Book Review: Dark Energy by Robison Wells

Genre: YA Sci-fi
Publication: March 2016 by HarperTeen
Acquisition: received an ARC at ALAMW 2016

Synopsis:

We are not alone.

Five days ago, a massive UFO crashed in the Midwest. Since then, nothing—or no one—has come out.

They have arrived.

If it were up to Alice, she’d be watching all of this on the news from Miami, Florida. Instead, she’s the newest student at a boarding school not far from the crash site—because her dad is the director of special projects for NASA, and if anything is a special project, it’s this.

And there’s no going back.

A shell-shocked country is waiting, glued to televisions and computer screens, for a sign of what the new future holds. But when the aliens emerge, they’re nothing like what Alice expected. And only one thing is clear: Nothing will ever be the same again.

(from Goodreads)

5 / 5 Stars

Sci-fi young adult standalone?

What what?!

Oh yeah!

So much freaken love for Dark Energy.

The story is awesomely awesome.

When I think of aliens coming to earth I totally see it the way things went down in Dark Energy. No secret, long con infiltration. It's a crash landing.

No aliens today.
Boom!
Aliens fall from the sky.
Crap - what now?

It's not neat and clean and there aren't nice little boxes you can draw around, well, anything. Not the reason for the aliens coming to earth, or the state of their ship, or what they really are, or where they come from, or what the people of earth will or can do now -- no boxes!

And speaking of that spaceship? The scenes where Alice and her friends help explore the interior (oh yeah, that happens) -- it's some of the best pages of sci-fi I've ever read. It's realistic and nothing is glossed over and OMG I wish it were actually a real thing and I could be there with her! (ok, maybe not, cause...well...reasons. But yeah, it's awesome).

I can't recommend Dark Energy enough. It's not long and it's not complicated but it's so full.

It's a book I think all types of readers could enjoy - reluctant, hard core sci-fi fans, YA fans, Non YA fans, people who like words in paragraph form -- yeah, pretty much everyone.

Seriously, even if sci-fi isn't your go-to read, I would give Dark Energy a try. At its core, it's a fabulous story by a fabulous author and you won't be disappointed.