Illuminae~ Reviewed by Hailey Hinrichs

                                                

               The year is 2575. The morning before Kady’s planet was invaded, she thought breaking up with her boyfriend Ezra would be the hardest thing about the day to come. Soon after two rival corporations declare war on each other, she realizes she was very wrong. Now that her planet is invaded, she is forced to evacuate with Ezra on a warship. As she thinks things can’t get any worse, a plague breaks out. As Kady tries to find answers, she can’t seem to learn anything because the people in charge don’t want to talk about what’s really going on. She soon resolves to hacking into the database to find the truth. What she comes to find is that Ezra seems to be the only one who can really help her. Can they overcome their awkward past to help save their planet?

                I liked this book so I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I usually am not into outer space books or a lot of books that have to do much with science. But I really enjoyed this one. I LOVED the layout of it. (Mostly because of reminded me of The Dead House). I like the different fonts and styles of the pages, which always helps with such long books. I loved all the plot twists which I did not see coming. I also love books that are realistic and I really thought events and ways the characters reacted to things really was realistic, unlike other books where things are instantly perfect again and all is well. Because come on, we all know it doesn’t happen like that. This was a good read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about outer space and fantasy.

The Fifth Wave reviewed by Paige Espinosa

   
     This is Cassie's story of survival and her efforts to rescue her brother- the only remaining member of her family. When the aliens came, they attacked in waves. After the first wave, electricity no longer worked. They second flooded the world. The third sickened most of the surviving human race. After the fourth, there is only silence. Cassie believes that to stay alive she must stay alone. Her trust in other humans has waned until the only person she wants to be around is her little brother who was taken from her. That is, until she finds herself in need of help and she must tolerate the presence of another human being in her otherwise solitary world.
     I gave this book four out of five stars because it was one of the most original books I have read in a long time. There were plot twists that actually shocked me and the characters even had histories that brought tears to my eyes. I read this book in one sitting and was totally enthralled the whole time but it lost a star because it got a bit unrealistic towards the end. I was also disappointed by the unoriginal boy-meets-girl-at-the-end-of-the-world story line. In that respect, it was a bit like Stephanie Meyer's The Host. Girl-with-a-little-brother-meets-attractive-and-protective-guy-while-aliens-take-over-earth really isn't all that original anymore. I definitely preferred Yancey's version over Meyer's and found Yancey's a whole lot more believable. These aliens aren't peaceful invaders, they want to kill us. Aliens seem pretty corny sometimes but this book definitely pulled off the alien invader story extremely well. (This book is also being made into a movie soon! Hopefully they won't ruin it...)

Chance Norton

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

3 out of 5 Stars
This book by James Patterson has an interesting plot, and also an interesting idea behind it but was written in a childish way. The emotions of the characters, their motivations are simple; nothing is complex in their thought process or actions. The book is also written in James Patterson’s unique style, with a new chapter every three or four pages which can be refreshing but can also be a little annoying if you are not used to it.
This book's saving grace is the fact that the children in this book, the flock, have a very cool ability. They can fly. Throughout the entire book I was thinking of how cool it would be to be able to do the things that the flock does. Another plus is a plot twist regarding their beginnings (which was sort of skipped over in this book) that I cannot tell you because it would ruin the best part of the book. On the other side, a negative is the enemies of the flock. Erasers. Man-Wolf creatures. This is an example of the childishness of the novel. There are more inspiring names for enemies as potentially frightening as these than something you wipe up chalk with.
All in all this is a book which has potential to be good but needs a lot of work. Giving the characters more depth, making the book as a whole less predictable, and writing it at your audience’s reading level would help Patterson immensely. I would recommend reading this book but only because being able to fly would be really cool.