**Review* Earthfall by Mark Walden

Release Date:  August 27, 2013
Published By:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Length:  272 pages
Review Copy:  ARC, Provided by Simon & Schuster Canada

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The battle for mankind is about to begin in this riveting story of Earth’s invasion from the author of the H.I.V.E. series.

Sam awakens to see strange vessels gathered in the skies around London. As he stares up, people stream past, walking silently toward the enormous ships, which emit a persistent noise. Only Sam seems immune to the signal. Six months later, he is absolutely alone.

Or so he thinks. Because after he emerges from his underground bunker and is wounded by a flying drone, a hail of machine-gun fire ultimately reveals two very important truths: One, Sam is not, in fact, alone. And two, the drone injury should have killed him—but it didn’t.

With his home planet feeling alien and the future unstable and unclear, Sam must navigate a new world in this gripping adventure.

  So this book was not the book I thought it was when I requested it but you know what?  I am glad because I ended up seriously enjoying this one.  It kind of sits in the MG section and normally I don't venture there but once again I am glad that I ended up with this one.  Walden's writing pulled me in and I was genuinely curious to see how everything played out.  I can not honestly say I have read anything quite like it but I would gladly do it again

 This read was creepy and is kind of how I imagine things could go down in the event of a hostile take over.  However, it wasn't hostile but more like a quick silent "holy crap is this really happening?" type of take over.  I imagine that Sam was scared as crap because how do you live when it is only you.  The way in which this was plotted out was wonderful and keeps you interested.  I would not say that this book is rainbows and butterflies because guys it's an alien takeover.  Like full on 99.8% (if not more) of the population is now drones for something that we have no clue where it came from or what it is.  Basically think War of the Worlds, minus the needless human slaughter.  Really it shocked me at just how taken and involved I became with this sci-fi read.  This just shows you what a well thought out plot can do for any book.

  What was unique about Sam was how we are introduced to him.  We don't meet him as Sam we meet him as "the boy."  Why I liked this so much I really do not know.  It was like being on the outside looking in and it made sense, he was alone why would he speak of himself in third person.  The character was not perfect but this small detail kind of brought him to life for some reason.  In his flashbacks and quick moments here and there of how he survived, we get to know Sam to an extent.  He was really the most memorable character for me and his realism did the book a world of good.

  Though Sam is the most memorable character, he is not the only good character.  There is also Jay, that was all kinds of awesome.  He was the one that had the snark but he was also funny.  Like the character that you just wait to open their mouth because you know it will be good.  Rachel was also seriously all kinds of awesome.  However, he awesome came from being kick ass.  The girl could seriously hold her own and hold it down for others too.  I would also like to mention that she also saved a certain someone from certain death.

  Alien takeovers aren't normally my thing but Walden makes me want it to be.  The ending was kind of left open for another book that I hope will come soon because I'm curious to see how certain things will be solved or finished.  I am also impressed with the fact that even though this was a MG book I was engaged, interested and didn't feel like I was reading something meant for younger people (I have had MG that annoy me to no end for the reason they make me feel like a child).  I think if you want a book that is a quick and yet enjoyable read you should seriously consider this one.

Instead he just got smarter and faster, managed to stay one step ahead of the Drones.  There was no alternative really; it was that or simply curl up and die.

"I understand," Sam said with a nod, "but I've not spoken to another human being for a year and a half.  I thought that I was the last person on earth that hadn't been turned into a mindless zombie, so there's no way I'm just going to lie in bed.  I want to go and meet the others."

Nobody had considered the possibility that the whole mechanism of government would be rendered irrelevant in the blank of an eye, that all these "powerful" men and woman could be reduced to mindless slaves in the space of a heartbeat, no different from anyone else.

With not a single human witness, the tower that had stood for one hundred and fifty years collapsed, and Big Ben fell, toppling into the very building that it had come to symbolize in a shower of shattered stone.