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A review by graculus
Annex by Rich Larson
5.0
I've been a fan of Rich Larson's short stories for a while, so I was pleased to see he'd written a novel, even if it's always a bit uncertain whether writing the kind of shorter fiction I enjoy translates over to the longer form. Anyway, I'm pleased to report that I really enjoyed Annex and look forward to both the next in the series and whatever else this author puts out.
In some ways this was an even harder sell for me, since I'm not a massive fan of post-apocalyptic novels and that's the premise of Annex - in this case, it's not nuclear war or something home-grown that's the problem, it's alien invasion. This invasion is centred on one particular, unnamed city, home to our main protagonists, Violet and Bo. The aliens concerned have implanted technology in all the adults that makes them live in semi-dream states, unaware of what's going on around them, while the children were used as hosts for Parasites that allow the manipulation of energy.
We first meet Violet when she's raiding a pharmacy, while Bo is escaping from the warehouse where the majority of the children are being kept, desperately searching for his older sister. Both become part of a group of children led by the psychopathic Wyatt, encouraged by him to destroy any vestige of the aliens, with a special focus on the extremely creepy 'othermothers', simulacra of their parents designed to try and lure the children back into drug-addled captivity.
As the story unfolds, Violet learns from bitter experience that Wyatt is not as accepting of her as she wants him to be, while Bo and Violet also undertake an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Lia, Bo's sister. This brings them into contact with a different kind of alien, on the basis that the enemy of my enemy is my friend - while Gloom's motives are questionable, he's clearly much more trustworthy than at least one of their fellow Lost Boys.
I really enjoyed Annex, which kept my attention all the way through and avoided clichés along the way. I'm really looking forward to picking up the next book in the series ([b:Cypher|42779064|Cypher (The Violet Wars #2)|Rich Larson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1548604462s/42779064.jpg|66538281]), which has Violet and Bo on the run with their alien friend and is due out in December.
In some ways this was an even harder sell for me, since I'm not a massive fan of post-apocalyptic novels and that's the premise of Annex - in this case, it's not nuclear war or something home-grown that's the problem, it's alien invasion. This invasion is centred on one particular, unnamed city, home to our main protagonists, Violet and Bo. The aliens concerned have implanted technology in all the adults that makes them live in semi-dream states, unaware of what's going on around them, while the children were used as hosts for Parasites that allow the manipulation of energy.
We first meet Violet when she's raiding a pharmacy, while Bo is escaping from the warehouse where the majority of the children are being kept, desperately searching for his older sister. Both become part of a group of children led by the psychopathic Wyatt, encouraged by him to destroy any vestige of the aliens, with a special focus on the extremely creepy 'othermothers', simulacra of their parents designed to try and lure the children back into drug-addled captivity.
As the story unfolds, Violet learns from bitter experience that Wyatt is not as accepting of her as she wants him to be, while Bo and Violet also undertake an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Lia, Bo's sister. This brings them into contact with a different kind of alien, on the basis that the enemy of my enemy is my friend - while Gloom's motives are questionable, he's clearly much more trustworthy than at least one of their fellow Lost Boys.
I really enjoyed Annex, which kept my attention all the way through and avoided clichés along the way. I'm really looking forward to picking up the next book in the series ([b:Cypher|42779064|Cypher (The Violet Wars #2)|Rich Larson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1548604462s/42779064.jpg|66538281]), which has Violet and Bo on the run with their alien friend and is due out in December.