Book Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

If you like dystopias, then the 5th Wave is for you.

The war was over before it even started.  Earth's human population was decimated in just a few short months by four strategic waves of alien attacks.  Cassie is only 16, but she plans to stay alive as long as she can, and go down fighting.  Rule number 1 is trust no one, no matter what they look like.  There's no way to tell who's really human, and who just looks like one.

And then there's Zombie.  Who he was before the First Wave is dead, and there is only Zombie now.  Saved from the brink of death by what remains of the U.S. military, Zombie begins his training to hunt down and kill the alien invaders.  Fueled by guilt and rage, he's ready to exact revenge at any cost.

Cassie and Zombie deal with the invasion in different ways, but they are both bound by a promise, and the desire to save what's left of the human race.  Action packed, full of guns, explosions, twists, and lies within lies, it's the story of saving more than just a group of people.  It's about saving the things that really matter.

~gothbrarian

Book Review: The True Meaning of Smekday

Aliens have invaded Earth and renamed it Smekland.  Wait, no, let's start at the beginning.  Gratuity (Tip for short) Tucci is writing a report on the True Meaning of Smekday, which may or may not be included in a time capsule.  So this story starts with her and when her mother was abducted by aliens.  And then, later, the Boov invade Earth.  All the humans are supposed to be sent to Florida, but Tip decides to drive herself.  There are a variety of problems with this, the biggest two being that 1.) she's eleven years old and 2.) she's supposed to be on a Boov-approved rocketpod, not driving a car across busted highways.  Also, she has her cat (named Pig) and a runaway Boov named J.Lo in tow, which makes things complicated.  Then it turns out that another alien race is planning on invading Earth.  And then it gets weird(er). 

I love this book by Adam Rex.  It is hilarious, wonderful, quirky, and smart.  And it has great illustrations and some very funny cartoon strips drawn by J.Lo the Boov.  There are rumors of a movie in the works, so read this book now before the waiting list starts!

~ Book Ninja

P.S.  If you like Adam Rex, read some more of his stuff here!  It's all a bit different, but funny!

Beneath The Surface: Dystopian Round-Up

This year's teen summer reading program is themed Beneath the Surface! The best thing about reading is getting to learn about new ideas and realities that are unfamiliar to us. In dystopias, the characters are very often placed in situations that are just as alien, and they must search "beneath the surface" to discover what the truth is about their post-apocalyptic world. Come and kick your summer reading adventure off with these great dystopian titles!

 In Suzanne Young's The Program, teen suicide is an international epidemic. Sloane has already lost a brother to the disease, and her parents are desperate to keep her alive. She can't cry or express any honest emotion, because at the first sign of depression she will be shipped off to the Program and return stripped of her memories. When her boyfriend, James, begins to spiral into the illness, Sloane must find a way to keep him alive or risk him losing all memories of her forever.

 Incarceron by Catherine Fisher introduces a society where criminals and their descendents are sentenced to live in Incarceron, a living prison that enacts its own punishments. Finn has spent his entire life in the prison with no hope of escape. All that changes when one day he finds a key that allows him to speak to the warden's daughter outside Incarceron, and plan an impossile escape.

  

Alien Tension

I love the tension in love hate relationships that turn to romance.  It's even more fun when you add in aliens like in Jennifer Armentrout's Obsidian.  Alien Daemon is obnoxious for a reason, he is protecting his family and his species, by not getting to know the cute next door neighbor, Katy.  Katy of course just thinks he's obnoxious.  Then he saves her life.   Unfortunately that puts an alien mark on her.  Now he feels obligated to protect her until the mark wears off.  This gives them plenty of time to trade barbs and get to know each other.  But this is not just a romance.  There is plenty of action too.  There is a second alien species, who would like nothing more than to kill all of Daemon's kind and steal their powers.  Now Katy is in the middle and learns up close and personal just how deadly this undercover war is.

Ender's Game: Earth is Losing...

After decades of battle against insect-like aliens, we still haven't found a general who can defeat them.We're running out of soldiers, we're running out of spaceships, and we're running out of hope. But maybe, with the right training, one special boy can be molded into a hero.

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who's only six when he's recruited to Battle School to learn strategies to defeat the aliens. I'm excited to see the movie adaptation next year, but you should definitely read it first, so why not now, before the hype starts and you hear spoilers?