thereaderdragon's review against another edition
3.0
Actual Rating: 3
Edit: Upon reflection, I've knocked a star off my initial rating.
When I first heard about The Silent Invasion, I was both excited yet uncertain. My biggest concern was that it sounded very much like [b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812]. Now, this book was nowhere near perfect. The story was painstakingly slow at times (ahem, most of the time) and the characters felt hollow and dull, yet I found myself completely drawn in nonetheless. But with me being the complete sucker that I am for anything to do with anything extra-terrestrial, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of this one.
The Change started years ago when spores from outer space spread across the earth, changing the biology of plants and animals alike. But it wasn't long before they started affecting human life too, turning living beings into something.. other.
Callie's younger sister Gracie can be a handful at times, and Callie often wishes she wasn't the one having to always look after her. But when Gracie begins to show signs of the Change, Callie will do anything to keep Gracie safe, and won't let the Quarantine officers take her away. So with little more than the clothes on their backs, Callie and Gracie escape their small town and make their way north to seek refuge in The Zone.
I think that if anything, the thing that reminded me most of The Fifth Wave was the setting. I mean, it's a post-apocalyptic world where extra-terrestrial interference has changed life on earth. The fact that the story takes place in Australia really helped me connect more than I probably would have if it was set overseas. From South Australia to Queensland, it was great to see mention of many places that I'm actually familiar with. Add this to the scenery that reminded me a lot of The Last of Us, and I was completely sucked in.
But, every coin has two sides, and whilst the setting was amazing, the story was not. It was drawn out, and painstakingly slow, so basically not a whole lot happens. Usually, I am pretty turned-off by stories that drag on, but I couldn't seem to put this one down. I think I was holding onto the hope that it might get better. And it did, but only within maybe the last hundred pages or so. The way it ended is one of the biggest reasons that I wish to continue on with this series.
Edit: Upon reflection, I've knocked a star off my initial rating.
When I first heard about The Silent Invasion, I was both excited yet uncertain. My biggest concern was that it sounded very much like [b:The 5th Wave|16101128|The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1)|Rick Yancey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1359853842s/16101128.jpg|19187812]. Now, this book was nowhere near perfect. The story was painstakingly slow at times (ahem, most of the time) and the characters felt hollow and dull, yet I found myself completely drawn in nonetheless. But with me being the complete sucker that I am for anything to do with anything extra-terrestrial, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of this one.
The Change started years ago when spores from outer space spread across the earth, changing the biology of plants and animals alike. But it wasn't long before they started affecting human life too, turning living beings into something.. other.
Callie's younger sister Gracie can be a handful at times, and Callie often wishes she wasn't the one having to always look after her. But when Gracie begins to show signs of the Change, Callie will do anything to keep Gracie safe, and won't let the Quarantine officers take her away. So with little more than the clothes on their backs, Callie and Gracie escape their small town and make their way north to seek refuge in The Zone.
I think that if anything, the thing that reminded me most of The Fifth Wave was the setting. I mean, it's a post-apocalyptic world where extra-terrestrial interference has changed life on earth. The fact that the story takes place in Australia really helped me connect more than I probably would have if it was set overseas. From South Australia to Queensland, it was great to see mention of many places that I'm actually familiar with. Add this to the scenery that reminded me a lot of The Last of Us, and I was completely sucked in.
But, every coin has two sides, and whilst the setting was amazing, the story was not. It was drawn out, and painstakingly slow, so basically not a whole lot happens. Usually, I am pretty turned-off by stories that drag on, but I couldn't seem to put this one down. I think I was holding onto the hope that it might get better. And it did, but only within maybe the last hundred pages or so. The way it ended is one of the biggest reasons that I wish to continue on with this series.
Thank you Pan Macmillan for the ARC.
thelivelyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
littleelfman's review against another edition
3.0
It's nice to have a book like this set in Australia. The apocalypse will happen to us too, you know...
thistlechaser's review against another edition
1.0
This book went downhill very very fast. It started with such an interesting idea: Set in the real world, current times, one night something falls from the sky. Green sparkling somethings. No one knows what it is, but it happens all over the world. Soon almost everything (plants, people, animals) is Changed (capitalized as in the book). The Changed glow like the stuff that had fallen from the sky. Their eyes change colors. Animals try to talk -- they make sounds they never made before. The whole story was creepy and cool.
Then the story took an annoying left turn into unrealistic, unbelievable YA stuff, including a Dark, Silent, Sexy boring love interest for the teenage girl main character. I stopped reading about a third of the way into the book. I'm really disappointed that the writing didn't live up to the cool idea.
