Brian Yansky

From the title, I expected either a humorous farce or something witty with some social satire. This short novel doesn't deliver either. Telepathic aliens kill almost everyone on the planet and enslave the rest. The survivors, or at least our young protagonists, seem to take this without the amount of emotional turmoil one might expect. While reading it, I got the impression the author simply wasn't sure what kind of story he wished this to be, eventually got sick of it, and quickly ended it without an entirely satisfying conclusion.… (meer)

Jesse is having the worst day of his life--an alien race (Sanginians) has taken over Earth and enslaved all "product" with any kind of latent telepathic abilities. The rest of mankind, unfortunately, have been exterminated. As superior product, Jesse is placed in the home of Lord Vertenemous where he meets several other young people and plans an escape to join rebel humans in Taos, New Mexico. Chapters alternate between Jesse's narrative and Lord Vertenemous.

First of a series? Ending is not definitive.… (meer)

I really really really loved this book. The Saniganarians take over the planet Earth in 10 seconds. Most people just die but a few like Jesse, survive and become product, slaves that work for the conquerors. Then the Saniganarians realize that Jesse and his friends can hear them (the aliens talk telephathically to each other and to the humans) and that they can communicate with each other. Jesse and his friends need to escape if they plan on surviving.

Jesse, Lauren and Caitlin were such great characters. They were so interesting and I felt bad for Jesse and Lauren because they were really torn by the idea of starting a romance in this terrible situation (unlike Mike and Lindsay who just went for it), which really brings home that point that even in the most dire circumstances life goes on and continues to grow and move on. I loved their developing powers, I thought it was interesting. Lord Vert's letters and personal log which switched off with Jesse's narative offered insight into a character that just felt like he was dealt a bad hand and just kept trying to cope in all the wrong ways.

Honestly I might have liked it too much to write a cohesive review. Mostly what I liked was that the situation was absolutely dire and the characters persevered while still admitting that the situation was really really bad.… (meer)