Exo (a novel) Hardcover – January 31, 2017

This was an....okay novel. Nothing really remarkable about it. Nothing really terrible about it. The author's writing was decent. No huge, gaping plot holes. I probably would have given it 4 stars, because I thought it was new and interesting that theres an Earth already colonized by aliens as opposed to humans fighting off the aliens, but there were a number of items that had me going, "Huh?"1. Why didn't the zhree put tracking devices on their human exos? Seems like kind of the natural thing to do. If you can put an exoskeleton on them, I don't think implanting a tracking device would be that difficult, either, you know, so the entire hostage thing is eliminated.2. Exoskeletons can withstand bullets and explosions, but completely wig out when hit with a little old taser? *snort* Please.3. Why are teenagers acting as soldiers? Donovon is around 16. That's just....incredibly stupid. I would think the zhree have enough experience with humans to know that teenagers are volatile and are probably not the best choices for soldiers/police officers.And if all of these things were thoroughly considered before publication, there would not be much of a novel, hence the reason for 3 stars.

Exo is possibly the best young adult dystopian novel I’ve ever read.Exo takes place after Earth has been successfully conquered by an alien species, the zhree, who have turned it into one of their colony planets. On the surface of it, Exo is very similar to loads of other YA dystopian novels. You’ve got the teenage protagonist who is an agent of the government, buying into the established system. Then he starts to fall for a rebel girl who makes him question everything that he’s taken for granted.Exo has the fast plotting that makes YA dystopian novels popular, but it also has an insightful look at colonialism, dehumanization, and a situation with numerous complexities.Before I talk more about that, let’s back up and go over the plot in more detail. Donovan is the son of the Prime Liason, who represents humanity to the zhree. Humans who serve the zhree are sorted into the zhree’s cast system — soldier cast, administrative caste, science caste, ect — and marked with tattoos on their hands, clearly distinguishing the status of the caste-marked versus the majority of unmarked humans. But the humans of highest status are exos, who at around five years of age undergo a dangerous and sometimes fatal medical procedure to graft zhree biotech onto their bodies.Donovan is a soldier-caste exo who serves in the exo-run security force that self-polices humanity. His exocel, a sort of exoskeleton, makes him stronger and more bullet-proof than other humans. Then, when a routine crackdown goes wrong, Donovan is captured by Sapience, the human revolutionary group. When they realize who his father is, they think they can use him as a bargaining chip… but Donovan knows that his father won’t negotiate with terrorists, not even for his own son. And to make matters worse? Sapience thinks that exos are inhuman and impure — better of dead than living as a traitorous exo.All alien invasion novels are about colonialism, even if the authors don’t always realize it. That said, I’ve found the alien invasion novels that explicitly engage with colonialism, where you can tell the author was thinking about it, tend to be stronger than the rest. I kept thinking of the zhree as almost a parallel to the British empire. Donovan argues that the zhree have brought trade, technology, and infrastructure that humans never had access to before. That before the zhree colonialization, humanity was fighting each other and that the zhree have stopped internal warfare… except for Sapience, of course.It’s easy to see the general arc of the narrative once Donovan is captured by Sapience. There’s the usual pretty, intriguing rebel girl with a tragic backstory. And he obviously starts to realize that maybe Sapience has some points after all, to see the flaws in the system he’s been raised to uphold.But where Exo differs from other stories is that Sapience isn’t presented as unequivocally right. The spirit of what they’re fighting for — human self-autonomy and an end to an imposed rule by an outside force — is completely justified. But they also have no problem with civilian casualties, and they aren’t actually presenting a viable picture for the future. Sapience appears to want things to return to exactly the way they were before the alien invasion. They think only of Earth and not the rest of the universe, which includes other powerful alien species that would be happy to attack a largely defenseless Earth. Sapience just wants to do away with the zhree and all traces of them, including the exos (yes, this would mean a mass slaughter of civilians including children). Their hatred of exos is fanatical, and they are obsessed with species (racial?) purity.Donovan is a teenage boy stuck in a world where the dominant class doesn’t see him as a person. To the zhree, he’s at best a sort of pet, a very intelligent animal who is in no way equal. Only, the main force fighting against the zhree doesn’t see Donovan as a person either. To Sapience, he’s nothing but an alien puppet who should be killed… all for his father’s choice to have him made into an exo when Donovan was just a small child.While reading Exo, I kept thinking that what the rebels needed was a political arm, a group working to present a future beyond “get rid of the zhree.” Events of the novel left me wondering if that’s the direction the sequel will take. I’m eager to find out. As of writing this, I’ve already put the next book in the series on hold.As a final note, last year I decided to mention if the book I was reviewing didn’t include anything that would let you know queer people existed in the world it presented. It’s possible I missed something, but I didn’t catch even any small details in Exo that suggested queer people exist.

A definite five-star YA/SF read. This is some of the most original world-building I've seen in YA, like ever. It's up there with the likes of Linda Nagata's The Red Series and Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy. But for young adults. Did I mention that? Completely original take on the alien "invasion" trope, nothing is exactly what you expect, the story is winding and complicated, and there is a romance brewing... but it's not the focus of the story. Exo walks a very definite fine line between good and evil and right and wrong, begging you to choose sides, but refusing to make it easy.I enjoyed the trope flipping. Maybe an alien invasion isn't the worst thing that could happen to humanity? That's the question these characters grapple with as Exo Soldier, Donovan, comes to terms, and comes of age, in a time when all he wants is to keep the peace and stop terrorist attacks on the host aliens. I have seen/read quite a few books that try the alien/human trope out over the years but so far none of them have had the depth of plot and character development of Exo.I don't usually like non-humanoid aliens but Lee fixes this (for me, at least) by introducing the Exo - a "hardened" alien/human hybrid soldier that is both sympathetic and fear inducing at the same time. I'm listening to the audio version and MacLeod Andrews nails it. A must read for anyone who enjoys a hard flair to their military SF or YA SF with a touch of romance.

Great read.