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As Aelyx is attempting to fix the Human - L'eihr alliance on Earth, Cara finds herself on her own (aside from her brother) on an unfamiliar planet to complete her part of the exchange, and, better yet, help develop the colony where one day she and Aelyx will make a home for themselves. Unfortunately, the L'eihr's are having a difficult time accepting even the most basic human freedoms for the colony because the L'eihrs seem to fully expect to impose their culture upon the human colonists rather than seek to integrate elements from both societies as was seemingly planned. Cara begins to wonder if she could be ever be truly happy with the proposed lifestyle.
While Cara is attempting to sort out all of this and school, Aleyx is stuck doing major PR work to improve human - L'eihr relations. While his people seemingly have the upper-hand in the situation (since they're the only one who can fix the water supply, even if most humans know that their survival depends on this alliance), L'eihr leaders seem almost desperate to get humanity on their side, regardless of the assassination attempts on Aelyx's life. Both Aelyx and Cara are sure that The Way needs humanity, but for what and at what cost.
The tables have completely turned this time around in Invaded for our two core characters. Aelyx is my favorite to read, and in this sequel I really believe Landers captured his character really well; however, I actually found myself much more interested in Cara's journey on L'eihr. I enjoyed getting a first hand look at the planet and a much closer look at the inner workings of its people. The world building is great when in comes to fleshing out Aelyx's home-world. Although, Aelyx deals with assassination attempts while on his PR campaign, his half of the story seems pretty slow paced in comparison to Cara's. Of the newly introduced characters, David is easily the best and has the most to do. Aside from the somewhat uneven pacing, my only real complaint with the novel was the ending. I don't know if anyone felt the same way but it seemed to me that it was a bit of a cop out (view spoiler). With the way this book ends, it pretty much ensures a third installment of the series.
Overall, Invaded is a great sequel, but it doesn't quite have enough of what made its predecessor so much fun. It is still a must read for fans of Alienated and I am definitely looking forward to however many books are in the rest of the series. I'm looking forward to learning more about the Ancients.
I read this book from April 10 - 15, 2015 and my review is also on Goodreads.
I agree with you on the fact that this one wasn't as good as Alienated. It's still a great book, but it had a bit of middle-book syndrome. Also, I agree with you on Cara's perspective. I know things were happening with Aelyx, but it didn't feel like it, and my favorite part of this book would be seeing more of the L'eihr life. Anyway, great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm hoping for better things for the rest of the series. :)
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