Dark Energy by Robison Wells

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Sci-fi

Subjects: aliens, UFOS, boarding schools, mystery

Setting: Minneapolis, Minnesota

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Alice (Aly) Goodwin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 273 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “WE ARE NOT ALONE

Five days ago, a massive UFO crashed in the Midwest, killing thousands of people. Since then, nothing–or no one–has come out.

THEY HAVE ARRIVED

If it were up to Alice, she’d be watching all of this on the news from Miami, Florida. Instead, she’s the newest student at a boarding school not far from the crash site–because her dad is the director of special projects for NASA, and if anything’s a special project, it’s this.

AND THERE’S NO GOING BACK

A shell-shocked country is waiting, glued to televisions and computer screens, for a sign of what the future holds. But when the aliens emerge, they’re nothing like what Alice expected. And only one thing is clear: Nothing will ever be the same again.”

My Review:  Dark Energy is a book I’ve been highly anticipating since I heard about it. I’ve read all the other books by Robison Wells, and finally he writes one with aliens! The book isn’t what I expected. Not at first. Based off the cover I expected something more creepy and mysterious and more rural. The book is set in Minnesota, mainly at a boarding school for the “gifted and talented.” Alice is sent there because her father works for NASA and he’s investigating the UFO crash site outside of Minneapolis.

Nothing has come out of the space ship yet and everyone’s anticipating the possibility of malicious aliens who want to take over, if any aliens survived, that is. When aliens finally do come out of the ship they are not what Alice expected, in fact, there’s nothing really alien about them. They call themselves the Guides, but what is there purpose? To help, or it there another reason. Two teen guides are sent to Alice’s school and Alice and her roommates try to get information out of them. Some of what they say doesn’t add up. These Guides have translators, but there’s many thing about Humans that they don’t understand.

Anyway, there’s a lot of fun dialogue. Alice and her father have some pretty funny conversations, and Alice and Kurt flirt a bit and banter too. Alice’s roommates are smart and pretty awesome. They seem pretty accepting of Coya. Alice is half Navajo, so she feels just as out of place at this school. Alice is very bold and stubborn and fun.

Dark Energy was cool and funny at times. There are so many pop-culture references, like mentions of Ancient Aliens, Star Wars, Star Treck, 2001, ect… and even pop-culture Icons like Taylor Swift. It’s not dystopian really, but it does remind me of The 5^th Wave or the TV shows Falling Skies. Also this book has a crazy twist….actually a few crazy twists, none of which include time travel sadly, so I guess I was wrong this time.

I recommend this to fans of TV show like: Ancient Aliens, Falling Skies, Hunters (Syfy),  Childhood’s End (also SyFy). Movies like Independence Day, and War of the Worlds. Books like The 5^th Wave, Scan, Rush, The Taking, Alienated, In the After and pretty much anything with aliens. If you listen to 3^rd Phase of Moon radio show on Fridays and are a UFO geek.

Cover Art Review: The cover is cool, but doesn’t fit the content very well since the book’s setting isn’t rural and the book isn’t that creepy. The space ship is supposed to be cylindrical, not a saucer.

Mila 2.0: Renegade by Debra Driza

Series: Mila 2.0 (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Sci-fi/ Thriller

Subjects: androids, robots, artificial intelligence, identity, love

Setting: Virginia Beach, Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Chicago and Glen Ellyn, Illinois, then some compound of unknown location

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Mila

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 438 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “There is no one left for Mila to trust. Except for a boy she barely knows.

But Hunter has no idea who—and what—Mila really is. She can’t bear to reveal her secret, even though he’s unwittingly joined her search for Richard Grady, a man who may know more details of Mila’s complicated past.

Yet the road to the truth is more dangerous than ever. With General Holland and the Vita Obscura scouring the earth for her whereabouts, Mila must rely on her newfound android abilities to protect herself and Hunter from imminent harm. Still, embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity—as well as Hunter’s real motives.

Perfect for fans of I Am Number Four and Divergent, this action-packed and heart-wrenching second installment of MILA 2.0 will leave readers breathlessly awaiting the series conclusion. “

My Review:  This was such an awesome sequel. It’s been about 2 years since I read the first Mila 2.0 book and the 3^rd and final one is coming out this month, so I though I better catch up. I thought maybe it’s a good thing I waited to read the sequel, but if I knew it would be this good, I wouldn’t have wanted to wait. Renegade is full of awesome.

Mila, in case you don’t know, is an android. She’s the narrator and act just like any other teenage girl would. She has feeling, which is not something you’d expect a robot to have. Mila was made to be the perfect weapon and she’s now coming to terms with the fact that she’s not human. She’s just starting to accept her android abilities and the robotic voice in her head that gives her information.

Mila invites Hunter to meet her at Virginia Beach to help her on a search for some guy her mother knew. They travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, hoping they have the right guy. Since Hunter doesn’t know the truth about Mila, she tells him that she’s searching for her real father. She keeps avoiding the truth because she’s afraid that it will hurt him. She fear his rejection. Then she starts becoming suspicious of Hunter because she never really looked into his past. Could he possibly be part of Vita Obscura?

