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lenoreo's review
3.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2018/12/09/valiant-by-merrie-destefano/
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
3 stars — OK, I know this is going to sound childish, but I’m not a fan of not knowing ahead of time if a book is going to be the first of a series or a standalone. Does it matter in the end? I suppose not. But I find if I think it’s a standalone (as I had with this one), as I get closer and closer to the end, I begin to panic wondering how it’s all going to get resolved in the end. The answer? It doesn’t. So for anyone else like me: this is the start of a series. Or at least, there is no resolution to the overall plot at the end.
So hmmmm…this one had potential, and there were definitely aspects that I enjoyed. But it also suffered from being a bit confusing in places (especially if you pay attention to details). In particular, the whole time travel aspect was confusing. OK, so this is her like 15th try…but how far back in time does she go for each do-over? Because she makes it sound like she’s been doing this forever, but the impression I get from the last jump is that she jumps in a day or two before the Valiant event. And she always fails, which means she doesn’t keep her brother alive until morning. So that’s like 15-30 days. The way Sara talks about it, it seems like years. It was just inconsistent.
And holy action Batman. I felt like we barely ever got any breathers. I like the breathers, b/c that’s when we get character development and all the things that are most important to me in a story. We got glimpses, but I’m not sure I could tell you who Sara was outside the context of the alien invasion.
And for all that happened, it also kind of felt like nothing happened. Just a lot of encounters with the Xua. We did learn things now and again, but it felt a bit repetitive in the end.
Gah. This is sounding so negative! It’s just that I got to the end of the story and I was so disappointed with my lack of answers, that I guess I’m focusing on that. I did enjoy the little bit of romance we got with Justin and Sara…Justin was super sweet. I did appreciate the strange futuristic world that was described, even if I was a bit disturbed with all the drugs and violence and gangs and stuff. And even though I didn’t learn nearly enough about them, I liked the range of secondary characters we got: Natalie, Justin, Gabe, Anna, and Carla.
Honestly, I couldn’t help but think of the Terminator through most of it. And in the end, I’m not sure I was sucked in enough to continue on and get answers. I’d need a more balanced story in order to invest.
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
3 stars — OK, I know this is going to sound childish, but I’m not a fan of not knowing ahead of time if a book is going to be the first of a series or a standalone. Does it matter in the end? I suppose not. But I find if I think it’s a standalone (as I had with this one), as I get closer and closer to the end, I begin to panic wondering how it’s all going to get resolved in the end. The answer? It doesn’t. So for anyone else like me: this is the start of a series. Or at least, there is no resolution to the overall plot at the end.
So hmmmm…this one had potential, and there were definitely aspects that I enjoyed. But it also suffered from being a bit confusing in places (especially if you pay attention to details). In particular, the whole time travel aspect was confusing. OK, so this is her like 15th try…but how far back in time does she go for each do-over? Because she makes it sound like she’s been doing this forever, but the impression I get from the last jump is that she jumps in a day or two before the Valiant event. And she always fails, which means she doesn’t keep her brother alive until morning. So that’s like 15-30 days. The way Sara talks about it, it seems like years. It was just inconsistent.
And holy action Batman. I felt like we barely ever got any breathers. I like the breathers, b/c that’s when we get character development and all the things that are most important to me in a story. We got glimpses, but I’m not sure I could tell you who Sara was outside the context of the alien invasion.
And for all that happened, it also kind of felt like nothing happened. Just a lot of encounters with the Xua. We did learn things now and again, but it felt a bit repetitive in the end.
Gah. This is sounding so negative! It’s just that I got to the end of the story and I was so disappointed with my lack of answers, that I guess I’m focusing on that. I did enjoy the little bit of romance we got with Justin and Sara…Justin was super sweet. I did appreciate the strange futuristic world that was described, even if I was a bit disturbed with all the drugs and violence and gangs and stuff. And even though I didn’t learn nearly enough about them, I liked the range of secondary characters we got: Natalie, Justin, Gabe, Anna, and Carla.
Honestly, I couldn’t help but think of the Terminator through most of it. And in the end, I’m not sure I was sucked in enough to continue on and get answers. I’d need a more balanced story in order to invest.
diamondxgirl's review
4.0
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted the next book in the series more than at the ending of Valiant!
The Valiant has taken off and - uh - the aliens have invaded. Much like the Apollo missions, the Valiant was intended to bring people together but all that was thwarted when silver-turn-smoke aliens pull an invasion of the body snatchers.
