Scan barcode
A review by pavi_fictionalworm
Alienated by Melissa Landers
5.0
Actual Rating 4.5 Stars
The detailed review is up on my blog For The Love of Fictional Worlds now :)
The book is told from the POV of both the main characters and you have no idea how thankful I am for it! It’s rare to find a YA Novel that talks about what both the characters are thinking and going through, because at least for me, it feels like I am getting to know only one half of the story and it makes me feel as if the book is incomplete even when it has ended.
Coming back to the book, we start when we meet Cara who is being told that she along with two other Valedictorians have been chosen to host the first alien exchange program with the planet of L’eihr! Exciting isn’t it? Not for her, but she bucks up, because the scholarship money would go a long way in helping her go to the college she wants. But her boyfriend and her best friend have other plans.
Aelyx, on the other hand, can be seen being absolutely unenthusiastic about being on Earth, despises humans, for their brutish behaviour and uncivilised manner. His friends Eron and Syrine, are also squeamish of their time on Earth.
Understandably, the two races are, wary of each other. Even with the L’eihr’s goodwill gesture of giving the people of Earth a cure for Cancer, did not go well with Earth (of course, humans became paranoid, believing that L’ehir would take over Earth before long! I mean typical, right?).
But Cara decides to make the best of it! Because L’ehir’s medicine helped her mother beat cancer. And also, she has decided to keep an open minded unlike most of the humans.
I understand why humans are scared. Intellectually, it’s easy to understand why. L’ehirs are advanced versions of humans, with better technology and survival skills. So, it’s kind of hard to figure why would they even require an alliance with what they perceive as ‘inferior race’?
For Aelyx and his friends, the same is true, ironically! They believe that an alliance with the Earth people, would end up destroying The Way and their planet! You can actually see their reasoning. Humans have almost destroyed their planet, and Aelyx and his colleagues believe that they would do the same to their beloved planet if the alliance goes through!
This was such a light and absolutely fun read! Reading only 20 pages a day was seriously the hardest thing I have had to do in a while (And I read more than most people :P)
This book though is a little slow, and for readers like me, who love fast paced books usually, should have been bothered by it! But was I? Nope. The slowness is absolutely perfect for this story. Two people, not only different in their upbringing but also in their DNA, need time to understand that their prejudices are biased and therefore, unfounded.
The characters are amazingly written and brought to life that it was impossible not to fall for them! Cara is someone I fell in love with at the start itself, and she just kept getting better and better and honestly I actually admired her by the end of the book. Aelyx, on the other hand, was a sweetheart! His inability to understand the Earth’s traditions, shouldn’t have been hilarious and adorable, but it definitely was.
I loved that this wasn’t an ‘insta-love’ story. I really hate that. This, emergence of Caelyx was absolutely perfect and so freaking adorable that someone like me who likes romance only to be peripheral to the story literaly fangirled! [Trust me, when you read this one, you will realise why! I would hate to give you spoilers ;)]
Ms. Landers has taken a story written with humor and given such subtle impressions of having a deeper meaning that until you are done with the book, you don’t realise how your thoughts might have changed!
The detailed review is up on my blog For The Love of Fictional Worlds now :)
The book is told from the POV of both the main characters and you have no idea how thankful I am for it! It’s rare to find a YA Novel that talks about what both the characters are thinking and going through, because at least for me, it feels like I am getting to know only one half of the story and it makes me feel as if the book is incomplete even when it has ended.
Coming back to the book, we start when we meet Cara who is being told that she along with two other Valedictorians have been chosen to host the first alien exchange program with the planet of L’eihr! Exciting isn’t it? Not for her, but she bucks up, because the scholarship money would go a long way in helping her go to the college she wants. But her boyfriend and her best friend have other plans.
Aelyx, on the other hand, can be seen being absolutely unenthusiastic about being on Earth, despises humans, for their brutish behaviour and uncivilised manner. His friends Eron and Syrine, are also squeamish of their time on Earth.
Understandably, the two races are, wary of each other. Even with the L’eihr’s goodwill gesture of giving the people of Earth a cure for Cancer, did not go well with Earth (of course, humans became paranoid, believing that L’ehir would take over Earth before long! I mean typical, right?).
But Cara decides to make the best of it! Because L’ehir’s medicine helped her mother beat cancer. And also, she has decided to keep an open minded unlike most of the humans.
I understand why humans are scared. Intellectually, it’s easy to understand why. L’ehirs are advanced versions of humans, with better technology and survival skills. So, it’s kind of hard to figure why would they even require an alliance with what they perceive as ‘inferior race’?
For Aelyx and his friends, the same is true, ironically! They believe that an alliance with the Earth people, would end up destroying The Way and their planet! You can actually see their reasoning. Humans have almost destroyed their planet, and Aelyx and his colleagues believe that they would do the same to their beloved planet if the alliance goes through!
This was such a light and absolutely fun read! Reading only 20 pages a day was seriously the hardest thing I have had to do in a while (And I read more than most people :P)
This book though is a little slow, and for readers like me, who love fast paced books usually, should have been bothered by it! But was I? Nope. The slowness is absolutely perfect for this story. Two people, not only different in their upbringing but also in their DNA, need time to understand that their prejudices are biased and therefore, unfounded.
The characters are amazingly written and brought to life that it was impossible not to fall for them! Cara is someone I fell in love with at the start itself, and she just kept getting better and better and honestly I actually admired her by the end of the book. Aelyx, on the other hand, was a sweetheart! His inability to understand the Earth’s traditions, shouldn’t have been hilarious and adorable, but it definitely was.
I loved that this wasn’t an ‘insta-love’ story. I really hate that. This, emergence of Caelyx was absolutely perfect and so freaking adorable that someone like me who likes romance only to be peripheral to the story literaly fangirled! [Trust me, when you read this one, you will realise why! I would hate to give you spoilers ;)]
Ms. Landers has taken a story written with humor and given such subtle impressions of having a deeper meaning that until you are done with the book, you don’t realise how your thoughts might have changed!