I really like Hunter and I don’t care is Mila is an android, I ship them. I hope they work out and maybe there’s someway they can stay together. I just hope it doesn’t turn out like Chappie and Hunter becomes and android or cyborg. Hunter loves manga, and I used to be into manga and anime too. He’s sweet and adorable and funny and nerdy. Lucas, who’s not really in this book much, was also nerdy and awkwardly adorable. Mila is a really interesting character herself. I’ve only read one other series in which the main character is an android, but she had her mind downloaded into and android body after she died. Mila has very human flaws and emotions. I really enjoy all the cool abilities she has too.

I want to mention the settings in the book. There was part of the book set in my state, Illinois. Mila takes a bus to Chicago, she sees Three there and they fight. Then she rides a bike to Glen Ellyn in 2 hours (a Chicago suburb 23 miles directly west of the downtown Chicago) which I’m pretty sure in not possibly unless you’re and android, because it took my brother 2 hours to get to Bellwood. Glen Ellyn is where I went to community college (College of Dupage) for 4 years. It’s like 15 minutes away. Fun fact about it: Ghost Adventure’s Zach Bagens went to school there.

This book was so full of twists and non-stop action. I was never bored reading it. It’s completely entertaining. I hate when book feel slow and this is not a slow book at all. I wish all the books I read were this exciting. I also wish there was more contemporary sci-fi out there. Most sci-fi is dystopian, and others are more paranormal than sci-fi. There needs to be more sci-fi thrillers set in the present, without impending apocalypses.

I recommend this to fans of the Terminator movies, Chappie and Transcendence, and TV shows like AMC’s Humans, Fox’s Almost Human (cancelled after 1 season), Bionic Woman, other robot-android-cyborg TV or movies. Also book like the Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid, Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening series (about a girl who’s mind was downloaded into and android body), Unremember by Jessica Brody, False Memory by Dan Krokos, The Taking by Kimberly Derting, or Altered by Jennifer Rush.

Cover Art Review: Similar to first book’s cover. Lovely effect with the square coming off the model.

Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios

Series: Dark Caravan Cycle (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: jinn, supernatural, magic, alternate worlds, mythology

Setting: Morocco, Africa and the Sahara Desert

POV/Tense: 3rd person past tense: Nalia, Raif, Malek, Zanari

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 481 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer & Bray

Summary/ product description: “A jinni who's lost everything.

A master with nothing to lose.

A revolutionary with everything to gain.

When Nalia arrives in Morocco to fulfil Malek's third and final wish she's not expecting it to be easy. Though Nalia is free from the shackles that once bound her to Malek as his slave, she's in more danger than ever before.

Meanwhile, Malek's past returns with a vengeance as he confronts the darkness within himself, and Raif must decide what's more important: his love for Nalia, or his devotion to the cause of Arjinnan freedom.

Set upon by powerful forces that threaten to break her, Nalia encounters unexpected allies and discovers that her survival depends on the very things she thought made her weak. From the souks of Marrakech to the dunes of the Sahara, The Arabian Nights come to life in this dazzling second installment of the Dark Passage Cycle.”

My Review: Somehow I did not enjoy this sequel nearly as much as the first book. Possibly because I was so busy that I had a hard time finding time to read it and it took me five days to get through half of it and then I rushed the second half in one day. It is a very long book and the 3^rd person POV doesn’t help. Exquisite Captive was exciting and new and mixed contemporary paranormal romance with fantasy.

Blood Passage takes place mostly in Morocco, which is a very different place from LA. It’s where the portal to Arjinna is located. It’s also where Nalia, Raif, Malek, and Zanari starts their search for Soloman’s ring. I’ve never read a book set in Morocco, so I found this part pretty cool. Then they must travel through the Sahara to find it. Nalia is required to take Malek to its location because it was his 3^rd wish and she’s bound by wish magic. On their journey some people die, they meet Dhorma jinni, make allies and sacrifices. There are some heart-wrenching twists and sad parts.

I may have had a hard time getting into this sequel, but I still enjoy the world-building and characters in it. The different castes of Jinn are interesting. Most jinn can only use one element: water, fire, earth or air. Nalia can use all four. Her purple eye and powers make her a Ghan Assouri, and she’s the last her kind and the rightful empress, although she’d rather not rule. Raif is a Djan, as is Zanari. They have earth abilities and green eyes. Zanari can also remote view. Malek is par-djinn, or part-jinn. He’s half Ifrit, the fire users. I like Raif as a love interest, but I found Malek more interesting. He kind of reminded me of the bad-boy characters in other series, like Warner in Shatter Me. He’s not all bad. He’s definitely done bad, but in the end he’ll do the right thing to save Nalia.

I recommend this series to people who enjoy stories that have mythology. If you are interested in non-western myths especially. If you enjoyed City of a Thousand Dolls by Mirium Foster. If you enjoyed other book with Jinn/Genies. If you liked fantasy books like Snow Like Ashes, or Red Queen or The Young Elite. It you like book about elemental abilities like the House of Night series or Vampire Academy.

Cover Art Review: Simple, but not too exciting. The symbol on the cover makes sense though.