Alienation by Jon Lewis

To start with, I got this as an e-ARC so I wasn’t able to tell whether this was the first book of the series. Part way through the book, I looked it up to find it was the second book. There were some things that felt awkward reading this out of order but for the most part I was able to connect to the characters and follow the plot of the book. This wasn’t a favorite of mine but that’s not the books fault. I’m not real big on military action sort of stories. This is a book about aliens but it’s more about the young men who have been enlisted into a special military organization to combat the aliens. For those who likes those sorts of stories, this one is for you. There was too much detail in the weaponry for my taste. I don’t care how many different types of assault rifles and the numbers that are associated with them. For me, the book had too much of that. It pulled me out of the story. And there was a lot of it. There’s amazing technology in this book for those who like it. There’s realistic holographs for training (and if you get hurt in the holograph room, you really get hurt), robots for training and as servants, and hoverboards. It’s a thrilling young adult novel perfect for those who love military and espionage. In this story, Colt is heading off to CHAOS training. (I can’t remember what the acronym stands for but it’s something like covert – alien - something.) While trying to get there he discovers someone is trying to kill him. The head of CHAOS has ordered the murder of several government officials and it appears that he wants to get rid of Colt too. Colt is the grandson of the great CHAOS legend Phantom Rider. He’s left not sure of who to trust especially since his best friend is the son of the CHAOS leader. It did keep me guessing and I have to say I didn’t see the twist that came. I enjoyed the action and all the alien descriptions. This was similar in tone to comic books in the 40’s and 50’s – Captain America and the like. I think it makes for a great read for young men who love all that sort of stuff.