Friday 20 January 2012

POD Review

POD
-          Stephen Wallenfels
Publisher: UK - Templar 
POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside.
Josh is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food... Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...
When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself. What would you do to survive?
What happens to the ordinary people when the aliens appear in the skies in huge spaceships that look like Pearls of Death (or PODs)? This book answers some of those questions by focussing on the ordinary people during an alien invasion. Anyone outside when the PODs first appear are instantly ‘disappeared’, leaving humans to huddle indoors while the PODs hover above.
The story is told is told from two points of view; Josh, the teenaged boy trapped in his house with his father and dog, rapidly running out of supplies and Megs, an eleven year old sleeping in her mum’s car in a hotel’s multi-story car park. Megs may be young but she is resourceful, figuring out how to survive and avoid the men with the knife who are holed up in the hotel. She has a lot of humanity in her and I was really invested in her survival – worrying more about her human enemies than the alien ones. Josh’s story was less eventful and a little sad as he and his Dad argue over rationing, and if surviving was worth it. Meg’s story was fast paced and tense, while Josh’s was more thoughtful and introspective which balanced each other out. Overall though, I wanted to spend more time with Megs as I felt more drawn to her – she wanted to survive while Josh seemed ready to give up more than once.
The story is exciting and well written – I was so invested in the story I even started mentally cataloguing the food in my kitchen and figuring out what containers I could fill with water. I have to confess to purchasing more tinned food than usual this week – just in case. J
The alien PODs remain just that – alien, with no revelation as to their motive or plan. While the aliens are the catalyst for the events, PODs is really more of a study of the best and worst of humanity. Is surviving at any cost worth it? A great adventure story that I was sorry to see end.
Recommended for fans of Charlie Higson and Michael Grant.  9 out of 10

4 comments:

  1. A nice one, thanks for your review! I am not a fan of UFO stories but I might try that!

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  2. I swear I had a dream like that once...

    Anyway, that certainly does sound like an interesting book, and I think I'd like to read it, if I get the chance. Nice review; you've definitely piqued my interest!

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  3. I can't seem to hear the word POD witout thinking about snog, marry or avoid on telly ;)

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  4. Don't forget that the tub can be filled just in case. ;)

    Sci-fi? Hm... might have to. I've done my fantasy book this month... might have to add a sci-fi book. :)

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