Just like Mommy Mondays, Fiction Fridays is my way of dividing topics up. Fiction Fridays will be the days I talk about writing stuff. I’ll do book reviews, share some of what I’m writing, talk about writing stuff in general. Anything books or writing will be on Fridays. Today, I’m writing a review of Invasion.
Invasion by Jon S. Lewis is a Christian novel for young adults. It’s a sci-fi novel and I was supposed to review it back in November because the second book in the series was coming out in January. So I’m way late, but that seems to be my way when it comes to book reviews.
I got this book as an ebook, and I had it all set up to read using the Kindle app on my computer. In January, when I hadn’t managed to make it more than about 20 pages, I decided I needed to figure out how to get it onto my phone. I just don’t spend enough time on my computer to read books there. So, I managed to get it onto my phone and that helped a lot. And then, we got our tax refund and I got a Kindle and that sped things up even more. Maybe it’ll even mean the end of my lateness as a reviewer. I actually finished this one back in early February. Just in time to get hit by massive VBS work.
Anyhow, on to the review.
I want to start off by saying that I did enjoy this book. The point where it gripped me and wouldn’t let go came pretty late. That’s generally how I judge the goodness of a book. How fast the hooks dig in and I can’t stop reading. With this one, it was somewhere around Chapter 45 or so, out of 57. So, not the greatest in terms of excitement.
I feel as though this book made promises that it didn’t keep. The first six chapters followed the main character through a series of training exercises designed to test candidates for recruitment into a top secret government thing. As I read them, I was expecting a novel about a kid who gets recruited and ends up facing foes he never imagined existed. Instead, the next 20 chapters or so were about the kid (whose memory was wiped after the training exercises) losing his parents and relocating to a new city and school where he lived with his grandfather.
Yes, eventually we got back to the foes he hadn’t imagined, but it was slow going and there was a lot of weird teen awkwardness between the two parts. And he didn’t get recruited into anything during the book. So I felt like that entire first 6 chapters was a little bit of a rip-off.
Book two should live up to that initial promise, but the first book did not. And because of that, I feel as though the first book might have been better without that first six chapters. They took some of the mystery out of what came later, and they didn’t really go along with the bulk of the book.
As far as the rest of the book, it was a good premise. Very interesting. And I sort of liked that the main characters were all comic book nerds. I have an affinity for nerdiness. And the bad guys were pretty bad. So once the action started, things were adequately intense.
As a young adult novel, though, I’m now sure how much success this novel can have. Young adults are notorious for needing constant plot movement and there were some very slow parts.
With all that said, I plan to get my hands on book two. A series shouldn’t really depend on later books to make it good. But the end of this one really made me look forward to the next one. So it’s not spectacular, but it’s good enough to give it a shot if you’re into sci-fi.
Disclosure: As mentioned, I received this book for free in exchange for a review. My opinion was not influenced by the free product and this review is an accurate reflection of how I feel. Also, links to the book are my affiliate links. Using those links will not change the price of the book, but I will receive a small commission. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you what my share is, but I’d be super appreciative if you’d use them if you’re interested in the book.