Protagonist Sara has the blessing of knowledge, now in charge of saving the world. But first, she has to save her brother, because saving her brother means saving the world.
After many attempts, she finally figures out the right methodology to save the world. Or does she?
What I loved most about Valiant was Sara’s sass. Even though the world is falling apart around her, her inner monologue constantly made me laugh. That and her swoony romance with Justin. Childhood friends to lovers - you have a good one here.
If you love action, romance, aliens, and teens saving the world, Valiant is the book for you!
The Valiant has taken off and - uh - the aliens have invaded. Much like the Apollo missions, the Valiant was intended to bring people together but all that was thwarted when silver-turn-smoke aliens pull an invasion of the body snatchers.
Protagonist Sara has the blessing of knowledge, now in charge of saving the world. But first, she has to save her brother, because saving her brother means saving the world.
After many attempts, she finally figures out the right methodology to save the world. Or does she?
What I loved most about Valiant was Sara’s sass. Even though the world is falling apart around her, her inner monologue constantly made me laugh. That and her swoony romance with Justin. Childhood friends to lovers - you have a good one here.
If you love action, romance, aliens, and teens saving the world, Valiant is the book for you!
luthereadingqueen's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Agh I'm so not sure about my rating for this book!
Because on the one hand, the sci-fi aspect, the writing and the overall atmosphere were magnificent. I loved how we got to experience time travel, aliens and new technology in a distopian sociaty. It truly was incredible, I felt like I was watching a movie in my head. And moreover, it had so many little details that made the story seem a lot more real and deep. For instance, how people would react to the end of the world, what would happen to the kids and how hard it would be to trust someone.
Also, the characters and their friendship were so endearing to read about. I adored them and how much they cared about one another, that was a group that would have gone to the moon and back to make sure everyone was safe. I do have to say that my favorite character was our main character's best friend, Natalie. She was the definition of loyalty and intelligence.
If it had been for all these reasons, this book would have been a 5 stars for me but the downside is that it's heavily romantic. The romance was okay for me, it's not like I hated it but compared to the other things going on it seemed uninteresting.
So I would be hooked in everything that was happening and then a romantic scene would pop up and I lost interest, therefore it lower my enjoyment of this book overall. In my opinion, everything would have been so much better without the romance or if the romance would have been more developed because I didn't fully understand their chemestry.
Then another detail that bother me a tiny bit but that wasn't as important as the romance aspect was that this is one of those books where adults are useless. Since the first chapter they are the first ones to disappear, every single adult which was super weird when I was reading about it. However, luckily the teenagers did feel like they were able to protect themselves, it's not like they were just lucky to survive, which was a nice addition.
All in all, this book has a great atmosphere, so unique and that will get you hooked as soon as you start reading. However, there is also a romance that took too much space in the book for me and it ended up affecting my enjoyment of it.
Agh I'm so not sure about my rating for this book!
Because on the one hand, the sci-fi aspect, the writing and the overall atmosphere were magnificent. I loved how we got to experience time travel, aliens and new technology in a distopian sociaty. It truly was incredible, I felt like I was watching a movie in my head. And moreover, it had so many little details that made the story seem a lot more real and deep. For instance, how people would react to the end of the world, what would happen to the kids and how hard it would be to trust someone.
Also, the characters and their friendship were so endearing to read about. I adored them and how much they cared about one another, that was a group that would have gone to the moon and back to make sure everyone was safe. I do have to say that my favorite character was our main character's best friend, Natalie. She was the definition of loyalty and intelligence.
If it had been for all these reasons, this book would have been a 5 stars for me but the downside is that it's heavily romantic. The romance was okay for me, it's not like I hated it but compared to the other things going on it seemed uninteresting.
So I would be hooked in everything that was happening and then a romantic scene would pop up and I lost interest, therefore it lower my enjoyment of this book overall. In my opinion, everything would have been so much better without the romance or if the romance would have been more developed because I didn't fully understand their chemestry.
Then another detail that bother me a tiny bit but that wasn't as important as the romance aspect was that this is one of those books where adults are useless. Since the first chapter they are the first ones to disappear, every single adult which was super weird when I was reading about it. However, luckily the teenagers did feel like they were able to protect themselves, it's not like they were just lucky to survive, which was a nice addition.
