FROM AMAZON: Earth’s century of peace as a colony of an alien race has been shattered. As the alien-run government navigates peace talks with the human terrorist group Sapience, Donovan tries to put his life back together and return to his duty as a member of the security forces. But a new order comes from the alien home planet: withdraw. Earth has proven too costly and unstable to maintain as a colony, so the aliens, along with a small selection of humans, begin to make plans to leave. As word of the withdrawal spreads through the galaxy, suddenly Earth becomes vulnerable to a takeover from other alien races. Aliens who do not seek to live in harmony with humans but will ravage and destroy the planet.

As a galactic invasion threatens, Donovan realizes that Sapience holds the key that could stop the impending war. Yet in order to save humankind, all species on Earth will have to work together, and Donovan might just have to make the ultimate sacrifice to convince them.

4.5 Stars ( )

I was initially drawn to this book by the cover art, although I did not win the GR giveaway. Donovan Reyes is an exo soldier, and the son of the Prime Liaison between the aliens now ruling the Earth and the surviving humans. When Donovan was five years old, his father decided over the objections of his departed wife to have him "changed," undergoing an operation to create a hardened shell. Donovan is captured by the resistance, Sapience, on a routine patrol, and becomes uncertain of his loyalties when one of his captors saves his life and one of the resistance leaders turns out to be his mother. Donovan is rescued in a horrific attack on the resistance, and then has to decide about his loyalties, especially when the resistance leader is going to be atomized. I thought the world building took too long, but liked the characters enough to enjoy the book. ( )

I don't read a lot of "alien" books, but I was pretty impressed with how unique a concept this book was. Earth has been settled for a century, with aliens as the governors of the planet. It's been a century of peace but some humans don't like that they aren't "free," and keep trying to incite violence and upheaval. Donovan is an exo soldier, which means that at 6 years old he was given alien cells that help him live longer, protect himself, and better serve the aliens. He's able to armor himself just like the aliens and it definitely comes in handy when he's kidnapped by human terrorists. Donovan isn't sure what they are fighting for. Isn't earth better with the alien overlords? Unique and inventive; this is storytelling at its finest. Perfect for fans of young adult fantasy. ( )

Of all the YA science fiction I’ve read so far (and keep in mind it hasn’t been a lot) Fonda Lee’s Exo is the only one I’d call true SF. That is, an out-there premise is given and the author extrapolates from it, showing us the effects it has on science, the environment, human society, and human relationships, all of which are worked seamlessly into the story so the panty lines of extrapolation do not show. It’s a tough order, and some YA authors choose not to do it, using robots, starships, and aliens as the Star Wars universe uses them… as elements of fantasy. Instead of doing this Lee demonstrates her worldbuilding logic continuously in the story, and in fact it helps shape the story.

The setting is about 100 years into the future, after Earth has been conquered by an alien race called the zhree. The zhree resemble stubby mushrooms walking on six tentacles, like a shorter, friendlier version of H. P. Lovecraft’s Elder Things. Their occupation of Earth came about because they needed an outpost against the Rii, a rival race. Naturally, humankind fought back, but lost because of the zhree’s superior weaponry. However, the zhree are more kindly colonizers than despots, and certain humans they choose adopt into their “tribe” as liaisons, diplomats, and peacekeepers for zhree rule. The chosen humans receive the alien exoskeleton that the zhree invented for their own soldiers which makes them faster, stronger, and more able to absorb damage. The exoskeletons are not rigid, but something like a thin, transparent web that flows over the wearer’s skin. The story gets going when one of the peacekeepers, a young man named Donovan, goes to arrest a group of human anti-alien terrorists and instead gets captured by them.

It’s Old School SF, and sufficiently complex not to bore me… in fact, it’s on the level of many older SF written for adults, like Rendezvous with Rama, for example. It’s something of a thriller as well, incorporating escapes, explosions, and battles, and a political potboiler, as the true nature of the relationship between the zhree and humankind is revealed, and how the terrorists’ goal of driving the zhree away means not liberation but danger for the entire planet.

Lee does an exemplary job of balancing out the opposing sides of human alien-collaborators and human alien-opposers, giving each member valid and logical motivations for doing what they do. Each side demonizes the other, but to the reader, there are no clear Good Guys and Bad Guys. To the story’s credit, Donovan does not switch allegiances after he is captured – that would be too facile. But his lines do blur a little, and he begins to see beyond his blinders, and after he discovers a shocking family secret, his allegiances get called into question.

The story kept me guessing about this even as I was sure he’d never betray his friends and father. Yet, he does eventually rebel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. I don’t want to reveal too much of it. It’s the rare book I want readers to discover on their own without me spoiling things. It would make a wonderful anime series, or a live-action one spread over several episodes, and this is the course I hope it takes.

There were neat touches everywhere in the book, like a festival performance — described by Donovan as “silly” — with a chorus of zhree younglings and human children singing together holding hands, and a flashback to Donovan’s implantation of his exoskeleton at age six. If I had a criticism, it would be that the chapters in the first part of the book, those dealing with Donovan’s internment, are too often ended with scene-wiping cliffhangers or explosions, and his attraction to a human girl who is one of the terrorists seems a little shoved in, though it’s the sort of thoughts a young, somewhat sheltered guy might have. Adolescence is for dreaming, after all. But again to the story’s credit, Donovan doesn’t run off with her or have a mad affair with her (as might happen in another author’s hands) and though she moves out of the action for the second half of the book, she certainly influences his thoughts and actions.

In short, recommended. There’s a sequel out too, and I will definitely be reading that. ( )