Orbs (REVIEW)

Orbs

Author:  Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Category: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror

Suitable for: Adults/Older teens+

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format Read for Review: Kindle

Pages: 328

Description: Orbs is a tale of an alien invasion and the handful of survivors that found themselves quarantined in a state of the art facility. It is a Sci Fi Thriller filled with danger and a ton of questions about just what the heck is going on.   

In Short: Overall this is an interesting story with non-stop action that will keep you drawn in. If you are a big sci-fi fan you'll most likely want to get the entire series because this one book alone wont give you the full story.

It begins in medias res (in the middle of things) with our main character already en-route on a dangerous ride to a mysterious destination. The fast paced style of writing is engaging right at the start. For a while you watch the events unfold with curiosity until it leads up to a classic alien invasion scenario.

Pros: The pacing is incredibly fast so you never get bored. It has an excellent knack for getting the reader hooked and unable to put the book down. I finished this book very quickly because of how fast paced it was. The "Orbs" are an interesting and terrifying new concept. The alien breeds are interesting and I'm curious what other aliens will be in the following books. There is interesting technology used in the story and I also enjoy a fun AI character who shows signs of evolving. The main character is a strong woman who is likable and a good leader, I found myself genuinely caring about her struggle. This book blends sci-fi and horror and manages to balance being dark and light. As grim as things may seem at times there are also victories and in the end there is hope for our heroes. This book does a good job of taking you on an emotional ride with a lot of downright scary and tense moments. This book is written more like a movie than a novel and as a result you can see it playing out in your head even as the cross-cuts move you to a new time and place with each chapter. There is much potential for the character development to continue into the next book. The foundation is already there with the revealing of the character's origins. There are elements of many genres in this book making it diverse and adding to its overall quality. There is for sure sci-fi, as well as elements of suspense, thrill, action, adventure, horror and even some romance hidden under all the turmoil. I think this book would be very appealing to those who like alien invasion sci-fi novels set in dystopian, post apocalyptic Earth.

Cons: Alone this book does not have a satisfactory ending. I felt there was no real resolutions. However, I imagine you discover that further into the series. Some of the characters seemed a bit cliché and only served as accessories. For example, there is the typical hacker guy who is socially inept, his back-story is classic, attended MIT, recruited by the government, but unfortunately he never really does much with his skills throughout the story. Same goes for the engineer, his skills are never used. The very fast pacing of the book caused some issues. The death scenes, although brutal, were not sad because they were written like a Band-Aid being ripped off. The dialogue was rushed and the meetings the team held never seemed to last more than a minute and didn't involve much productive discussion which was a bit unrealistic. The characters lacked some realism because they never seemed to stop, take a breath, think or even panic despite everything happening. *spoilers* The aliens and what they were doing with the water seemed unbelievable. I didn't really understand their intention of moving every drop of water to where? With all of us humans dead why not just move in to our nice wet planet? I unfortunately was unable to suspend disbelief any longer by the end of the book.

In summation, I think this book has potential, and reading the entire series could be worth looking into for anyone looking for a alien invasion survival series.

Parent's Guide:  This book has swearing, violence, gore, and some sexual content (not extremely graphic). 

I was given a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.