This book is a War of the Worlds for YA readers. The plot kept me turning page after virtual page. Each character was believable in that young adult reader kind of way. The book played out like a script for a movie. I could picture this being an excellent film. Kudos, I love sci-fi, so this book really made my day!

Quick read, but trite and cliched......

This is a book in one of my favorite genres, post-apocalyptic, young adult, Sci-Fi thriller. And the author, John Hennessy, left me a personal note in the book which I thought was a great touch. So the book is off to a good start before I even started reading it!

I liked how this was a short quick read and it wrapped up the whole story by the end. The glimpse you had of the world they were living in before the abductions was also really good and I felt like it some of it could actually be in our future. I also enjoyed the narration switching between two of the main characters. I wasn’t as big of fan on Darrel, but I really liked Maggy and always enjoy seeing a strong female character. Also, almost all of the leaders mentioned in this book, whether it was the president or an army sergeant were all women which definitely wins points with me. I do think it started a bit slow, but one I got into the meat of the story I finished it in one sitting.

If you like YA dystopian or sci-fi and want a quick read that won’t throw you into a long epic saga, this is the book for you. And make sure to give it a chance past the first couple chapters because the story seems to wrap up pretty quickly as soon as you are into it.

*Spoiler Stuff*

This book had some potential. One of the biggest issues with the book are the characters. Their interactions with each other doesn't seem normal for a group of 17 year old nerd/geek teens. They are constantly using the word 'Melted,' but it never really sticks out like the word 'cool' would. The way they act, such as blowing up houses, wrecking cars, and everything else they do or talk about, seems more typical of preteens. If the main character's ages were scaled back a few years, this book would have been more believable and caused me less pain.

I also take issue with the way Maggey talks down to Felix and Darrel. She never treats them like people, but as boys that oogle over gamer gals. Plus, she calles Felix, a person of South American origin, 'Tortilla,' and calls Darrel, a chubby/fat guy, 'Jelly.' This is so insulting and demeaning, but doesn't even get 'resolved' until the very end of the book for one paragraph. Even then, its just Darrel standing up to Maggey and not Felix ever being annoyed with being called Tortilla. I would get it if it was just a nickname sometimes and Maggey usually calls him Felix when in private or lovedovey moments, but she calls him Tortilla even then. Its degrading and absurd. Her namecalling should have been addressed somewhere in the middle of the book as Darrel fell for Penelope and Jacob was still alive.

By the way, there are so many side characters that are more fun than these kids. Felix doesn't really have much of a personality and gets overshadowed by Jacob, Burnhammer, and other characters. I wish the twins had more of a presence, because it seemed like there could have been an interesting story with them.

My advice to the author would be to scrape Maggey's POV, introduce a Felix POV, and resolve Maggey's antisocial tendencies earlier than the very last page.

Before getting this book I had never heard of John Hennessey and have never been a bit fan of alien books but I was looking for something different to try and ended up with this book on my Kindle.

The book features a group of teenagers who have managed to stay alive on Earth despite billions of other people being mysteriously taken from the planet. I don't want this review to give away the story; but if features plenty of action and has enough twists in the book to keep you hooked, and the main teenage characters all feel like people you've met before or know.

I honestly didn't expect to be as 'into' this book as I got and was eager to see what happened next and if there was going to be a happy ending or not. Would recommend this book happily to other sci-fi or YA readers.

I did receive this e-book as part of the LibraryThing Give-away program from the author and was asked to post an honest review.

Great book on the reality of our society.

Disclaimer: I was made to read this book. Here is my take on the book: it had potential. I really felt like I was reading a first draft, one that if given to a traditional publisher would have returned with a laundry list of needed fixes.

I agree with the summation that it was a rocky and slow start, but when action picked up it got better. Well, just a little better. I hated the main characters, they were two dimensional based upon poorly understood cultural stereotypes. I don't care that it was an Asian girl calling the Hispanic boy Tortilla, it's still offensive. The action was a bit stale, and the dialogue just plain stupid. Who repeats what they just said EVERY TIME THE TALK? It's bad when the side characters destined for death get a more positive response than the main three. And the twin sisters? I kept forgetting they were there until they had to speak, or cry, or whine, or get moved or cared for...blah blah blah. And the Alions, dang, what a waste. They stole 38 Billion people in three days and you expect me to believe they still did such stupid things over and over?

There were a few things I did like about the book, surprising I know. I really liked his take on technology of the future, and his knowledge about guns. I think he should have focused on this sort of thing more. And the Alions are actually a cool concept, and I would have loved to learn more about them other than that they roared and galloped. What about this other war they were in? I felt no time was spent on this except to explain why they came to Earth.

All in all, this is a quick read. But my most important thought: It is NOT a post-apocalyptic book, it is an alien invasion.

*I received this book from Basically Books ARR*

Unfortunately I had a very hard time connecting with this book. After reading the summary, I was super excited to read this especially because I'm a big fan of science fiction alien invasion type books and they aren't that common in this dystopian era of writing. But for me the beginning was hard to get through and I hard time relating to most of the characters. Maggie annoyed me quite a bit, and Tortilla wasn't anything special. Darrel and Penelope were OK, but once again didn't stand out. The twins on the hand were two very cool little girls. I loved their courage and I wish they were included in more of the book. Jacob was another character that I also really liked.

I have to admit that I was devastated when he died!

The ending seemed rushed in comparison to the rest of the book (some of which seemed to drag on in places). But the middle was probably the best bit of the entire book.

All in all, the book had an excellent plot, but wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
Recommended to avid science fiction readers.