Review of eBook

Sheldon Hickory, busy helping his father, Winston, sees the bus drop off Margaret and Bailey, both fifth-graders. Strangely, they stood unmoving, staring at something. What were they watching?

Sheldon has an idea, and when he looks, he sees the rodent-like creature and believes it to be one of the “things” from the past winter. The past February had brought the aliens . . . more than a million of them . . . to Earth. When the “Explorers” returned to space after their short visit, they left Earth’s people a gift.

They healed millions of sick and dying folks.

But this Explorer pounces up and kills Tom Bryer, Sheldon’s neighbor.

And then hundreds swarmed across the field . . . and, this time, they may not be so friendly.

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First in the author’s Young Adult series, this story offers readers an intriguing alien invasion trope. With the young adult reader as the targeted audience, the main characters are teenagers. Well-developed, realistic characters populate the narrative, making it easy for the reader to empathize with them.

The unfolding dystopian tale gives readers a hefty dose of young love accompanied by fear and heartbreak. Conflict, apprehension, and tension all work together as the plot twists and turns, keeping the reader engaged in the telling of the tale.

Complex and thought-provoking, readers will find much to appreciate here. Although the denouement is sure to be what readers expect, readers should plan to continue the story with the next book in the series.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from StoryOrigin and am voluntarily leaving an honest review. ( )

We have a great young adult novel with characters from one of the author's previous books. Margaret, Bailey and Sheldon have returned from, "That Thing in the Sky" which was about an invasion where aliens healed a lot of people on earth. They healed Margaret's mother of her cancer and Sheldon's father of his blindness. In this book the aliens are back, but they aren't like the ones before. We have aliens who decide who is worthy to live and who should die. They want to merge with the healthy humans to create a "perfect" world. For everyone who has ever read dystopian/utopian books such as, "The Giver", we know there is always a flaw in those types of worlds. Sheldon, Bailey, and Margaret join up with a group of other teens who are doing their best to survive. They face some tough life changing situations and have to make some tough questions. I like that Mr. Francis didn't water this down as far as the fight scenes with the aliens. It truly was like watching a movie. I must continue with the next book, "They came to the Island." This is really a must read for everyone who likes Science Fiction. ( )