All in all, this book has a great atmosphere, so unique and that will get you hooked as soon as you start reading. However, there is also a romance that took too much space in the book for me and it ended up affecting my enjoyment of it.
adancewithbooks's review
1.0
Thank you to netgalley and Entangled Teen for the review copy in exchange for an honest review
A book with a gorgeous cover and an interesting plot where we need to save one person that will save us all. I love those kinds of plots. Unfortunately I did not get a whole lot more from this book than this. I rarely rate books 1 star, and it feels harsh, but I didn’t enjoy any part of this book and I would be lying if I did. I only finished this as it is an arc and it was only 160 pages on my ereader.
The book starts us off with a prologue where our main character Sara, tells us about the invasion, about being contacted by one of the aliens who is in the resistance and how she accepts his help to save her brother. She went through 14 time travels where she failed. Than we get thrown into the story.
At that point I became confused because we got so little on the world building. This story is set in our future and apparently we are doing pretty bad because of another depression. But I’d like a bit more than that. There are also all kinds of technology that get thrown at us and that doesn’t really get explained all that well. Like skintags. I have no grasp on this future of us and since it isn’t too far into the future you’d think filling in the blanks for us wouldn’t be so hard.
The valiant, the ship that goes that launches on the day of the invasion, apparently triggers the invasion. How? Why? No answers. We know nothing of the Valiant except that it launched. But it is the title of the book… Why does Sara’s brother need to be saved? Where is the rest of the resistance? What does the Xua want? What did we do that they want to kills us all? How does the time travelling work? I have so many questions and I got answers to none of them.
Adding onto that, I don’t think the writing was stellar. There is a lot of tell and no show, the whole prologue being a prime example of that. It tries to be action packed but I was bored throughout reading the entire book. Romance also takes a bit of a centre stage but there was no real chemistry on the page. I didn’t care for any of the characters because they were so flat.
I could go on but this book needs a LOT of work to work. However I will say that I seem to be the odd one out here and there are a lot of positive reviews for this book on goodreads.
A book with a gorgeous cover and an interesting plot where we need to save one person that will save us all. I love those kinds of plots. Unfortunately I did not get a whole lot more from this book than this. I rarely rate books 1 star, and it feels harsh, but I didn’t enjoy any part of this book and I would be lying if I did. I only finished this as it is an arc and it was only 160 pages on my ereader.
The book starts us off with a prologue where our main character Sara, tells us about the invasion, about being contacted by one of the aliens who is in the resistance and how she accepts his help to save her brother. She went through 14 time travels where she failed. Than we get thrown into the story.
At that point I became confused because we got so little on the world building. This story is set in our future and apparently we are doing pretty bad because of another depression. But I’d like a bit more than that. There are also all kinds of technology that get thrown at us and that doesn’t really get explained all that well. Like skintags. I have no grasp on this future of us and since it isn’t too far into the future you’d think filling in the blanks for us wouldn’t be so hard.
The valiant, the ship that goes that launches on the day of the invasion, apparently triggers the invasion. How? Why? No answers. We know nothing of the Valiant except that it launched. But it is the title of the book… Why does Sara’s brother need to be saved? Where is the rest of the resistance? What does the Xua want? What did we do that they want to kills us all? How does the time travelling work? I have so many questions and I got answers to none of them.
Adding onto that, I don’t think the writing was stellar. There is a lot of tell and no show, the whole prologue being a prime example of that. It tries to be action packed but I was bored throughout reading the entire book. Romance also takes a bit of a centre stage but there was no real chemistry on the page. I didn’t care for any of the characters because they were so flat.
I could go on but this book needs a LOT of work to work. However I will say that I seem to be the odd one out here and there are a lot of positive reviews for this book on goodreads.
acocab_blog's review
3.0
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
“The earth, the moon, the stars, they all stay the same. But we don’t. We change.”
Valiant is a fast-paced novel with non-stop action scenes and horrifying creatures. The readers follow Sara and her friends on their death-defying journey to keep Sara’s younger brother, Gabe, safe from the Xua. The Xua want him for an unknown reason, so Sara and her friends kick some alien butt to keep him safe. The bond between Sara and Gabe was one of my favorite things about this book. I have an older brother and, though Sara’s brother is younger, I would do the same thing if something like this were to happen. I’d protect him and my family at all costs, and I know he would do the same. So, I really liked their relationship and, of course, the exhilarating action scenes.
“And then, I hear the call of death as this planet pulls me onward, toward ashes and fire and a roaring wind that will never stop blowing. I part my lips, and centuries of death pour out. An entire civilization is dying in this moment.”
