Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Invasion by K.A. Applegate

11 reviews

v_neptune's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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eleanorjmca's review

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

One of my favourite books as a child. It was a joy to revisit this. A fast-paced sci-fi action story that is surprisingly dark given its intended audience. Even this first book grapples with very complex material considering it is basically 100 pages on the theme of “wouldn’t it be cool to turn into a tiger and fight evil aliens”. Never a dull moment.

I was never able to read the whole series as a child due to the unavailability (and price) of the books, so I’m excited to see how this series develops! 

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booksthatburn's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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lynxpardinus's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense

4.5


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booitsnathalie's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wasn't allowed to read these growing up so now doing my own belated book club. Blown away at how good this is right out of the gate. Has a great campy sentai-show setup but pulls no punches with how gruesome this intergalactic war actually is. All of the morph descriptions are straight body horror, and the violence only gets away with being this gory because of Halo rules (it's not blood, it's yellow goo).

Our first POV, Jake, is fully the likeable leader boy archetype, but the character voice is so strong it hardly matters. Particular highlight is dog brain, which is exactly what you'd expect but even more charming. Under the YA nonchalance is a surprisingly affecting tragedy, particularly Jake's distant relationship with his brother (I imagine we'll see even more devastating scenes from the other POVs whose family life seems even more complicated).

Great start to this series. I am sure it goes off the rails over the next 50 (!!) books, but I'm fully bought in right now.

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emmsiej95's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I don't know what Katherine Applegate was planning with this series. It's aimed at 8 - 12 year old.
I'm 27 and I am traumatised by the body horror and psychological horror in this book. 
I loved it. 

The kids become Animorphs and need to found out about their new parasitic foes. 

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jessthanthree's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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kstericker's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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zombiezami's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was always to afraid to read these books or watch the show when I was a kid. Even as an adult, I find the themes pretty intense; the characters are, for all intents and purposes, child soldiers. It seems like it’ll be interesting to continue though

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ramiel's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A stellar starter in the series, as I've said in my other reviews: making a solid foundation for the series as a whole to build from. The kids are all so young and unaware of the world around them, just as any first time reader would be jumping in without any spoilers. It's a children's book, it's middle school kids who can turn into animals and fight the forces of evil, Saturday cartoon style. Comic book style, as Marco wishes later ("because the good guys don't die in comic books").

This book carries you along, and while it's a quick read it slowly and carefully reveals the story at hand. While Elfangor's death was an incredible tragedy that shook the kids to the point of being something that they carried with them constantly, while the story starts out with his anguished cries, while detailed and despairing it still doesn't completely reveal everything about to come. That's saved for the yeerk pool.

When the kids get to the yeerk pool, that's when things become clear. "We were so few, and so weak". The kids lost the fight, Tom was recaptured, but one woman went free and the children escaped with their lives, escaped to live and fight another day.  The fight at the end turns out to be what the entire series felt to me in the end: a strange juxtaposition of futility and hope both existing in the same place at the same time. This is not an insult, nor is it saying it's "better" than any other story - what it does is make the story it's own, it fits because it was created to fit. Very little feels forced in the first few books, and, again, they serve as a good starting point for the anti-war themes the story seems to convey.

No glory in battle, only tragedy and hope for a day when all is well.

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