Then the story took an annoying left turn into unrealistic, unbelievable YA stuff, including a Dark, Silent, Sexy boring love interest for the teenage girl main character. I stopped reading about a third of the way into the book. I'm really disappointed that the writing didn't live up to the cool idea.
shanayahreads's review against another edition
1.0
Actual rating: 0.5 stars
Full Review Here
So before reading this book I didn’t really know much about it, and hadn’t actually heard of it before Pan Macmillan sent me an email about it and I received a copy for review. This, however, does not change my feelings or influence my review in any way. In total honesty, I didn’t enjoy this book. Maybe with some tweaking, it could be better, but too many things didn’t sit right with me.
Firstly, WARNING there is animal abuse in this book, and even though it wasn’t the main characters who did it, it was still disgusting and I couldn’t read it properly. I had to skip through it and seriously considered DNFing it, but I didn’t purely because I hate DNFing books.
Ok, so I didn’t completely understand the point of the book. I get that everyone’s supposed to be like nooOoooOOOOOOo omg I don’t want to catch the thing!!! And try and stop the spreading, but Callie literally said that it’s not contagious? If it’s not contagious and people don’t care why are the infected being quarantined????? Why are so many people trying to stop them????? And if the rest of the world think’s its contagious, why do so many of the people they come across literally do not care? And want to help them??? I don’t understaaaaaaaand. ALSO throughout the ‘adventure’ Callie is told to not trust anyone, but what does she do? Trust a random teenage guy who conveniently helps them get on a truck, and trusts so many other people along the way. AND does she ask questions? NOPE. Blindly accepts vague answers and trusts people <– do you see the problem here?? because I sure do.
The characters were pretty bland, not going to lie. I can admire Callie’s determination to protect her sister, sure, but what was she planning on doing when her sister turned? Take care of her at risk of being eaten or something (not really sure what was supposed to happen when they changed, but eh you get the gist)?? Callie’s inability to look past protecting her sister was infuriating at times, I just wanted her to sit down and think about things very, very thoroughly. Matt was the vaguest character ever, like everything about him was vague and shady, I didn’t like it. He didn’t really give any proper reasons for doing anything and I was just really suspicious of him. Gracie, the ‘infected’ sister, was the most mature 6-year-old (pretty sure she was 6 years old, but I may be wrong) I have ever read about. Most of the time I just pictured her as a 12-year-old, because that made my brain much less confused.
Wasn’t a fan of the romance aspect. Yeah, I could see them getting together in the end, but that’s just because it’s one of the biggest YA tropes. I didn’t feel a connection between the characters, and I don’t know if this would be considered one of those ‘live life like you’re dying’ situations where everything’s super rushed, but I didn’t like it. The characters didn’t know each other for very long, hardly know anything about each other and just because they travel together for a bit makes them compatible? And in love????? I don’t think so.
And, besides all that, majority of the story was travelling. There’s only so much travelling I can handle in one book, especially when that book is less than 300 pages and supposedly has a larger plot to it.
So yeah, as you probably would’ve guessed by now I won’t recommend this book. If you’re looking for a OzYA book or a book set in an apocalyptical world, there are so many other better ones to try out. I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading the second or third instalments. Sorry for such a negative review, but I honestly just couldn’t deal.
I received a review copy from the publisher
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Full Review Here
So before reading this book I didn’t really know much about it, and hadn’t actually heard of it before Pan Macmillan sent me an email about it and I received a copy for review. This, however, does not change my feelings or influence my review in any way. In total honesty, I didn’t enjoy this book. Maybe with some tweaking, it could be better, but too many things didn’t sit right with me.
Firstly, WARNING there is animal abuse in this book, and even though it wasn’t the main characters who did it, it was still disgusting and I couldn’t read it properly. I had to skip through it and seriously considered DNFing it, but I didn’t purely because I hate DNFing books.
Ok, so I didn’t completely understand the point of the book. I get that everyone’s supposed to be like nooOoooOOOOOOo omg I don’t want to catch the thing!!! And try and stop the spreading, but Callie literally said that it’s not contagious? If it’s not contagious and people don’t care why are the infected being quarantined????? Why are so many people trying to stop them????? And if the rest of the world think’s its contagious, why do so many of the people they come across literally do not care? And want to help them??? I don’t understaaaaaaaand. ALSO throughout the ‘adventure’ Callie is told to not trust anyone, but what does she do? Trust a random teenage guy who conveniently helps them get on a truck, and trusts so many other people along the way. AND does she ask questions? NOPE. Blindly accepts vague answers and trusts people <– do you see the problem here?? because I sure do.