Anyone that knows me knows that I love a good action scene. Valiant had a ton of phenomenal action scenes; it was action scene after action scene. The action scenes are what really kept my interest. They are so well described and intricate, that I was looking forward to all the chaos the friend group would get into. I especially enjoyed the scenes with the Xua, the alien species. The Xua are interesting and utterly creepy, considering they have the ability to possess human bodies through the mouth. Once a human is taken over by a Xua, that’s it. You’re done for, and there’s no coming back. That, in itself, is scary, so it definitely makes for some good action scenes, as people try to prevent the Xua from possessing them.
“At this moment, I am anything but valiant. I am weak and pitiful and ashamed and broken and defeated.”
Thought I did like the aspect of this book and the action-packed scenes, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, more so Sara and her friends and not Sara’s relationship with her brother. By the end of the book, I had no care for the characters. The story, yes. But the characters did not leave a lasting effect on me. By the middle of the story, I couldn’t care less if a character died or if something bad happened. And that’s not what I wanted to feel. I wanted to connect with these characters; I wanted to feel their pain and their sorrows. But I couldn’t, and I hate saying that. This may not be the case for everyone that reads Valiant, but it was for me. And even though there were some amazing descriptions, I still could not connect. I would love to see more character development in the second book, which I do plan on reading.
But overall, this was not a bad book. I did enjoy the unique storyline, some of the witty banter, and the fascinating history surrounding the Xua. Even though the characters were not really for me, I do want to continue the story, especially with THAT ending.
Do I recommend? Yes, especially for those readers that love plot-driven and action-packed stories.
Valiant lands in bookstores December 4, 2018.
Thank you to the publishing company for sending an advanced e-copy for me to read and write an honest review! All quotes are from the advanced e-copy and may not appear in the final novel.
“The earth, the moon, the stars, they all stay the same. But we don’t. We change.”
Valiant is a fast-paced novel with non-stop action scenes and horrifying creatures. The readers follow Sara and her friends on their death-defying journey to keep Sara’s younger brother, Gabe, safe from the Xua. The Xua want him for an unknown reason, so Sara and her friends kick some alien butt to keep him safe. The bond between Sara and Gabe was one of my favorite things about this book. I have an older brother and, though Sara’s brother is younger, I would do the same thing if something like this were to happen. I’d protect him and my family at all costs, and I know he would do the same. So, I really liked their relationship and, of course, the exhilarating action scenes.
“And then, I hear the call of death as this planet pulls me onward, toward ashes and fire and a roaring wind that will never stop blowing. I part my lips, and centuries of death pour out. An entire civilization is dying in this moment.”
Anyone that knows me knows that I love a good action scene. Valiant had a ton of phenomenal action scenes; it was action scene after action scene. The action scenes are what really kept my interest. They are so well described and intricate, that I was looking forward to all the chaos the friend group would get into. I especially enjoyed the scenes with the Xua, the alien species. The Xua are interesting and utterly creepy, considering they have the ability to possess human bodies through the mouth. Once a human is taken over by a Xua, that’s it. You’re done for, and there’s no coming back. That, in itself, is scary, so it definitely makes for some good action scenes, as people try to prevent the Xua from possessing them.
“At this moment, I am anything but valiant. I am weak and pitiful and ashamed and broken and defeated.”
Thought I did like the aspect of this book and the action-packed scenes, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, more so Sara and her friends and not Sara’s relationship with her brother. By the end of the book, I had no care for the characters. The story, yes. But the characters did not leave a lasting effect on me. By the middle of the story, I couldn’t care less if a character died or if something bad happened. And that’s not what I wanted to feel. I wanted to connect with these characters; I wanted to feel their pain and their sorrows. But I couldn’t, and I hate saying that. This may not be the case for everyone that reads Valiant, but it was for me. And even though there were some amazing descriptions, I still could not connect. I would love to see more character development in the second book, which I do plan on reading.
But overall, this was not a bad book. I did enjoy the unique storyline, some of the witty banter, and the fascinating history surrounding the Xua. Even though the characters were not really for me, I do want to continue the story, especially with THAT ending.
Do I recommend? Yes, especially for those readers that love plot-driven and action-packed stories.
Valiant lands in bookstores December 4, 2018.
Thank you to the publishing company for sending an advanced e-copy for me to read and write an honest review! All quotes are from the advanced e-copy and may not appear in the final novel.
insearchofanook's review
3.0
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for honest feedback. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing.
The Valiant rocket launches into space in order to look for resources to save a struggling Earth. But at the same time, an alien invasion begins. A teenage girl named Sara discovers that her younger brother is key to the invasion somehow, and recruits her friends to do everything they can to try and protect him.
