Earthfall by Mark Walden Book Review

Earthfall by Mark Walden

The earth has fallen. Humans are no more than mindless shells. Only a handful of people seem to be immune. Aliens have arrived on Earth and Sam knows, whatever their plans are, it cannot be good. On his own for nearly 19 months, Sam almost goes crazy with the knowledge that he is the only one not a "Walker", but then he meets a rag-tag army run by a scientist and an ex-military man. Sam knows there is something more going on then what they are being told, but their lives and those of the entire planet depend on them finding out.

This is how I look at books and my massive consumption of them. I know there are wonderful books out there, ones that make you hold your breath as you turn the page and gasp in horror when the big twist is revealed. Sadly, not every book can be that book and to be quite honest, within my average book reading of 100-140 books a year, I read quite a few duds. Most of the really bad ones never get reviewed here either because I feel bad for disliking it so immensely or because it wouldn't be fair to read a book that I simply skimmed (or sometimes skipped) through. This year there have been quite a few good books, but as anyone who has read this blog for long may know, I have a pension for science fiction. I am an equal opportunity reader of course, but I am always on the lookout for a good or even decent sci-fi. Earthfall falls into the category of great.

Earthfall reminds me of the sci-fi I used to read when I was a kid, books by H.M. Hoover, Anne McCaffrey, John Christopher, and Robert Heinlein. There is no doubt who the bad guys are and Walden is not afraid to let the reader know there is something so much bigger at stake and secrets that are just as big to go along with them. The pacing was right, the main character engaging, and the world, our world, devastating. However, this doesn't feel like a dystopian sci-fi in the way that Divergent or Hunger Games does. No, this is like a teen version of Independence Day, and just like the aforementioned film, there will be a sequel.

In fact, this is my only complaint. Earthfall wraps up fairly nicely, but I take issue with books that don't advertise themselves as a series if that is in fact what they are. This is definitely not a novel and it was open-ended enough for a series. It doesn't have to be a trilogy. Call it the Earthfall: The Chronicles of Sam or something equally understandable and ambiguous, but don't try to fool me either. I hate starting a series and not knowing that it is one. I feel like I have been tricked somehow.

I do not think everyone will love this book though. Truly, it is a book for lovers of the authors that I mentioned above. If you have been searching for a good YA sci-fi, I definitely think Earthfall falls into that category quite nicely. I may need to go in search of more of this author's titles.