Dark Energy

Dark Energy is a Young Adult Science Fiction story about aliens. The main character is named Alice and her father works for Nasa so they are brought to the crash site of the aliens for her father to work. Alice is enrolled in a school nearby that houses full-time high school students called Minnetonka.

The story is all about how Alice and her friends view the aliens arrival and the subsequent events that follow. You get a in-depth look at how it would feel if aliens actually did descend on the earth and how the government would react.

I really enjoyed the story being told by Alice and her friends and the experiences they went through and the honest reactions that each of the characters had as the dealt with the arrival of the aliens.

The plot twist was very interesting to me and really grabbed my attention and made me want to keep reading. Overall, this was a very interesting book and if you like science fiction then I would definitely try it out!!

Alice's father is an important NASA researcher, so when an enormous space ship crash lands in the Midwest, killing a large number of people, he is sent to investigate. Because he will be working long hours, and Alice's mother (who was an enrolled member of the Navajo) is deceased, he enrolls her in exclusive Minnetonka School for the Gifted and Talented so that she can be near him and not too far from her grandmother. She settles in fairly well, enjoys her two science loving roommates, as well as the amusing Kurt, but watches with horror as the drama with the spaceship unfolds. Originally, the ship was thought to hold 130,000 aliens, but only a few Guides come out, including Mai, who seems to be the leader. His children are Coya and Suski, who look very much like pale humans, and they are also enrolled at Minnetonka. Armed with translators, they quickly learn the ways of humans, and Alice comes to think of them as friends. At one point, Alice and her friends are allowed to explore the ship, and find some very disturbing scenes. This, along with the fact that genetically Coya and Suski seem to be descended from the Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloan people and their language is connected to Keresan, makes Alice wonder about the origins of the Guides. When a huge secret is revealed, there are bigger problems, and Alice and her friends go on the run to try to save themselves as well as Coya and Suski.

Five days ago a UFO crashed in the Midwest. Alice's father is in NASA and gets to investigate the ship. To keep her close by, Alice finds herself sent to a boarding school not far from the crash. Then the ship opens and aliens appear that aren't the stereotypical green creatures but rather look very human. The leader promises he's here to teach the world peace but others, including Alice, have reservations. Then the children of the leader are sent to the same boarding school. No longer does anyone know what to think of the aliens. Only one thing is sure--things have changed.

Want worked: I'm a huge fan of Sci-Fi novels. Think Roswell meets Star Crossed. The dialogue in this novel is very punchy. I especially loved the banter between Alice and her father. The author does a great job showing the affection they have for each other. This is a huge plus as so many YAs have a tendency to either kill off a parent, make them dysfunctional, or have them totally clueless. Kuddos for showing a strong family relationship that does have it's own quirks.

Alice is biracial--Navajo and Anglo. I love the passages which shows her interactions with her Navajo grandmother. Alice is spunky, impulsive, curious, and bright. Things heat up when one of the alien teens becomes her roommate. The interactions between the aliens and humans isn't all positive. There are some that don't like their presence.

The aliens did remind me of the now cancelled CW TV series STAR CROSSED right down to them crashing on Earth, being detained by the US government, to the children of the leader going to the nearby boarding school. But that's where the similarities end.

The background behind the aliens was very intriguing and goes along with an ancient legend. I won't say anything more only to say that that part of the novel helped with the mystery behind them and the whys behind them coming to Earth.

One thing that did slow down an otherwise engaging plot had to be how fast the climax of the story came. It felt almost too rushed and not fleshed out enough. Since I'm not Native American, I felt I couldn't really point out if those scenes were authentic or not. At times though, a few of the depictions did bother me. The author does mention at the end of the book that he stayed with a tribe and went through a sacred ceremony. He then showed them the scenes and cut back until they were happy with the representation. He also acknowledges that he did the best of his ability by having multiple Native readers and on site research.

There are bloody and gory scenes. One scene in particular is especially graphic. This happens after Alice's father volunteers her and her roommates to investigate parts of the ship that he and his workers at NASA couldn't get to yet. The huge reveal on what really went on the space ship is very grisly. Add to that the bloody final confrontation between Alice, her roommates, and the aliens. The full impact of the conflict though goes by so fast it's not as disturbing as THE FIFTH WAVE.

Fast-paced engaging Sci-Fi tale where a crashed alien ship reveals a startling secret that involves everyone on Earth.