ECO REIGN

Vastly powerful space aliens hijack Earth and abduct and imprison humans.

Following a power outage, our adolescent narrator, Lauren, her younger brother, Matthew, and their mother are among the masses of humanity literally swept up by powerful, godlike space aliens and jailed in rather conveniently available hangars in town. Deadly energy barriers keep people contained, and troublemakers die hideously. Eventually, the Invaders show themselves. The gaunt, robed, elongated humanoids declare that humankind’s endless ravaging of Earth’s environment must end immediately. The planet will be rehabilitated whether they like it or not. Earth’s inhabitants, meanwhile, will suffer an indefinite period of “atonement...and…enlightenment.” Small liberties are soon granted to the prisoners. Ultimately, Lauren finds herself corralled with the other children separated from their families, and she’s trained by a pair of Invaders (one female and kindly, the other male and harsh). The aliens seem to have other ET species working in subservient positions, and as long as Lauren cooperates, she’s permitted access to the Invaders’ impressive technology, which allows for the revival of extinct animals and restoration of Earth as a biodiverse paradise. But cruel mistreatment of humans persists, and Lauren wonders if the Invaders have a more selfish, sinister agenda. Galuppo’s YA debut is akin to The War of the Worldsand not unlike recent bestsellers, like Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave. But rather than spectacular destruction and action, the novel emphasizes stifling confinement and slow, crafty indoctrination. A hostage-style narrative of deprivation, reward systems, and Orwellian mind-conditioning that might have succumbed to tedium and predictability is actually provocative and suspenseful. Invaders are allowed to remain nonhuman enough that their overwhelming menace does not feel merely like a nasty caricature of Homo sapiens’ “green” movements. An open ending and fertile story threads indicate Galuppo has more than a few seedlings for a sequel in the girl-vs-Goliath mode.

Vicious alien conquest and oppression drive this provocative YA/SF thriller.