people believe our minds are something that needs “fixing” and I liked that this book brought to light how much autistic minds have brought to science and inventions and technology and so much more, and how different the world would be without our minds in it. Not that we have to contribute anything for our lives to be valid.
Shy finds out that he is also neurodivergent and that it was missed on his screening. And when he witnesses a shooting and uncovers a secret with the help of a new friend and fellow neurodivergent person from the lower class level of the city, that is when the story really begins.