Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.
He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.
But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public?
Vowing to uncover truth, Colt is drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible getaways. (From Amazon.com)
Invasion, I have to admit, is a book like few others. It takes comic-book fiction and makes it reality. That brings both pros and cons with it, but it definitely makes it a speculative and fairly original novel.
There were, however, several things that bugged me about this book. The first is probably unique to intense perfectionist writers (namely, me): the writing quality really, really bothered me. If I didn't pay any attention to it, I could immerse myself into the story, but there were times where it jerked me out of the story. Jerky dialogue beats, slightly forced dialogue, telling; stuff like that.
Another was the "con" side of comic-book fiction. There were many times where it got cheesy and lost the illusion of reality. Hitler's army, for instance, was actually made of aliens and robots and men from earth.
Say that again?
There were convenient clean-up crews for the mini-battles that kept cropping up as well. And Colt's grandpa...well, if you read the book, you'll see.
Since I'm not into comic books, it might just be me. But who knows.
On the other hand, this was a quick and fun read. There's no bad content, no cursing, and a fairly quick plot. Easy to read, and lots of action on the side.
The characters, while not entirely fleshed out, were good enough to move the story along. The dialogue, likewise, was often clever and funny. I had a few moments were I actually laughed. (Which doesn't often happen in novels.)
There was plenty of car chases and jet pack fights and secret organizations and whatnot to keep the plot going fast and the pages turning.
And though the list of "cons" was longer than my praises of this book, I think that the good outweighs my minor quibbles, in this case. It's a good read. If you're not as picky as I am, maybe it'll be your next favorite book!
Rated 7.5 out of 10. (Four stars)
(I received this book for free from the Booksneeze program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.)
I liked this book because I needed something exciting. I didn't find anything cheesy, but it might just be me...
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