Book Review: GENeration eXtraTERrestrial by Aurelio O'Brien

Title: GENeration eXtraTERrestrial
Author: Aurelio O'Brien
Publisher: Bad Attitude Books
Release Date: 11/01/2010
ISBN: 9781935927







An avant-garde installation artist, a rural farmer, a suburban housewife, a spinster librarian, and a diva of stage and screen: What could this diverse group possibly have in common? Each of them claims alien abduction, but that’s not all. They also insist they are carrying alien babies.

Research scientist, Dr. Grace Brown, must officially examine these “nut cookies.” Her boss has blackmailed Grace into the task. He hopes to sabotage her reputation with this fool’s errand and be rid of her. He soon learns it’s not smart to tangle with a super-achiever, just as Grace learns not to assume things are always as they appear.

This isn't just a book, it's an experience. When I first mentioned this book in a previous blog, I hadn't fully appreciated exactly how detailed this book really was. I knew it was interactive, but I didn't realize how much work O'Brien had put into this. It's pretty cool, to be honest.

Each chapter has links to various websites, all of which are "in universe". I'd tell you what they're all like but that would ruin the surprise. I'll just say that it was pretty neat to see a website correlating with various different plot points of the book.

How is the book itself? Well, it's incredibly entertaining. O'Brien has a very good writing style that was easy to follow along with. I'm not really a reader of sci-fi anymore but then this book doesn't entirely fit within the genre. The story goes where it will & becomes whatever it wants to be at any specific point in time & it works. I loved the characters, especially the genxters themselves. It was just fun to follow their stories as they grew up & tried to discover exactly why they were put on earth to begin with.

The story is great & I have no doubt that it'll find a nice wide audience. This is a wonderfully polished book, to be honest. Sci-fi fans will adore it & non-fans will still love it because it's such an approachable read.

If you're curious, there's two ways to get the book. Either you can purchase the entire book up front or you can purchase it episode by episode. Both cost about the same amount so it's pretty much up to you as to how you go about it. You can find the first episode (for free!) on the author's website (click on the book image to go there), so there's really no risk involved in at least checking it out.

4.5/5

(Review copy donated by author)