An EXO-llent Review
Reviewer: Vraj Patel
No Spoilers!
Exo by Fonda Lee, published in 2017, is a story about a teenage boy named Donovan Reyes. He lives in a futuristic world where aliens have taken over the planet. The zhree (the name of the aliens) have a large empire throughout space, and Earth is one of their many colonies. The zhree are above humans. All major jobs on Earth are led by zhree, with humans working under them. Each human must obey every zhree's command, or there will be consequences. But Donovan is not an ordinary human: he is, for one, the son of the Prime Liaison. The Prime Liaison is the person who, as the name suggests, connects humans and zhree. Donovan is also an exo. An exo is a human that has zhree biotechnology built into them. Exos have an 'exoskeleton' on their bodies and are super strong. Exos can be used to help keep the humans in check (not rebelling against the zhree and all that good stuff). Exos get special status.
One day, while Donovan and his exo friend Jet are patrolling the city, they receive a tip-off from a little kid saying he knows some people who may be aligned with the Sapience. The Sapience, or sapes, is a group of humans who disagree with the zhree control of Earth. They want to become free from the zhree and let humans rule themselves. Donovan and Jet go to the house of the potential Sapience members.
It turned out that some sapes were living there, spreading all of their propaganda. Donovan and Jet quickly bust in and arrest the people. One girl, however, runs away. Donovan chases after her, but he fails. He did not know that the girl, who he later finds out is named Anya, was leading him to some other Sapience members. Donovan is taken hostage by the Sapience. They torture him, and once they realize he is the son of the Prime Liaison, they try to use him as a bargaining chip to get what they want. The sapes take Donovan to their hideout, in a place called the Warren. There, Donovan meets many other sapes, one of which turns out to be his long lost mother! His mother, who has taken on the name "Max," is one of the top people in the Sapience. Donovan learns the motives behind Max's choice to join the Sapience, some of which are reasonable. Now, he's stuck. Should Donovan betray his people to help his mother, or should he go back to his people, but know that his mother might get hurt?
Exo is a great book. I would rate it an 8.9/10. The idea of humans with alien powers is interesting and intriguing. The concept of aliens taking over Earth makes you think about what could happen in the future. Are there aliens out there? If there are, will they find us or will we find them? Will they be friendly? Lee's writing sparks imagination and curiosity about the future in this way.
The way Lee depicts Donovan also makes the book enjoyable. Donovan's character is relatable in many senses, one of which is his emotions. He still cares about his mother, even though she abandoned him years ago. This emotion shows his humanity, even though some look at him as non-human (since he's an exo). Him being confused about what side of the battle to help also makes sense. Many people are stuck at crossroads throughout their lives, and Donovan's crossroads happens to determine his future, whether as a traitor to the zhree or a law-abiding citizen.
Overall, I think Exo is a fabulous book. Although it's not perfect in my view, I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading YA dystopian fiction and/or sci-fi books. Thank you for reading my blog.
No Spoilers!
One day, while Donovan and his exo friend Jet are patrolling the city, they receive a tip-off from a little kid saying he knows some people who may be aligned with the Sapience. The Sapience, or sapes, is a group of humans who disagree with the zhree control of Earth. They want to become free from the zhree and let humans rule themselves. Donovan and Jet go to the house of the potential Sapience members.
It turned out that some sapes were living there, spreading all of their propaganda. Donovan and Jet quickly bust in and arrest the people. One girl, however, runs away. Donovan chases after her, but he fails. He did not know that the girl, who he later finds out is named Anya, was leading him to some other Sapience members. Donovan is taken hostage by the Sapience. They torture him, and once they realize he is the son of the Prime Liaison, they try to use him as a bargaining chip to get what they want. The sapes take Donovan to their hideout, in a place called the Warren. There, Donovan meets many other sapes, one of which turns out to be his long lost mother! His mother, who has taken on the name "Max," is one of the top people in the Sapience. Donovan learns the motives behind Max's choice to join the Sapience, some of which are reasonable. Now, he's stuck. Should Donovan betray his people to help his mother, or should he go back to his people, but know that his mother might get hurt?
Exo is a great book. I would rate it an 8.9/10. The idea of humans with alien powers is interesting and intriguing. The concept of aliens taking over Earth makes you think about what could happen in the future. Are there aliens out there? If there are, will they find us or will we find them? Will they be friendly? Lee's writing sparks imagination and curiosity about the future in this way.
The way Lee depicts Donovan also makes the book enjoyable. Donovan's character is relatable in many senses, one of which is his emotions. He still cares about his mother, even though she abandoned him years ago. This emotion shows his humanity, even though some look at him as non-human (since he's an exo). Him being confused about what side of the battle to help also makes sense. Many people are stuck at crossroads throughout their lives, and Donovan's crossroads happens to determine his future, whether as a traitor to the zhree or a law-abiding citizen.
My only criticism of the book is the cliché romantic storyline. Donovan and Anya have this little affair throughout their time together. This love is part of the reason why he questions whether to help the Sapience or not. The cliché aspect is them being in love even though they really should not be, as they are on opposing sides of a conflict. This storyline has happened before plenty of times (cough, Romeo and Juliet, cough), so adding this romance does not contribute anything special to the story.
(Oh yeah, while looking for an image of the book cover, I found out there is a sequel. If you do end up reading Exo, check out Cross Fire by Fonda Lee after.)
Nice review! I liked your spoiler-free summary since it explained the premise of Exo concisely and definitely hooked me in. Donovan's dilemma seems like it was setup nicely, and I really want to find out which side he ends up choosing. Your blog title was also exo-llent! Exo sounds like a great book, and I will defnitely have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. At first, Exo might seem like just another classic aliens-invade-Earth book, but your summary quickly dismantles that viewpoint by introducing the interesting concept of a human-alien hybrid keeping peace between the species. The only issue that I had with the review was that it says no spoilers, and yet gives away some crucial plot points during the summary. For example, you reveal that one of the sapience is his long-lost mother, which feels like a bit of a spoiler. Otherwise, nice job giving a detailed, interesting review.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this review and the book sounds very interesting! I may have to read it sometime. For some reason, when you mentioned the exoskeleton, it reminded me of the movie Elysium, but that's unrelated. Your summary of the book was great as it gave a good overview of the book. It sounds like you enjoyed this book, but I would agree that the cliche romance between opposing sides has been used too many time.
ReplyDeleteAmazing review. I liked how you gave a summary of the beginning of the book without really spoiling anything. I agree with your opinion that the love between opposing sides gets old after too many uses, but it still sounds like Exo would be a great read. This truly is an EXO-llent review. May many bolognas fall from the sky for you
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