Review: Alien Invasion & Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky

3.5 yummy peanut butter blossoms.

Cover Love: Not bad. Kind of mysterious, the title which is a great attraction, is highlighted well.

Why I wanted to Read This: The title, I mean it would be an inconvenience. Don't ya think? Here's the summary from GoodReads:

Jesse is in history class when a formidable, efficient race of aliens quietly takes over the earth in less time than it takes him to brush his teeth. Most humans simply fall asleep and never wake up. In moments, everyone Jesse knows and loves is gone, and he finds that he is now a slave to an inept alien leader. On the bright side, Jesse discovers he’s developing telepathic powers, and he’s not the only one. Soon he’s forging new friendships and feeling unexpectedly hopeful. When a mysterious girl appears in his dreams, talking about escaping, Jesse begins to think the aliens may not be invincible after all. But if Jesse and his friends succeed, is there anywhere left to go? Brian Yansky offers a funny, grim novel packed with everything boys and sci-fi fans love: aliens, humor, action, and a healthy dose of triumph.

I Kept Reading Because: It was an easy read and well written. It was interesting to see where the story went.

Romance?: For as much as there can be a romance in an end of the world/humanity enslaved type novel, then yes, there was. It was a small part but pretty sweet.

What I Liked (& Didn't): I have not read anything by Brian Yansky so I don't know if his writing is humorous or not. I also wasn't sure about whether this story was supposed to be humorous or end of the world rebel action-y type. There was some of both.
Jesse was a good main character, pretty noble but with small flaws. It was interesting to see all this through his eyes.

I kept hoping that the majority of the humans were still alive just in some sort of deep sleep coma type state. I am still not sure if they were or were not, if there is a sequel we might find out. The aliens kept talking about slaves, but there were so few of the ones that survived I just kept thinking that the "non-hearing" humans must still be alive and slaves somewhere.

There was a point where I almost didn't keep reading because I started thinking that if aliens really were going to destroy us it might be as quick as it happens in the book. Then I started thinking about dying and it went on and on, but I shook myself out of that and finished. There is a little bit of the "I shouldn't have waited on doing this..." type talk because it did happen so quickly. So, that was a bit of a message for the reader, you never know when your status might change.

One thing I am getting tired of in all of these alien/other species books is the talk about humans destroying their planet. We get already, let's work for the environment. I am getting a bit tired if it coming up in everything I read. Then I remember I am a jaded adult and these are messages mainly for a new generation.

It ended on a hopeful note and I wasn't sure it would. I was glad that it did!

What I Would Like To See Happen: If this is a series, I would like a few questions answered, like what Caitlin actually knows about the aliens. And are the humans good and truly dead.

I want more action. We get a glimpse of the true depth of Jesse's power, but I want to see him become stronger.

To Sum Up: A good alien invasion story with a good main character. This is a book that I think a lot of middle grade/early YA readers will enjoy and it is a book I will recommend for boys at that level.