Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

Fourteen year-old Tom Raines has led a rather unconventional life. His father Neil is a gambler who drifts from casino to casino in the hopes of winning enough to quit this life-style. Tom knows better. His mother has already deserted them. His dad’s drinking is clearly interfering with his judgment. The only one making any money is Tom- an ace at virtual reality gaming.

When Tom meets Heather in his virtual school- Rosewood Reformatory Sim- he can’t believe his good fortune. Heather invites Tom to a video chat the next day. She coyly says, “What network address will you be at tomorrow, Tom?” Little does Tom realize that Heather will share the network address with General Terry Marsh who has been trying to track down Tom to become part of the military.

World War III is being waged. Combatants control drones remotely. As General Marsh explains to Tom, “But the Russo-Chinese military went a step further and gave human beings active control over their combat machines. Strategists. Unconventional thinkers. Risk takers. Mavericks. Young ones because teenagers have certain attributes critical to this type of warfare. So now we too have young people on the front lines, young people playing a critical role in the war effort.”

Neil grudgingly signed the papers that allow Tom to travel with General Marsh to the Pentagonal Spire. But the general hasn’t been completely forthcoming. Neural processors are installed in all plebs (young military recruits). If Tom goes along with General Marsh’s plans, will he ever be the same? The chance is too great to take.

Tom begins to back away when suddenly Heather appears wearing the insignia of the intrasolar fighters.

What will Tom decide to do?  Will this be the biggest gamble of his life?

These Broken Stars by Annie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Imagine the newest, fanciest, luxury spaceliner to come out of orbital docks!  Icarus is so massive it has been compared to the size of a large city. With over 50,000 souls on board, it is the best spaceship in the universe. Created by the wealthiest man in the entire universe, Roderick LaRoux, it has decks for the privileged class, lower decks for military and service decks.

Major Tarver Merendsen would never have had the privilege of seeing the upper, elite deck if he wasn’t being honored for his heroism.

Nothing about the upper deck is real—the smells, the views, the people who populate the deck with their redone faces and bodies. It has all been created to appear perfect. The string quartet is really a hologram! The hover trays deliver food or drink as you summon them.

Tarver sees a beautiful redhead--a real knockout! But he can’t place her. Her face is so familiar. Later he realizes that she is Lilac LaRoux, the only child of Roderick. Tarver is smart enough to know that he has no right to pursue such a woman. He is low born, a military man—not suitable for the class of society to which Lilac has been born.

In a cruel twist of fate, the two star crossed lovers are the only survivors from the crash of the Icarus. How will they begin to trust each other in order to survive the terraformed planet upon which they have crashed?

I especially liked how each chapter was preceded with the interrogation of Tarver Merendsen. The story unfolds as each character, Lilac and Tarver, tell the story of their exploration of the planet, the discovery of the wreck of Icarus and their unfolding relationship.

If you like science fiction, don’t miss this first book of a planned three part series.

 

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

“The First rule of surviving the 4^th wave is don’t trust anyone anymore. It doesn’t matter what they look like. The Others are very smart about everything. In the 4^th Wave, you can’t trust that people are still people. But you can trust that your gun is still your gun.”

In Cassie’s world she has only her father and her younger brother Sammy left alive. Her mother has passed away due to what has been known as the Red plague. Each successive wave of the alien invasion of earth has brought mass death. The 3^rd Wave took 3.5 billion people. The Others are truly ingenious in their design to inhabit the Earth.

When Cassie’s father and Sammy are separated, she must fend for herself. If she is lucky to find “humans alive, can she trust that they are human- even though they look like they are?

This is a fast paced book- not for the faint of heart. I would only recommend this book to mature, advanced readers. Warning- it may give you nightmares!

 

The Whisper by Emma Clayton

The sequel to The Roar by Emma Clayton gets its title from the underground children’s movement to avoid war yet free all the people behind the Wall who have suffered severe deprivation for years.

Twins Mika and Ellie’s combine strength when they unite to fight government’s plans (The Northern Government) to bring some type of peace between the World Conservation Club and their own pitiful society.

Genghi borgs, Berserker borgs, replicating cubes, form formidable defenses at The Wall.  Will the thousands of twelve-year-old children trained to fight by their Northern Government really bring about a peaceful world?

Read The Whisper to see if they succeed!

The Rise of Nine by Pittace Lore

Book three in the popular series I am Number Four will absolutely delight science fiction fans! When numbers Six, Eight, & Ten join together, their mission to unite with the other surviving members in order to kill Setrákus Ra becomes all consuming.  Number Four unites with Number Nine.

The most evil of the Mogadorians, their leader Setrákus Ra, appears once again!  His transformational abilities make him nearly impossible to kill.  Readers will be shocked at the different personalities he transforms into! How devious he is!

My favorite, Bernie Kosar, serves John (Number Four) in a stellar manner.  He is the ultimate chimera.

This author is highly creative in his story telling.

 

A Million Suns

Beth Revis’s sequel to Across the Universe continues the saga of the doomed spaceship Godspeed on its mission to colonize Centauri-Earth three hundred years into the future.

