Author: Sarah Fine, Walter Jury
Format Acquired: Borrowed ARC
Publication Date: May 1, 2014
Publishing House: Putnam Children's
ISBN: 9780399160653
Source of Copy: Borrowed from Dianne (Oops, I Read A Book Again)
Summary:
Tate and his father don't exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best - at everything. Tate finally learns what he's being prepared for when he steals one of his dad's odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans.
All Tate knows - like how to make weapons out of oranges and lighter fluid - may not be enough to save him as he's plunged into a secret inter-species conflict that's been going on for centuries. Aided only by his girlfriend and estranged mother, with powerful enemies closing in on all sides, Tate races to puzzle out the secret behind his father's invention and why so many are willing to kill for it.
Review:
Tate has no idea why his dad insists upon him being perfect. With only his loving girlfriend as his sanctuary, Tate is emotionally distant from a father who spends most of his time developing inventions that Tate could not understand. What starts as a prank when he brings one of his dad's inventions to school turns into an action-filled chase resulting in his father's death, and him discovering that the world has been infiltrated by human-looking aliens... and that what he's holding in his hands could potentially start a war millions do not know that they're part of.
The ball starts rolling pretty quick when Tate sneaks into his father's supposedly secret workroom and brings to school one of his shiny, albeit "useless", inventions. All hell inevitably breaks loose, and immediately, readers are taken on a wild romp with Tate and his super girlfriend, Christina, as they try to outwit, outsmart, and outrun the aliens who wouldn't hesitate to kill them for the invention.
I did like Tate's predilection for making science seem cool with all the makeshift inventions of his own in lieu or boring firearms, and how well he works with Christina in tandem. While she is the girlfriend who just gets roped into this whole mess, Christina is very level-headed and it almost seems like she's used to being chased down by homicidal aliens. Tate's need for proof, or at least a hint, of his father's love is bittersweet, as readers would find out for themselves in the book.
Fast-paced and quite riveting this book may be, Scan felt overly long sometimes, which I can't fault it for since I am not an action flick kind of girl. And while I did like the characters, it did feel like there wasn't enough of their characters shining through that made them tangible or corporeal-like to me.
Scan would undoubtedly appeal to huge fans of alien-themed action movies. I like my alien movies mostly rom-com (like Stephenie Meyer's The Host, no judging please) so I probably wasn't the best audience for this. Scan was nonetheless quite interesting to read, if only because I, too, won't be surprised if aliens actually live amongst us, and because I didn't realize that I can pelt out predators with oranges in the event that I'm near a grocery. (Thanks, Tate.)
Source of Copy: Borrowed from Dianne (Oops, I Read A Book Again)
Summary:
Tate and his father don't exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best - at everything. Tate finally learns what he's being prepared for when he steals one of his dad's odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans.
All Tate knows - like how to make weapons out of oranges and lighter fluid - may not be enough to save him as he's plunged into a secret inter-species conflict that's been going on for centuries. Aided only by his girlfriend and estranged mother, with powerful enemies closing in on all sides, Tate races to puzzle out the secret behind his father's invention and why so many are willing to kill for it.
Review:
Tate has no idea why his dad insists upon him being perfect. With only his loving girlfriend as his sanctuary, Tate is emotionally distant from a father who spends most of his time developing inventions that Tate could not understand. What starts as a prank when he brings one of his dad's inventions to school turns into an action-filled chase resulting in his father's death, and him discovering that the world has been infiltrated by human-looking aliens... and that what he's holding in his hands could potentially start a war millions do not know that they're part of.
The ball starts rolling pretty quick when Tate sneaks into his father's supposedly secret workroom and brings to school one of his shiny, albeit "useless", inventions. All hell inevitably breaks loose, and immediately, readers are taken on a wild romp with Tate and his super girlfriend, Christina, as they try to outwit, outsmart, and outrun the aliens who wouldn't hesitate to kill them for the invention.
I did like Tate's predilection for making science seem cool with all the makeshift inventions of his own in lieu or boring firearms, and how well he works with Christina in tandem. While she is the girlfriend who just gets roped into this whole mess, Christina is very level-headed and it almost seems like she's used to being chased down by homicidal aliens. Tate's need for proof, or at least a hint, of his father's love is bittersweet, as readers would find out for themselves in the book.
Fast-paced and quite riveting this book may be, Scan felt overly long sometimes, which I can't fault it for since I am not an action flick kind of girl. And while I did like the characters, it did feel like there wasn't enough of their characters shining through that made them tangible or corporeal-like to me.
Scan would undoubtedly appeal to huge fans of alien-themed action movies. I like my alien movies mostly rom-com (like Stephenie Meyer's The Host, no judging please) so I probably wasn't the best audience for this. Scan was nonetheless quite interesting to read, if only because I, too, won't be surprised if aliens actually live amongst us, and because I didn't realize that I can pelt out predators with oranges in the event that I'm near a grocery. (Thanks, Tate.)
Rating:
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