The characters were pretty bland, not going to lie. I can admire Callie’s determination to protect her sister, sure, but what was she planning on doing when her sister turned? Take care of her at risk of being eaten or something (not really sure what was supposed to happen when they changed, but eh you get the gist)?? Callie’s inability to look past protecting her sister was infuriating at times, I just wanted her to sit down and think about things very, very thoroughly. Matt was the vaguest character ever, like everything about him was vague and shady, I didn’t like it. He didn’t really give any proper reasons for doing anything and I was just really suspicious of him. Gracie, the ‘infected’ sister, was the most mature 6-year-old (pretty sure she was 6 years old, but I may be wrong) I have ever read about. Most of the time I just pictured her as a 12-year-old, because that made my brain much less confused.
Wasn’t a fan of the romance aspect. Yeah, I could see them getting together in the end, but that’s just because it’s one of the biggest YA tropes. I didn’t feel a connection between the characters, and I don’t know if this would be considered one of those ‘live life like you’re dying’ situations where everything’s super rushed, but I didn’t like it. The characters didn’t know each other for very long, hardly know anything about each other and just because they travel together for a bit makes them compatible? And in love????? I don’t think so.
And, besides all that, majority of the story was travelling. There’s only so much travelling I can handle in one book, especially when that book is less than 300 pages and supposedly has a larger plot to it.
So yeah, as you probably would’ve guessed by now I won’t recommend this book. If you’re looking for a OzYA book or a book set in an apocalyptical world, there are so many other better ones to try out. I’m pretty sure I won’t be reading the second or third instalments. Sorry for such a negative review, but I honestly just couldn’t deal.
I received a review copy from the publisher
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lifeandliterature's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars. I enjoyed it on the whole but had a few issues.
melbsreads's review against another edition
3.0
Trigger warnings: graphic animal cruelty, violence, descriptions of physical injuries.
I bought this book back in...March? April, maybe?? And I've put off reading it ever since. Honestly, the only reason I even bought it is that it was only $10, which is basically unheard of for a new release book in Australia. And look, it wasn't terrible. I'll probably donate my copy to work when I'm back next year. But it also wasn't fantastic.
I feel like it's heavily influenced by The Day of the Triffids in the set up, what with the green meteor-esque shower and life changing forever as a result of it. And yet it lacked the tension and the political terror and the brilliance of The Day of the Triffids.
I kind of ended up with the feeling that Bradley wrote one book which was originally twice the length, and the publisher was like "Nah, chum. We can turn this into a trilogy!", which would definitely explain the ending.
(Also, the romance was 100% shoehorned into the story and was totally unnecessary, especially seeing as it was almost entirely lacking in chemistry.)
At least the story features a protagonist of colour??
So I dunno that I'll bother reading the next book in the series when it comes out. Although given how fast-paced and easy to read this was, it wouldn't take me long to read it, so...who knows.
I bought this book back in...March? April, maybe?? And I've put off reading it ever since. Honestly, the only reason I even bought it is that it was only $10, which is basically unheard of for a new release book in Australia. And look, it wasn't terrible. I'll probably donate my copy to work when I'm back next year. But it also wasn't fantastic.
I feel like it's heavily influenced by The Day of the Triffids in the set up, what with the green meteor-esque shower and life changing forever as a result of it. And yet it lacked the tension and the political terror and the brilliance of The Day of the Triffids.
I kind of ended up with the feeling that Bradley wrote one book which was originally twice the length, and the publisher was like "Nah, chum. We can turn this into a trilogy!", which would definitely explain the ending.
(Also, the romance was 100% shoehorned into the story and was totally unnecessary, especially seeing as it was almost entirely lacking in chemistry.)
At least the story features a protagonist of colour??
So I dunno that I'll bother reading the next book in the series when it comes out. Although given how fast-paced and easy to read this was, it wouldn't take me long to read it, so...who knows.
mandi_m's review against another edition
4.0
I love that we are getting more Australian dystopian fiction and having great authors doing it is even better! I admire Bradley's work and grabbed a copy of this as soon as it arrived. Gripping teen dystopian fiction that moves from Adelaide up to the New South Wales coast. I am eagerly awaiting the next book.
homicidal_potato's review against another edition
3.0
So I checked the reviews of this book after borrowing it from my library and was dismayed to see the trigger warnings for animal cruelty. With so many peple DNFing the book because of that I actually expected something much more horrible.
Don't get me wrong, it is sickening, but if you've read a lot of crime thrillers, particularly authors like Karin Slaugher, you would have probably read violence that is a lot more descriptive/horrendous.
Having said that, if that scene is too much for you but you have been enjoying the story so far, try skipping a couple of pages first and you might find you are able to continue.
Don't get me wrong, it is sickening, but if you've read a lot of crime thrillers, particularly authors like Karin Slaugher, you would have probably read violence that is a lot more descriptive/horrendous.
Having said that, if that scene is too much for you but you have been enjoying the story so far, try skipping a couple of pages first and you might find you are able to continue.