Elder is now the leader, but he refuses the title of Eldest to show that he is not like former rulers. Instead, he has given the people their freedom. Their freedom from the mind-numbing drug Phylus has the entire spaceship acting differently. The Feeders aren’t tending the crops. The food supply is drastically in jeopardy. Revolt is in the air as people are being killed and the messages found on their bodies convey this message: “Follow the leader.”

Why is Bartie, one of Elder’s best friends suddenly questioning every decision Elder makes? Why is Amy so terrified of Luthor? Will Amy get to see her parents again? Will it be necessary to awake Orion from his frozen slumber to lead the ship? Can Orion ever be trusted? How will Elder learn how to lead his people?

Across the Universe

This science fiction piece is not for the faint of heart! In the first chapter, seventeen-year-old Amy watches with her father as technicians prepare her alive and vibrant mother for cryogenic freezing. (The description of the procedure made me gasp!) Amy’s father then tells her she doesn’t have to hold to her promise to follow her parents on this journey. She can remain on earth and live with her aunt and uncle who have gladly agreed to raise her.

Amy is brave--very brave. She experiences the same cryogenic freezing process which she describes as almost like drowning and believes that in exactly 301 years in the future, she will colonize a new planet with her parents and the others who have agreed to travel aboard the first manned interstellar ship called Godspeed.

When Amy is removed from her slot in the frozen chamber and mysteriously starts to thaw fifty years before planned, no one on the ship seems to know that she is thawing. She wonders if she will suffocate in the blue goo before someone can rescue her and release her from the tomb-like container in which she has been frozen.

What she finds aboard the Godspeed is about 2000 people, strangely all similar in appearance and with no descriptive ethnicity – running the ship, growing its food, and living a highly structured regulated existence. A man named Eldest controls everyone.

As Amy begins to understand the class structure of the ship, she realizes that a 16-year-old boy named Elder is being groomed to govern after Eldest dies. Amy is devastated to learn that her parents cannot be unfrozen at this time. She will age and perhaps die before her parents start their new lives.

Other frozen people are also suddenly being removed from their frozen slumber only to suffocate before anyone realizes that they are in trouble. The plot revolves around Amy and Elder’s trying to find out who is murdering these poor souls in this way.

Told in alternating chapters by Amy and Elder, the clever Amy has many more questions about the society formed on board the ship than Elder who has been raised in this repressive environment.
Fans will want to see what happens to Godspeed in the sequel entitled A Million Suns.



The Power of Six

The Power of Six is the third book in the Lorien Legacies series written by the pen name Pittacus Lore. The series begins with the ever popular title I Am Number Four.The Power of Six follows John Smith's abupt departure from Paradise, Ohio with his best friend Sam.The second book I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six's Legacy is the second book in the series.

John Smith, number four of the aliens from the planet Lorien, has lost his protector and teacher Henri. John has also left his first and only love interest Sarah in Paradise, Ohio. John and Bernie Kosar must heal from their severe wounds before they can proceed to find the others. It is up to John, his best friend Sam and the beautiful and fiercely talented Number Six to find the other remaining aliens.

The Mogadorians are obviously much better organized than Henri and John realized. It is now up to the remaining aliens to come into their legacies and defeat the Mogadorians so that they can reclaim their home planet Lorien.

Number Seven is in Spain in a convent with her Cepan, Adeline. In the eleven years that they have sought refuge in the convent, Adeline has become devoutly religious neglecting to instruct Marina (Number Seven) in her powers. She has also hidden the chest which contains Marina's legacies from her. Marina has tried in vain to find where John Smith has gone since the explosion and deaths in Paradise, Ohio. She searches the Internet in hopes of finding a clue as to where she should meet up with the other remaining numbers.

Will John and Sam and Number 6 be able to find Number Seven? Will John understand all the things in his chest of legacies without the help of Henri? How will they find the others?

This title is filled with action! The characters display all kinds of special powers. Bernie Koshar displays incredible forms! Fans of I Am Number Four, will love this title!

I Am Number Four

This science fiction title which is authored by James Frey (A Million Broken Pieces) and Jobie Hughes delivers! The premise of the story rests in aliens living and residing among us! Nine children from the planet Lorien have escaped an especially vicious attack on their planet from the Mogadorians. Along with their guardians, the nine have been living on Earth for ten years until they grow into their legacies. The power they obtain from their legacies will hopefully help them return to their planet and reclaim it. Three of the nine have already been killed by their enemies. John Smith is number four. He will be next!
John Smith, aged 15,  and his protector, Henri Smith serve as the main characters. They have had to move repeatedly to avoid detection and especially to escape from Mogadorians who have traveled to Earth to kill all nine of the remaining Lorien teens.
I especially loved the dog that befriends John in Paradise, Ohio when they move there from Florida. Bernie Kosar is a weird name for a dog, but this is not your normal pet! Also fascinating to me were the legacies that John develops--telekinesis (ability to move things), lumen (ability to use his hands to create light), and telepathy (ability to communicate with animals and others).
A movie has already been created which adds to this book's appeal. Sequels are in the works by the two authors. (Pittacus Lore is listed as the author on the front of the book; he is one of the Lorien elders.)