A review by bsparks2112
Annex by Rich Larson

2.0

This one didn't do much for me, unfortunately. Something about the prose style or the story beats just didn't click, despite having a lot of elements that I would normally be all for. The setting and backstory is intriguing, and it was fun learning more details about what the aliens were capable of, but it could have benefited from some deeper exploration to give the story's events more context. Likewise with the characters: Violet and Bo are both intriguing protagonists, with the inclusive nature of their identities being a definite plus (having your two main characters in an alien invasion story be a trans girl and a Nigerian immigrant boy is a breath of fresh air, to say the least), but while there are hints of emotionally complex and engaging backstories for both of them, it felt like the book basically just skimmed the surface on their inner lives. Some of the ideas are fresh, but it falls into some sort of trope-y habits involving superpowered kid protagonists that struck me as kind of lackluster. I will say that if I had come across this as a younger reader, closer in age to the protagonists, I probably would have liked it a lot more; as it is, though, it wasn't my thing.