Valiant

Merrie Destefano

Entangled Teen

December 4, 2018

---

Blurb: The Valiant was supposed to save us. Instead, it triggered the end of the world.

Earth is in shambles. Everyone, even the poorest among us, invested in the Valiant’s space mining mission in the hopes we’d be saved from ourselves. But the second the ship leaves Earth’s atmosphere, our fate is sealed. The alien invasion begins. They pour into cities around the world through time portals, possessing humans, forcing us to kill one another.

And for whatever reason, my brother is their number one target.

Now the fate of the world lies in the hands of me, a seventeen-year-old girl, but with the help of my best friend, Justin―who’s suddenly starting to feel like more―maybe if we save my brother, we can save us all…

---

SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

For the briefest of moments at the beginning of Valiant by Merrie Destefano, I was confused, but it didn’t matter because I was thrown on a roller coaster and clinging for dear life.

For most of the novel’s 304 pages, the action and tension do not let up. The reader is literally swishing through pages to find out what happens next.

The descriptions place the reader in the scene without huge amounts of exposition, which would have diluted the action.

At the beginning we meet Sara, her brother Gabe, and their friends, Justin, Natalie and Billy. All of them except for Sara die on the first day of the alien invasion. Sara, however, becomes a time traveler and has fifteen chances to make it right via the help of the Xua resistance (Xua is the name of the alien race). For Sara, that’s like groundhog day over and over, but more gruesome. On the second to last try, Sara’s Xua mentor is hurt, and she presumes he is dead so she has to try to get by on her own. This time she determines that she will do everything differently.

While I really enjoyed most of the novel, I was not a fan of the ending, which seemed a set up for a sequel and left strings untied, especially the introduction of a character whose name popped up a few times throughout the book. However, the ending was not enough to change my attitude.

If you’re a fan of YA dystopian novels, you might want to give this one a try. It’s fast paced and exciting.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Valiant goes on sale tomorrow. You can pre-order from Amazon here.

---

rating:

4 butterflies and a ladybug out of 5 butterflies

---