Publication Date: Paperback 28th August, Kindle available now from Headline.
Source: BookBridgr
She is the first of her kind to be born on Earth.
He is one of the Resistance, fighting to rid the world of an alien invasion.
They were never meant to meet.
And when they do, it will change everything . . .
Highly enjoyable YA adventure involving alien invasion, a resistance, the start of a love story and plenty of action – I found it to be a refreshing and fun read, albeit with an ending that annoyed the heck out of me because now I have to wait to find out what happens next.
With a quick introduction explaining how the aliens arrived on our planet, this is a novel that you can immediately be involved with as we soon move on to meeting our main characters. Syl is the first of her kind to be born on earth, along with friend Ani she often breaks out of her protected atmosphere to experience life amongst the humans – when one day they are caught up in a bombing and meet Paul and Steven, two brothers who belong to the resistance, everything begins to change for Syl as she starts to question motives.
There is some extremely clever world building – set mostly in and around Edinburgh, the sense of place is terrific, with some recognisable landmarks making an appearance. I loved all the characters, good and evil, although I have a particular soft spot for Just Joe. The Illyri are wonderfully imagined and have an intriguing background which is well described so you can get a sense of what they are trying to achieve.
As the story unfolds we realise that there is a lot more going on within the Illyri than first meets the eye, it all flows beautifully keeping you hooked into the narrative, I particularly enjoyed the relationships that started to form and was surprised by the odd revelation. The scenes set at The Eden Project were brilliant, the action when it comes is fast and furious and as a book one it set things up perfectly for the next instalment.
I think the main thing that made this work for me was the fact that both Alien and Human get pretty equal attention here, the Illyri are not all “evil” and the humans are not all “good” – there is moral amiguity, not everything the Illyri brought with them to earth was horrific. This leads to some interesting interactions between Syl and her kind and the human element and gives an added depth to proceedings. Whilst this is not really a unique story it is a great take on an age old tale and absolutely highly entertaining.
Mostly though this is just a terrifically fun adventure tale, with many threads running through it, an ongoing enthralling story and the hint of really curious things to come. I, for one, am dying to know more about The Sisterhood and REALLY want to know what was actually going on at The Eden Project- just two things that will have me hanging on a thread ready for the next part of the tale, Empire, coming soon.
Definitely a great addition to the YA genre and I look forward to many more adventures with Syl and co.
Find out more here: http://chroniclesoftheinvaders.com/
Follow John Connolly on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jconnollybooks
Follow Jennifer Ridyard on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/JennieRidyard
Purchase Information: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/john+connolly/jennifer+ridyard/conquest/9962196/
Happy Reading Folks!
