For Ethan Blackwood, life is perfect. He’s a star athlete and an excellent student; he has lots of friends and a warm and loving family. His future is bright; most immediately, he’s looking forward to the soccer championship. Until he’s kidnapped and finds out that everything he knows is a lie. The Ch'zar—sinister, unseen aliens—have been in control for decades and are slowly but surely stripping the planet of all viable resources. Humans live in isolated neighborhoods that only simulate normal life, with everything manipulated by alien mind control. But mind control doesn’t work on children, only on adults. So it’s up to the few teens who know the truth to fight back and save their friends and siblings, who are growing older by the day. These are The Resisters…and they, too, are growing older every day. The author of many installments in the Halo series, Nylund is also head writer for Microsoft Game Studios. He sure knows how to set the scene and get the action rolling, placing more-or-less believable characters in an unbelievable landscape, complete with a Ch’zar-altered history. This is clearly the first installment and is engaging enough to leave readers wanting more. (Science fiction. 10 & 14)
