Review: Great Introduction to Science Fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2013
This was a departure from the genres I typically read. However, it was a pleasant surprise and I did enjoy it. This is about Nate and Victoria trying to rescue their parents when they are abducted by what appears to be aliens. There is of course a secret military group sent in to help and a ton of cool gadgets.Nate was the older brother and the more laid back of the two siblings. He wasn't really a loser but he also wasn't super popular. He had his niche in the hierarchy of high school. At times it was eluded to that he was special in some way, but it was never really explained how he was special (well it was a little bit but not entirely).Victoria was about a year younger than Nate. She was definitely the smart one. She understood most of the science behind the gadgets as well as how to explain it in simpler terms for those less smart. At times she was a bit of a hypocrite though. She had her moments of typical high school girl with being embarrassed in front of her crush.I think I liked Jack better than Nate at times. At first he would randomly appear in the story, but eventually it made sense for him to be involved. Timmy was also a random addition to the group. He had more reason to be their than Jack simply because of his dad. I wish there was more of him but it looks like there might be in the sequel. It was pretty obvious who the bad guy was although how far his reach went did come as a shock at the end. There were other characters that are hard to describe as I still am not fully sure on who they are or what their purpose/role in everything was.Overall this was a pleasant surprise. I loved the idea/concept behind it. I really liked how you can actually learn some about different things by reading this. Also, the way Nate and Victoria interact you can completely tell they are siblings. The gadgets were actually really cool and somewhat realistic as they relate to our world. There were some ideas that seemed far fetched though (not necessarily a bad thing considering alien tech). The biggest concern I had for this story is the lack of consistency. Certain parts were too descriptive while others (that I felt were more vital to the story) were just glossed over. Also certain things that were brought up were not actually resolved/explained in the end. Certain things were also told in a weird order that I probably would have switched around a little bit just for clarity purposes. Despite the few things that bothered me I did enjoy this. It's a nice foray into a genre (science fiction) that I don't typically read. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to give science fiction a try.