Scan barcode
oldmantito's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
linmeih's review
Did not even open the book, I just knew I wasn't going to read it.
apatrick's review against another edition
Bailed. It was funny, but the plot was going nowhere.
nesdy's review against another edition
1.0
This took me a long time to finish because I didn't like any of it. It's supposed to be satire, but I didn't find it humorous or funny in any way. Some of the messages the author wants to transmit I find absurd and disagree with completely. There's not much of a plot. The messages don't come from the story/the humour: the author stops the narration to tell you directly everything that he thinks. I don't think this is a well-written book at all.
tgv's review
1.0
Too shallow, too slow.
The premise of the book is fun, and it starts out as an action-packed story. The idea of making it composed of different sources describing the same events is also good.
Unfortunately, both fall flat. The different sources (concurrent news papers, diaries, and reports and a book written afterwards) are all very similar in style, and don't break the chronology, and hardly change the viewpoint. It's all the same.
The plot turns out to be a pretext by the author to lecture his audience. He looks down upon humanity through the hyperintelligent aliens' continuous stream of remarks that are irrelevant to the story: the greenhouse effect, capitalism, discrimination, warfare, everything is briefly sneered at by beings with IQs way off the scale, who then only manage come off as carefree Buddhists that like to virtue-signal. A lot. And we know it's the author, because he repeats it when changing point of view. Unfortunately, the author's IQ is not 660, for then he would have known how boring all this gets.
The action and style also get boring. The author has tried to put in as many elements he dislikes as he could, and that means we've got to read about bankers, journalists, cable tv, FBI, CIA, NSA, US politicians, ISIL, and more, and in order to name them in context, the plot has been sacrificed. The reader has to witness pointless excursions and actions that have been written in such a haste that it would leave a child wondering about the why and how. E.g., at one point the protagonist and his family are chased by some three letter agency, the next moment they are in their home for two weeks without anything happening. And they all, including the small child, magically can scuba dive without making a noise.
All that makes this book nothing like the cover blurb promises. It is not fresh, nor smart, and certainly not very, very funny. Yes, it has some good one-liners, but there comes a point where witticisms become a nuisance. For this book, that is around midway. Had the author cut 50%, it might have been fun, but like this it's only suitable for people that need their convictions confirmed by cartoon characters.
The premise of the book is fun, and it starts out as an action-packed story. The idea of making it composed of different sources describing the same events is also good.
Unfortunately, both fall flat. The different sources (concurrent news papers, diaries, and reports and a book written afterwards) are all very similar in style, and don't break the chronology, and hardly change the viewpoint. It's all the same.
The plot turns out to be a pretext by the author to lecture his audience. He looks down upon humanity through the hyperintelligent aliens' continuous stream of remarks that are irrelevant to the story: the greenhouse effect, capitalism, discrimination, warfare, everything is briefly sneered at by beings with IQs way off the scale, who then only manage come off as carefree Buddhists that like to virtue-signal. A lot. And we know it's the author, because he repeats it when changing point of view. Unfortunately, the author's IQ is not 660, for then he would have known how boring all this gets.
The action and style also get boring. The author has tried to put in as many elements he dislikes as he could, and that means we've got to read about bankers, journalists, cable tv, FBI, CIA, NSA, US politicians, ISIL, and more, and in order to name them in context, the plot has been sacrificed. The reader has to witness pointless excursions and actions that have been written in such a haste that it would leave a child wondering about the why and how. E.g., at one point the protagonist and his family are chased by some three letter agency, the next moment they are in their home for two weeks without anything happening. And they all, including the small child, magically can scuba dive without making a noise.
All that makes this book nothing like the cover blurb promises. It is not fresh, nor smart, and certainly not very, very funny. Yes, it has some good one-liners, but there comes a point where witticisms become a nuisance. For this book, that is around midway. Had the author cut 50%, it might have been fun, but like this it's only suitable for people that need their convictions confirmed by cartoon characters.
elna17a9a's review against another edition
3.0
Funny and light, Invasion does drag a little in its length. There are definitely some parts that are extraneous or could have been edited down a little. Though I am of the political and social leanings that Rhinehart apparently is (or at least his FFs and main characters are), he does hit his points a little hard and I wouldn't recommend this for someone with opposing views.
There was one issue that bothered me throughout the novel, however. I usually don't notice this kind of stuff, but Rhinehart's female characters are extremely lacking. There's absolutely no reason for Carlita to be 25 years younger than Billy (except for weird male wish fulfillment, I suspect), and Karen serves no purpose other thanto become pregnant at the end of the novel . These are the only two main female characters in the novel, and they only once interact. Before that, I'm not sure if they're ever even in the same room. They were just there for Billy to ogle at, which is gross and an attitude we should have moved beyond by now.
There was one issue that bothered me throughout the novel, however. I usually don't notice this kind of stuff, but Rhinehart's female characters are extremely lacking. There's absolutely no reason for Carlita to be 25 years younger than Billy (except for weird male wish fulfillment, I suspect), and Karen serves no purpose other than
robholden111's review against another edition
4.0
If you like to have fun, then this book is for you. Outrageously quirky and told with an ingeniously carefree attitude.
More...