by Margaret Stohl
ages: 12+
First sentence: “One tiny gray dot, no bigger than a freckle, marks the inside of the baby’s chubby arm.”
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I am making a declaration: alien invasions are the new dystopian. Maybe it’s just a stand-alone trend (yes, I am going to read The 5th Wave), but really: I think there’s some interesting ground to be covered with alien invasions.

Stohl’s take on it is this: seventeen years ago the aliens — now called the House of Lords — took over the world in a single attack. Their mother ship took over the Pentagon (why is it always America?), and they took out all the world’s major cities, instantly killing billions of people. They planted what’s come to be known as Icons near thirteen of the major cities left — Moscow, Paris, and L.A. — to keep control over the rest of the human population. The humans never see them (the Rebellion — of course there’s one — calls them the No Face); their only interaction with the House of Lords is through the Ambassadors in the cities.

Doloria — Dol to her friends — is a survivor of that day. No one knows why really. She’s been living at an orphanage outside of L.A. — called the Hole now — living there, in relative safety. Her most curious trait: the one gray dot on her wrist, and her ability to read other people’s thoughts and emotions. Her best friend is Furo — Ro — another like her: he has two red dots, and a propensity for fighting. They don’t think much of their powers until Dol’s 17th birthday, when the Embassy captures them and brings them in for “tests”. There they meet two others like them: the ambassador’s son, Lucas (three dots, can charm people into doing what he wants) and Tima (four dots; she’s called the Freak, but her talent — aside from shocking people with huge bursts of electricity when she’s angry — isn’t really explained). Together the four of them (if they can stop fighting) may be able to push back against the aliens who have kept the world hostage for so long.

On the one hand, I really liked Stohl’s vision of the alien invasion. It wasn’t little green men, and I appreciated that she left everything so vague. In many ways that was more intense. I liked the idea of the Icons, and the civilization that sprung up around them. I wanted her to spend more time there. And, to tell the truth, less on Dol. Because she grated on me (as did the love triangle. Really. *sigh*). In fact, I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters; they were all pretty bland. Even with the bland characters and predictable love story, the world building was enough to keep me interested and curious enough to wonder where Stohl is going to go next.