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)

Book Review: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan

Title: Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer
Author: Maureen McGowan
Publisher: Silver Dolphin Books
Release Date: 04/01/2011
ISBN: 1607102560







Remember those old "Pick Your Path" books from the 90s & before? Those were awesome, right? This book manages to bring back some of that old retro feel in a story that's following the trend of "classic story with supernatural beasties".

In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.

I'll admit, the story isn't as inspired as some of the other stuff out there but then, a huge chunk of the appeal is being able to make your own choices & see what happens. I'll admit, I kind of cheated with this, searching to see which ending I liked the most. (Hey- I'm keeping a tradition alive! I did this with the older books too!) If you're curious about the other paths, there's a list in the back where you can go through all of the various different story paths. Unfortunately no matter what you choose, you always get the same ending (according to the answer key). That's a little bit disappointing since part of the fun of the older books was being able to get drastically different endings or even bad ones.

Even so, Lucette makes for a perky little heroine & this is a decent book for the most part. It's not going to take the place of Melissa Marr or Seth Grahame-Smith, but then it really doesn't try to. It's sure to gain a pretty good audience & I can see a friend of mine really getting into the idea of being able to interact with the book more than some of the other series she's got.

(ARC provided by NetGalley)