Transmission (The Invasion Chronicles—Book One): A Science Fiction Thriller

Oh dear - I can only take so much fantasy. Of all the billions of earth's inhabitants, only a very sick 13 year old (from the USA of course!) can understand the messages coming from space. That would possibly be OK but then together with his equally young girlfriend they turn into a pair of James Bonds to save the world from the nasty aliens.Quite often in the course of reading this story, I found myself shaking my head in sheer disbelief at the endless talents of Kevin and Luna and thought seriously about aborting. Although I made it to the end of book 1 of The Invasion Chronicles, I will most definitely not be reading books 2 and 3 and who knows how many more "episodes" the author plans.Quite honestly, I think this book should be classified as a child's book.

I was attracted to this title by the concept, which kept me reading until about the 60% mark. (I manage to finish nine out of ten books.) At that point I gave up as I had become frustrated with:1) Instances of poor word choice; (get a better editor).2) No proffered scientific explanations by strangely accepting scientists from two of the world's foremost authorities, (SETI and NASA).3) Cardboard cut-out characters4) Author tries too hard to make the 13 year-old MC, Kevin, 'likeable'. He's a walking, talking set of virtues.5) Repetition of key points of the story.6) The writing was limited, lacking richness and verve.It's hard to believe the author is bestselling. Maybe fantasy is her forte rather than sci-fi.

I found the concept somewhat interesting but the execution lacking. The writing is of a decent quality but not inspiring. My key issue with this book is that the central character, a 13 year old boy with an incurable brain condition, manages to get himself believed by various authorities. The mechanism provided for gaining credibility is one of making predictions that come true a few seconds later. The feature that makes this mechanism less than credible is that these predictions seem to come through exactly when they are needed.This isn't a bad book but it is certainly not a great one. My view is that the plot relies too much on events that happen at the critical point rather than any really strong plot line. It's an OK read. An issue could be that I'm not a member of its intended audience but even this does not not convince me that I am being over harsh.

I haven’t been able to read for awhile and I started this book two weeks ago and completed it. It completely resurrected by love of readingThe invasion of my heart began within the first few lines of the book.Not only did I care about Kevin but I cared about his health and people believing him. Luna was a great character because us readers needed a person who was on Kevin’s side.I loved the descriptions of the alien planet and how the author was able to capture the dismissiveness of adults to children/teenagers.It was also poignant to read the reactions of peoples expectations not being what they thought and how quickly they turned negative even when there were facts.The book kept the suspense up through a quick pace of events in the book. Which meant even when I was t reading I was wondering about what would happen next.I’m happy my heart was invaded with the story of Kevin.

This is the first time I've read anything by this author. It started well, and you felt compassion for Kevin and his Mum for all that they were going through and the way they handled it. Loved Kevin's stalwart friend Luna, what a feisty young lady! Loved Ted the big, slightly gruff undercover security guy - one to have at your side in a crisis! As the story unrolled you could appreciate how life gets twisted by circumstances, even though you have the best of intentions, and the ramifications for Kevin and his Mum really put them through the wringer. Towards the end it did become a little bit predicable as amateur science fiction and vapour exuding rock took centre stage. Left on a cliff-hanger for the next book, will they, won't they survive .......

I really started to enjoy this book because it gave me the feeling I had when I was younger and I thought I had a special conduit in my head to be able to talk to aliens.The way it was written from the point of view of a 13 year old was really good and I enjoyed that part of it.The problem happens when the story got to a point where it would be unfeasible for the action to turn out like the book described, it was as though the story was written by a 13 year old who didn't know things like proper safety procedure, military or academic requirements etc but apart from that it was a reasonably fun read. It felt more like a teen novel than an adult novel

Not much happened and when it did it was more of a teens book and felt very unrealistic like kids getting taxis and driving some how from nowhere where a kid would normally ask for money at these points. And still even though this seems written for teens I don't think teens would find this very entertaining either. Maybe books 2 and 3 would be better.

I really enjoyed reading this story.The writing style was excellent.There was something almost John Wyndham like about itThe hero is an ordinary young man with an unlucky gift.All the Characters are very believable and well described.I did wonder a little at the length of time in which the characters could travel from one place to another but I dont know the locations myself so maybe ...There were one or two incredulities but I guess nothing worse than real life with scientists and politicians being in control.A few good twists kept the plot going and I can see myself reading the next one in the series at some point.