Alienated (Alienated #1) by Melissa Landers
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release date: February 4 2014
Source: e-ARC via NetGalley
Pages: 352
The nitty-gritty: A funny and sometimes charming story that shines a light on some important issues, but ultimately felt more like a middle grade book to me.
From the moment I spotted the intriguing cover for Alienated, I started counting the days until I could read it. The idea of a student exchange program with an alien from another planet had me hooked. And while there were parts of Alienated I really enjoyed, my overall reaction to the book was mostly puzzlement. Maybe I’m just too old for this book, because between the unappealing slang and the sometimes silly dialog I felt as if I had stumbled upon a middle grade story that was disguised as young adult. Yes, the characters are seventeen and eighteen, and yes, they face some very important issues that are perfect story fodder for teens. But for me, the characters acted younger than their ages, which affected my enjoyment of the story. Add to these issues the sketchy scientific reasoning behind the world Landers has created, and you have a book that left me frustrated.
Cara Sweeney has just been selected as an ambassador for an alien exchange program. In exchange for hosting a L’eihr student and later visiting his planet herself, Cara will receive an ungodly amount of scholarship money to attend the college of her choice. Tempting, yes? What Cara doesn’t realize is that many people in her hometown hate the L’eihrs and the idea of sharing planet Earth with aliens. Cara reluctantly welcomes L’eihr hotty Aelyx into her home, but she’s determined to make this odd exchange work. She tirelessly tries to find food that Aelyx will like and shows him the ropes at school, even as her classmates start to turn ugly and protest Aelyx’s presence in town. Lines are clearly drawn as more and more townspeople cross over and join HALO: Humans Against L’eihr Occupation.
As Cara and Aelyx become closer, the dangers of being a L’eihr supporter increase. And is Aelyx hiding something from Cara? How will this mission of peace turn out? And who exactly can be trusted?
I want to start with the things I really liked about Alienated. One of my favorite parts was the blog that Cara starts to document her experiences with hosting an alien. She calls her blog, appropriately enough, “Alienated”, which I loved! Blog entries are interspersed with the rest of the third-person story, and although they don’t make or break the story, it was fun to see how many hits and followers she had (millions!), and I enjoyed the change of tone as her life with Aelyx started to get complicated (and dangerous).
The author sends a clear message about tolerance and acceptance and shines a light on just how damaging xenophobia is and how it can spiral out of control. I think including this theme was a particularly smart idea, although honestly, the story could have been about an exchange student from, say, the Middle East, and it would have been just as effective.
What caught me off-guard with Alienated was the voice of Cara. The POV was strange for me. It’s told in third person and alternates between Cara’s and Aelyx’s points-of-view, but this third person “narrator” uses lots of slang, and so I felt as if I were reading a first person story. Cara’s vocabulary includes such lovely words as “skeeved,” “jerkwagon,” “blow chunks,” and “full-on banana sandwich.” (WTF?) Like I mentioned before, I may just be too old for this book, but the constant use of this type of slang was off-putting to me.
In general, the characters felt clichéd, and I was especially disappointed that I didn’t like the character of Aelyx more. The L’eihrs are described as a race of people who have had all emotions bred out of them over thousands of years. They live in a dull brown and gray environment, wear dull beige clothing that matches their dull skin tone, and basically have had the life sucked out of them so that they’re all the same. When Aelyx comes to Earth, he’s blinded by the variety of colors, smells and tastes, and he has a hard time adjusting. Basically, he’s an uptight, unemotional guy who I found extremely unattractive.
Two other male characters completely offended me. Cara’s boyfriend Eric was a stereotypical horny teen who was constantly trying to get Cara to have sex with him. (Thankfully that relationship didn’t last long). I also hated Cara’s brother Troy, who isn’t in the story much, but when he is he’s constantly insulting his sister. Worse, Cara sees his insults as an act of brotherly love, which I just didn’t understand. Even Cara’s best friend Tori wasn’t likeable. Not only does she start going out with Eric after he breaks up with Cara, but she deserts Cara just when she needs a friend the most, by joining HALO and trying to get Aelyx to go home.
