Review: Invasion (C.H.A.O.S Book One) by Jon S. Lewis

Sixteen year-old Colt McAllister is orphaned after his parents are killed in a car “accident.”  He moves to Arizona to live with his grandfather and start up his life all over again.  Shortly thereafter, he receives a call stating his parents death wasn’t an accident; his mother was killed because she was about to reveal that a top corporation known for creating chips to aid in curing serious diseases is actually using these chips for mind control.  His father was “collatoral damage.” 

Colt soon realizes his world wasn’t as it seems, but strangely mirrors a series of comic books his parents encouraged him to read as a child.  The flying motorcycles & beings from other worlds are real, and human kind is protected from these invaders by an agency referred to as C.H.A.O.S.  This isn’t anything new; C.H.A.O.S involvement can be tied back to World War II.

It is up to Colt & his friends Danielle & Oz, along with the C.H.A.O.S. agency to stop an alien race from crossing over into their world for the purpose of dominating the human race.

Invasion serves its role as the first book in a series. It introduces the characters, provides back-story and lays out the main storyline.  The storyline is exciting and engaging.  As a lover of graphic novels myself it was exciting to read about one quite literally coming to life.  My only complaint is the lack of character development.  I hope Lewis plans on expanding upon this in much more detail in the subsquent books. Because I couldn’t “mesh” with any of the characters, this book didn’t grab my attention as much as I would have liked. 

While published by a christian fiction publisher, Invasion really didn’t have the feel of christian fiction.  There was only a brief mention of faith, but again perhaps this is something the author will delve into more in subsequent books.

All in all, I do recommend Invasion  for fans of YA science fiction.  The plot is pretty unique and this series has a lot of potential.  I do look forward to the second book in this series, scheduled for release in 2012.