POD by Stephen Wallenfells
Available now
What's it about?
POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside.
Josh is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food... Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything ...POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside.
Josh is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food... Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...
When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself.
What would you do to survive?
My review:
4/5
I started this without knowing much about it other than it involves an alien invasion but since I'm realli interested in astronomy and aliens (yes I believe!) I was really excited and I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed this book, yes this involves aliens but that's not really what it's about. It's about humans and what we'll do to make it, what would we do if we were suddenly house bound (or car park bound in Megs' case) with only the supplies we already had to survive?
The chapters switch off between Josh and Megs both of whom are very different characters in very different situations, both of whom I really liked.
Josh is has a bit of a defeatist attitude but he's funny and there were some one liners in the book that really had me laughing, he goes a little stir crazy stuck in his house with only his Dad and dog for company and the ways he entertains himself time were amusing.
Megs on the other hand is only 12 and finds herself alone and with some not very nice men, she's extremely brave, clever and resourceful and does a terrific job at outwitting them all.
I did find the book slightly slow paced in parts but it was still exciting even if it didn't have my heart racing, I was glued to it and finished it in one sitting despite the fact I had to keep waking myself up because I was so tired. There are some really sad parts that made me feel for the characters.
There is, however, no explantion at all for the aliens, but then I guess it's hard to put one in when the characters we're following are completely cut off from the world with no phones, tv or radio but I've done some digging and there is a second book so hopefully there will be explanations there since the book was also ended pretty open with a hint of things to come so I can't wait to see what happens next.
My thoughts on the cover
I do like this cover, it's plain and simple but it has an eerie feel to it because of the what's going on with the 'O' Before I read the book that was certainly something that intrigued me, was it a spaceship? Or something even more sinister. Now, of course I know but I won't spoil it for you :)
Favourite quotes
Alex is lucky. He lives in a duplex next to the apartment building across the street. Which means there's a POD right over his house. Which means he's lucky because he can't see it. I, on the other hand, am not lucky. - Josh.
I have something better to do. Like looking at the cul-de-sac, at the bike that's always there, the POD that never moves or sleeps, the girl who should be in the window but isn't. so instead of saying yes, I set down the binoculars and say, "What happens when the food runs out?" - Josh.