I won’t say much about the “science” in this science fiction story, except to say that it felt as if Landers was just throwing out random ideas. Things like L’eihrs having only four toes on each foot, and the idea that humans all started with brown eyes just felt, well, random! Let’s just say the science wasn’t cohesive enough for me to buy into this alien society.
What I did like was the transformation of the L’eihr exchange students, as they acclimate to Earth’s peculiarities and start to feel at home. Aelyx and his fellow L’eihrians Eron and Syrine are clearly up to something sneaky when the story begins, but little by little they mostly change their minds as they begin to like the humans they’re hanging with. I especially loved Eron’s story (although brief) as he bonds with his little human “brother” and comes to love him.
The story gets violent near the end, which I found a bit jarring, and although the author ties most things up, she does leave us with a clear picture of what will happen in the next book. Will I go along for that ride? I’m not sure. If you’re going to read Alienated, my best advice is to not take the book too seriously.
Many thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
You can find Alienated here:
I felt eh about this story. I do agree the voice was strange. There were parts I really enjoyed and then parts where I just wanted to punch the characters. I did like the message of tolerance the book seemed to want to get across, but there was something missing for me. Thank goodness for a lovely cover!
Yes, it was very uneven all around. Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for a lovely and very balanced review!
I’ve had my eye on this book because of the unique premise, but had been afraid of too many YA cliches. I do think I’ll still read it at some point, but I personally find too heavy and usually fake teen-slang very off-putting 🙁
It could be the slang is completely realustic, but it did feel odd to me.
full-on banana sandwich is hilarious! I have heard really mixed things on this book, I think I am going to wait until I can get it from the library to read it!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
“Let’s just say the science wasn’t cohesive enough for me to buy into this alien society.” omg right??? Four toes = falling over since the pinkie toe is actually really important for balance! I’m such a stickler for aliens that make sense so that was a big problem for me with this one 😉
I’m still scratching my head over the four toe thing:-)
Yep. No interest here. Moving on…
Yeah, definitely not for you…
THANK GOODNESS. This review is such a relief. I just wrote my review for it the other day, and it wasn’t very stellar. My very first on the blog, and I’ve been nervous for it to go live, because I was so frustrated with the story. Eric and Tori seriously made me so mad! I couldn’t stand it. Anyways, great review, Tammy! I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt this way!!
Ooo, I’m sorry that you didn’t absolutely love this one! I’m glad you didn’t absolutely hate it though either. I can see some of your points – about Troy and Cara’s relationship, and parts of the “science” being thrown out there. They didn’t bother me though, which is why my rating was so much higher. Overall, I thought this one was solid.
Fantastic review, Tammy!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
It’s nice to read such a balanced review for a change, especially because I often find that a lot of YA tends to skew a bit more Y than A. Where I do appreciate the concept of the story (a message of tolerance mixed with some sci-fi), it sounds like the execution just wasn’t all that solid. Plus, there has to be likeable characters, a connection, something. If you don’t have any of that then, in the end, it doesn’t matter how stellar the plot is. Sorry this one didn’t really pan out for you. I think I’m going to definitely take a pass.
Fantastic, detailed review Tammy! I have seen this book about but it hasn’t particularly interested me, I’ve heard a lot of criticisms that the characters seem a lot younger than they seem and I don’t like the sound of that horny guy or even Aelyx. Reminds me of the plot of After Eden which I didn’t enjoy much either. Lovely review!
I like the fact that its mostly just a light read. I can deal with everything that it’s lacking on certain moods I am sure if I am looking for fluff instead of substance.
You know sad to say even the positive reviews for this one don’t touch on anything that sounds like something I would love to read. We all started with brown eyes aye? how…random
Great review, I still would love to read this book. Hopefully I am at the right age (16) so I’ll still love it.
Im so sad this got so many mixed reviews! I will probaly still end up reading it!
I’ve read an ARC of this book a few months before it came out and had same mixed feelings about it like you. There were parts that were really great and funny and than there were those where I had ‘huh’ what just happened moments. All and all, it was fun and light read (for me, at least) and I’ll probably read the next book in the series just to see if the writing and the story has improved.
Great review! 🙂
I’m not sure I’ll read the next one. I really have to be blown away by a book in order to invest in a series. But hopefully it will work for you! Thanks for stopping by!
The cover is so pretty! But there are so many weird names in this book.