The beginning of this book felt very rushed. So much happens in the first few pages that I felt like it could have been a whole book in itself. You just hit the ground running. As a result, there is very little context given for the characters and the state of the world. We do get a bit more of this as the story progresses, but I still think it moved too quickly through the exposition. It was also difficult to keep up with, as the plot contains aliens, time travel, portals, military conspiracies, romance, and more. I felt that maybe explanations and descriptions could have been richer if there had been fewer of these elements.
It was very fast-paced and readable. I was gripped, and the cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more. Perhaps there will be a sequel with more explanation and world-building. I liked the strong female characters. Sara, Natalie and Carla are brave, resourceful and kick a lot of alien butt. I also liked that a sibling relationship was one of the main driving forces of the plot. If you enjoy action-packed YA science fiction, then I would recommend this book for you.
The Valiant rocket launches into space in order to look for resources to save a struggling Earth. But at the same time, an alien invasion begins. A teenage girl named Sara discovers that her younger brother is key to the invasion somehow, and recruits her friends to do everything they can to try and protect him.
The beginning of this book felt very rushed. So much happens in the first few pages that I felt like it could have been a whole book in itself. You just hit the ground running. As a result, there is very little context given for the characters and the state of the world. We do get a bit more of this as the story progresses, but I still think it moved too quickly through the exposition. It was also difficult to keep up with, as the plot contains aliens, time travel, portals, military conspiracies, romance, and more. I felt that maybe explanations and descriptions could have been richer if there had been fewer of these elements.
It was very fast-paced and readable. I was gripped, and the cliffhanger ending definitely left me wanting more. Perhaps there will be a sequel with more explanation and world-building. I liked the strong female characters. Sara, Natalie and Carla are brave, resourceful and kick a lot of alien butt. I also liked that a sibling relationship was one of the main driving forces of the plot. If you enjoy action-packed YA science fiction, then I would recommend this book for you.
theartisangeek's review
1.0
25/12/18
Well this was quite disappointing.
24/3/19
I had written and filmed my review for this book in January and just lost interest in editing, because I felt I was wasting time on a book I really did not care for. I am posted the redacted version of my main review here:
Valiant is about a girl called Sara who lives in America in the near future. There has been another Depression and now the US has decided to launch space craft called Valiant and make a trip to Titan, which is the largest moon of Saturn, to essentially harvest resources. The only problem is that right after the ships depart a bunch of aliens called Xua (Show) arrive on the earth and start killing them. Xua can morph themselves into smoke and essentially posses a human being by entering their body via their mouth, making them very effective at killing humans. As the aliens attack Sara is contacted by one of the them who is part of a resistance group. He tells her that earth can be saved if she manages to save her brother Gabe, and so she learns how to time travel in order to protect her brother during the alien attack.
To give a quick concise answer as to why I did not enjoy this book, for me the pacing was way too fast, there were too many things happening and as a result of this a lot was left unexplained, and many events did not get the time I that they deserved.
The first thing that put me off was actually the way the book started. It commences at the point where the Valiant takes off and the aliens start attacking. It is absolute and utter chaos and the pacing was incredibly fast. The start therefore was very abrupt, even so that I thought I was actually reading a sequel, and so it was really hard for me to get into the story.
The description of the aliens was rather poor in my opinion, at the beginning it is said that they are shiny, silvery and as far as I know, that was it. It wasn't until a good 100 pages or more that they are described as humanoid.
The world building wasn’t there either and I feel that was necessary, definitely when you’re dealing with a story that is set in the future and contains extraterrestrial. A lot of times it was just descriptions of bodies lying on the floor.
Having said that the character development wasn't there either, I would not know how to really describe any character elaborately. Sara's best friend was the techie, this guy Billy was the chameleon, Gabe had the little brother role and her love interest Jesse was Frankenstein's monster. Even though Sara was telling the story, I still felt she was only defined by her quest to save her brother and the romance she had with Jesse. Although I was happy to see that this wasn't insta love, I felt it was rather redundant and it would have served the story better to use that time to develop more of the characters.
So much was left unexplained or explained at a time that was too late or poorly and I'll go over some of the main things I had an issue with.
- It is said at the beginning that the Valiant launch caused the alien attack, but for the most part of the book it isn't described as to why this was the case. The is brushed over quickly later on by saying that the Xua were on Titan before the humans came and so they attacked.
- The communication devices weren't explained. The book keeps mentioning skin sites, but doesn't take the time to clearly explain what it is and how it works.
