Ender's Game meets Barsoom's planetary romance in this story of teenagers halting an alien invasion.
The Night People have preyed on human beings for centuries, but soon millions of them will come and wipe out all life on Earth. Sixteen-year-old Kyle Tanner discovers he has the rare ability to travel to a parallel universe. Creatures from it often visit Earth to feed on sleeping humans, and now a portal between the two dimensions will open completely, uniting both worlds. Kyle and his team may be able to stop the influx of Night People, but a shadowy cult has vowed to destroy them if they try.
The narrative of The Night People alternates between Kyle's visits to the dangerous antiverse, and the story of how he and a group of young receptives with unusual psychic powers learn to trust each other and work together as a team. (First book of a series)
Quarter Finalist
Assessment:
Plot: Alexander's novel is fast-paced and features an energetic and engaging storyline. The author provides readers with ample and logical backstories, while the plot rapidly unfolds, hooking readers and not letting go.
Prose: Alexander's prose is clear, concise, and beautifully eloquent during the most nightmarish scenes.
Originality: Alexander's work is certainly inspired by classic science-fiction and contemporary series. But despite these nods to other works, Alexander's voice remains fresh and original. Each horror and phantasm that the author brings to life is more gruesome and haunting than the one preceding it.
Character Development: Alexander 's characters are well developed and believable. The author deftly provides creative backstories for each of the major players, which helps readers engage with them.
Blurb: Alexander's novel will have fans of horror and sci-fi squirming in their seats with both enjoyment and fear.
Date Submitted: June 28, 2017
"A supernatural tale with engaging characters and psychic powers...Alexander builds a solid foundation for his psychic-teen tale by concentrating on his fictional universe’s more relatable qualities...There’s an assortment of remarkable creatures, such as “ravenors,” which are hairless, sexless, and at least 10 feet tall. The most nerve-wracking enemies, though, remain unseen, sometimes using their powers to make people watch—or attack—Banville students...a fine setup for a sequel." (Review Posted Online: Aug. 2nd, 2017)
"Cross Harry Potter and the gang at Hogwart’s with the gifted mutants at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning from X-Men, and you get something like The Night People. This entertaining science fiction book for young adults addresses themes of loneliness, bullying, acceptance, and first love...The narrative also includes light touches of humor that its young audience will appreciate...The book’s satisfactory conclusion leaves the academy door open for more books in the series." (Reviewed: July, 2017)
"Although the night people feed on fear, anger, violence, and other extreme emotions, they aren’t the cause of the world’s wrongs. Rather, they’re opportunistic parasites feeding on humanity’s ever-ready store of emotion. It’s humanity’s ability to get in touch with and understand their own emotions that’s the key to overcoming the alien threat.
Thus, Kyle and the other students at Banville work on their mental strength, defined similarly to self-knowledge and achieved through meditation and mindfulness that make the brain agile and able to encode strong pathways of positive thinking.
Science fiction’s alien other is ripe territory for YA fiction, and The Night People pairs quantum mechanics and human emotion in compelling ways. A rare offering that successfully merges hard-driving action and arresting insight, this book dives into a threatening alien world and reveals that human power comes not from what we deny, but from embracing and understanding our whole selves." (Review Posted Online: August 19, 2017)
