The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away

by Ronald L. Smith

Simon is really interested in aliens. He's also terrified of aliens. Then on a camping trip with his family, he sees an owl, blacks out, and wakes up with what he believes is an implant in his stomach. When he shares this with his family, they of course don't believe him, and take him to a therapist, who basically gives him a bunch of pills to fix his problems. In between the chapters about Simon, there are chapters of a "novel" that he is writing, which was really hard for me to connect with, and I found myself skimming over. The ending is rushed, and you're left just sort of shocked that the book is over, and that was it. I hate to say it, but what a waste of a beautiful cover.

In the After

by Demitria Lunetta

Amy is living in a world that has been destroyed by scary green creatures that eat humans.THEY are really fast, and really nasty. She only survived because her mom, presumed dead, was paranoid, and had many years ago had their house surrounded by an electric fence. That seems to keep THEM away. One day, on a supply run, she comes across Baby, a toddler that she takes home with her and begins to think of as a little sister. For years, they survive on their own, but it doesn't last forever, and they eventually have to leave, taking them on to another place that seems safer on the surface. But is it just danger in another form?

Granted, there are some serious plot inconsistencies. For example... Amy is worried about the sound her breathing makes while she runs on a treadmill. Has Lunetta ever run on a treadmill? Cause they are loud. You know, with the foot pounding and all. THEY have supersonic hearing and could possibly hear her breathing. But they won't hear the running? I don't get it.

But... despite many eye rolling moments, I found myself kind of obsessed with this book, and involved enough that from time to time I got startled any time I heard a noise while reading. I really did find myself pulled into this world. Characterization? Eh. But as far a plot tension goes, she nailed it. I powered through it, and was extremely irritated with myself that I finished it on a Friday and had to wait until Monday to check out the sequel.

Speaker for the Dead

by Orson Scott Card

It's 3,000 years after Ender's Game, but due to the complexities of interstellar travel, we still have Ender, as a 35 year old man. Yay! He has become Speaker for the Dead, a position revered, and slightly feared, by this society. He is working at a University. Valentine is pregnant with her first baby, and he's looking forward to being an uncle. And then, he gets a call to speak the death of a researcher on the planet Lusitania. Much to Valentine's chagrin, he decides to go. The voyage takes only weeks for Ender, but 22 years for everyone else. By the time he gets to the planet, he knows that Valentine's baby will be a young adult, while he will not have aged at all. Despite the personal pain it will cause, he's still nursing guilt about the Buggers. There's a different alien life form on this planet, affectionately called the Piggies, and his sense of responsibility wins out. This is the story of Ender's time on Lusitania, attempting to find redemption for himself, while helping the humans who have colonized there. When he arrives, he finds the welcome less than warm, and there are unfortunately other deaths that need speaking.

I listened to the audio book, and at the end, the author himself talks about the fact that this was the book he intended to write all along--that Ender's Game was the intro he had to write in order for Speaker to make sense. While I loved this a tiny bit less than Ender's Game, it still pulled me in with it's wildly imaginative new world. Unraveling the mystery of the Piggies was great fun, and the character feel like old friends now. I can't wait to continue my adventures in the Enderverse!

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Ender is a third--a third child--only born so that he can be used for whatever purpose the government sees fit. They've chosen Ender, as a very young boy, to attend battle school. There has been a global war with the Buggers, an alien race that the average human knows very little about. The powers that be fear another invasion, and are grooming children to defend humanity against this eventuality. Ender leaves behind on earth a beloved sister, Valentine, and a despised, and sociopathic, brother, Peter. As Ender trains to defeat the Buggers, Valentine and Peter plot to turn the government on its head by creating false identities on what basically amounts to internet forums. (This book was written in 1986, and what Card gets right about what the "future" looks like is really quite extraordinary.)

I found all three of these characters to be exquisitely drawn, and even the minor characters like Graff are so fully fleshed out that you can't help but care about them. There are twists and turns and aha moments galore, and when I wasn't with this book, I was thinking about it.

Ender's Game is now one of my favorite books ever.

The Infinite Sea

by Rick Yancey

There is a lot going on in this book, and at first it was hard to follow all the perspective changes. But once you accept that you're not really hearing much of Cassie's voice anymore, it gets a little easier.

Now the aliens have gone as low as they can go, and the ramifications are even more unthinkable than they were before. While we get to see what's going on with Cassie, Ben, Evan, etc., this story is really Ringer's to tell. With twists and turns and over-the-top drama on every page, I have no complaints about the plot, or where Yancey takes the story. The ending is definitely crazy enough to make me want to read another book in the series. I just wish it had been paced a little better--everything happened way too crazy fast, making it harder for me to connect with the characters. But still, super fun and a must read if you loved the first.

The 5th Wave

by Rick Yancey

Maybe I'm biased, because I love me some aliens, but this book was SO. MUCH. FUN!

Basically, there's an alien apocalypse. They're wiping out the human race, but they're doing it in stages. We pick up the story at the end of the 4th wave, or, if you prefer, stage of human destruction.We meet Cassie first. She's alone, and trying to survive in this crazy new world. She's being hunted. She doesn't know who she can trust, which makes her very dangerous.

I just don't feel like I can say any more about the plot without stealing away the suspense for you!

This is definitely a thriller. A just for fun, escape from your daily life, get totally absorbed type of book. So the pages turn themselves, and it's awesome when that happens. But it's even greater because it's Rick Yancey. He can tell a killer story, but (shock and awe!) the man can also WRITE!

I hate books that set out to be a series opener, and this clearly is. However...it's so good that I forgive Mr. Yancey. Can't wait to see what happens next!