- At some point Sara get trampled by a man with metal enhancements such as spikes. She blacks out and is brought to safety by her friends, at the moment of impact she talks about the excruciating pain, but after she wakes up it is never discussed.
- The whole skin site devices were confusing, it was never explained how these worked precisely.
To give an example of what I meant by the book going fast was when Gabe skin sites breaks causing an infection and it has to get removed by a doctor, because it is imbedded in brain, I'm not sure it had something to do with dendrites. This whole events which should have been quite serious as it could have killed him and it is described in two pages and no one every mentions it or for that matter the aftermath that is Gabe's recovery.
I also didn't like the end, there was no conclusion. It definitely intended to leave space for a sequel, which is not a bad thing, but the arch just didn't come to a satisfying closer in my opinion. I didn't have the feeling that of having received a pay off so to speak, and so I was disappointed.
Despite all of this I definitely felt that this story had potential, otherwise I would not have bought the book. There was just too much going on, and I feel that if things were more spaced out I would have liked it a whole lot more.
Well this was quite disappointing.
24/3/19
I had written and filmed my review for this book in January and just lost interest in editing, because I felt I was wasting time on a book I really did not care for. I am posted the redacted version of my main review here:
Valiant is about a girl called Sara who lives in America in the near future. There has been another Depression and now the US has decided to launch space craft called Valiant and make a trip to Titan, which is the largest moon of Saturn, to essentially harvest resources. The only problem is that right after the ships depart a bunch of aliens called Xua (Show) arrive on the earth and start killing them. Xua can morph themselves into smoke and essentially posses a human being by entering their body via their mouth, making them very effective at killing humans. As the aliens attack Sara is contacted by one of the them who is part of a resistance group. He tells her that earth can be saved if she manages to save her brother Gabe, and so she learns how to time travel in order to protect her brother during the alien attack.
To give a quick concise answer as to why I did not enjoy this book, for me the pacing was way too fast, there were too many things happening and as a result of this a lot was left unexplained, and many events did not get the time I that they deserved.
The first thing that put me off was actually the way the book started. It commences at the point where the Valiant takes off and the aliens start attacking. It is absolute and utter chaos and the pacing was incredibly fast. The start therefore was very abrupt, even so that I thought I was actually reading a sequel, and so it was really hard for me to get into the story.
The description of the aliens was rather poor in my opinion, at the beginning it is said that they are shiny, silvery and as far as I know, that was it. It wasn't until a good 100 pages or more that they are described as humanoid.
The world building wasn’t there either and I feel that was necessary, definitely when you’re dealing with a story that is set in the future and contains extraterrestrial. A lot of times it was just descriptions of bodies lying on the floor.
Having said that the character development wasn't there either, I would not know how to really describe any character elaborately. Sara's best friend was the techie, this guy Billy was the chameleon, Gabe had the little brother role and her love interest Jesse was Frankenstein's monster. Even though Sara was telling the story, I still felt she was only defined by her quest to save her brother and the romance she had with Jesse. Although I was happy to see that this wasn't insta love, I felt it was rather redundant and it would have served the story better to use that time to develop more of the characters.
So much was left unexplained or explained at a time that was too late or poorly and I'll go over some of the main things I had an issue with.
- It is said at the beginning that the Valiant launch caused the alien attack, but for the most part of the book it isn't described as to why this was the case. The is brushed over quickly later on by saying that the Xua were on Titan before the humans came and so they attacked.
- The communication devices weren't explained. The book keeps mentioning skin sites, but doesn't take the time to clearly explain what it is and how it works.
- At some point Sara get trampled by a man with metal enhancements such as spikes. She blacks out and is brought to safety by her friends, at the moment of impact she talks about the excruciating pain, but after she wakes up it is never discussed.
- The whole skin site devices were confusing, it was never explained how these worked precisely.
To give an example of what I meant by the book going fast was when Gabe skin sites breaks causing an infection and it has to get removed by a doctor, because it is imbedded in brain, I'm not sure it had something to do with dendrites. This whole events which should have been quite serious as it could have killed him and it is described in two pages and no one every mentions it or for that matter the aftermath that is Gabe's recovery.
I also didn't like the end, there was no conclusion. It definitely intended to leave space for a sequel, which is not a bad thing, but the arch just didn't come to a satisfying closer in my opinion. I didn't have the feeling that of having received a pay off so to speak, and so I was disappointed.
Despite all of this I definitely felt that this story had potential, otherwise I would not have bought the book. There was just too much going on, and I feel that if things were more spaced out I would have liked it a whole lot more.
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