OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Extinction" by Daleen Viljoen.]
Extinction by Daleen Valjoen, is a young adults science fiction romance novel, set on 'future Earth', post alien invasion. While the book starts off shakily, with clichés, and obvious plot twists, it develops into something much more as the novel transverses. In reality, Extinction would earn itself a 2.5 out of 4, but for the purposes of this review, it's official rating shall be 3 out of 4, and the reasons for which it lost a 'half point', will be explained later in the review. A one word summary of the book would be; axiomatic. The novel essentially is the story of the lovebirds; Lexie Miller and Chai. Lexie being the daughter of a traitorous Prime Minister, who had taken the side of the alien race, the Vandelrizi; and Chai, who was an incredibly attractive, and powerful, Epsilon from out of space. A Chris Pratt if you will.

The basic, and cliché elements and themes of a young adults novel that had some of it roots in the romance, shone distinctly through the fog. The focus was often on the star struck lovers, and less on the global conflict that was shaking the futuristic Earth to it's core; which often left you wondering, just how important Earth actually was to Lexie and Chai in the face of their infatuation. The backstory is a rather interesting topic; there is none. We are given brief flashes of how the Earth got taken over, what happened within Lexie's earlier years, but little outside of that. While in some novels, a lack of a strong backstory that is developed upon and explained throughout the novel, is a lacking point, in this novel, it was more of a strength. Having very little to explain around the backstory of characters, allowed the author to discuss the more important points, which were the here and now components.

My overall reactions to the novel, were quite varied. When I first started to read the novel, my initial reaction was one of frustration; "Great, another stereotypical love story about a human and some form of alien or supernatural being". Over the course of the following chapters as the ebbed and flowed through, I grew to appreciate, and enjoy the novel. While I saw things coming, and there were cliché moments, it was still a nice, solid read, that still delivered, even when I knew what was going to happen next.

I deducted half a point from the score, due to my generalised distaste of sexual intercourse being used as a 'get out of jail free card'. Allow me to explain. While this is a novel with some of it's roots in the romantic genre, I felt that it didn't require sexual intercourse to be a pivotal part of it's creation. That is literally the only major issue I have with Extinction.

All in all, this was an incredibly solid novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. I recommend it for anyone above the age of 15 that is interested in science fiction, and don't object to romance playing a part in the story.

***
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Really good Adurna101! I enjoyed your first review, and look forward to more! Thinking I might even pick up Extinction!

Thanks! This is actually my second. The first one is still going through approval issues. You should definitely give it a go. It's actually a pretty solid read. I see a bright future for this author.

I definitely will! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! Are you reviewing any other books at the moment?

Nice review Adurna101! This sounds interesting. Though the fact that there's not really a backstory kind of turns me off...even though you said it was fine, I just feel like it's an important part of world-building. But I'll probably give it a go anyway.

Yeah, lack of world building and backstory can be incredibly important; but sometimes it doesn't matter, though only in the cases of say a more romancy type novel, which this is.