The Planetsider

This Young Adult novel is a bit of a misnomer. It certainly has all of the common elements of a good YA, but it is a bit more in depth than you normally find. First of all, <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/38474204.The_Planetsider_Uncover_the_past__Fight_for_the_future_" title="The Planetsider Uncover the past. Fight for the future. by G.J. Ogden" rel="noopener">The Planetsider: Uncover the past. Fight for the future.</a> is a great read. Full of action, but also introspective. Ethan, the protagonist is on the classic hero's journey, living through his trials and tribulations. Learning that ignorance is sometimes bliss. This is about a young man coming of age in a Post-Apocalyptic world and his desire to stretch beyond what is expected of him. A young man looking for the truth and finding it cost him his innocence. One of my favorite sub-plots is that he is clueless when it comes to women as all young men are of a certain age. It is hysterically funny without trying to be and that is a hard trick to pull off. <br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/17698054.G_J__Ogden" title="G.J. Ogden" rel="noopener">G.J. Ogden</a> inserts into this world all sorts of fun tidbits to be studied and he meshes them incredibly well. There is societal studies on religion, relationships, the end of childhood, truth, as well as war. <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/17698054.G_J__Ogden" title="G.J. Ogden" rel="noopener">G.J. Ogden</a> blends his elements within the weaving of his tale and you never notice because the story flows so smoothly. I was surprised the story ended so fast because it felt like I just started. This is the first of a series and it left me wanting more.<br /><br />This new writer has a boatload of talent and is certainly worth a long look in this YA genre. Take the time and you will thankful.

A very thoughtful, well-written and deftly plotted first novel. <br /><br />The story is set many years in the future, after an apocalyptic event which is a mystery to the small number of inhabitants eking out a living in the known settlements. The location is not named, not even the continent, but this is irrelevant to the surviving humans. Danger surrounds them - there are crazy, violent, distorted people roaming the wilderness who have been driven slowly mad by the toxins in the atmosphere. <br /><br />Our hero Ethan (who seems to be at least partly immune to the toxins) meets some strangers who explain the story behind the disaster and the reason why the atmosphere became toxic. I won't give too much away but they come from a very great distance.<br /><br />I loved this book but was torn between 4 and 5 stars - although it's a super story I thought the characters were somewhat over-emotional. Also some of them seemed quite resentful of their difficult life - this didn't quite ring true because people only get resentful if they've seen something better to compare with, and not if their situation is the same as everyone else's (as the song says, "if I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor"). So a solid 4.5 stars, amazing for a first novel. I do hope for sequel eventually - although we reach a homecoming of sorts, there is a lot more that could be said about this world and its characters.

<strong>A Dystopian Masterpiece </strong><br /><br />The adventure is outstanding and begins from the first page! The main character is Ethan and his amazing journey from a medieval village on a decimated earth. All the way to a high Tech base on the moon is indeed an adventure that moves at a fast pace and make this one of the best Dystopian novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Very well written and with an intriguing premise for the distraction of our current world

I enjoyed this enough to buy the next book in the series. It did turn out to have some form of zombies in it - although not the traditional ones. I don't normally touch zombie books but this was okay. There was quite a bit of head hopping, but overall, a good yarn.<br /><br />When strangers come from the skies, who should Ethan believe?<br /><br />Some violence - not extreme.

<strong>A sci fi Apocalyptic Romance</strong><br /><br />People on Earth, people in space, and people on the Moon all play a part in this novel. This book does a really good job of giving a view point from each group of people. I enjoyed the way they tried to bring them together and yet still keep them all apart. However the male lead in the story ends up finding a love interest from each of the three groups of people.<br /><br /> I enjoyed this novel very much and I'm considering reading the next two novels in the series, however the ending of the book was complete without a cliffhanger.

What a great combo. I was also surprised to find this the author's debut novel because it was so well written. Having a military background, I found the military interaction and jargon very comforting - I spend 20 years in the military and my husband did 26.5. As a murder mystery lover and a sci-fi fan, this was a perfect read for me. I found this book exciting and different.<br /><br />I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Excellent read if you're a Sci fi nut like myself. Please give this a chance and don't let other reviews put you off. Uest is abit of a slow start but turns into a great book. The character and world building have been written beautifully.

I enjoyed this book. The action parts were suspenseful and well written. I thought the love between Ethan and Maria developed much too quickly to be realistic but other than that It was a good read. I’ve already purchased the second one in the series. I’m anxious to see what happens next.

The Planetsider is set in the future, after The Fall, and we follow the story of Ethan, and Maria. I love the way that the book started with regular switches between Ethan and Maria, until their stories collided. It was a great way to keep things interesting, but also for us to be slowly introduced to the very different 'worlds' that Ethan and Maria come from.<br /><br />I loved the relationship between Ethan and his nephew Elijah - it was really sweet and there is a really wonderful scene in which Elijah has some tough questions for his uncle. I appreciated this as parent, because there are just some questions that you don't know the best answer to, and some you don't even have a good answer to. I love this depth, and the way that Ethan questioned everything. He needs to know what happened in the past in order to work out his future. The frustration Ethan faces, being the only one in his settlement to feel like this was really well done too.<br /><br />The Planetsider is a book of two separate halves, the first half is very much an exploration of a post-apocalyptic Earth, one with few resources and even fewer answers about what came before. The second half is 'more Sci-Fi' and takes a real twist. I felt the paranoia that Ethan faces really acutely. He is aware that he can't really trust anyone... but he has no choice. I thought that this second half of the book was incredibly well done.  The chagrin he feels when he realises that it is his own curiosity, which has got him into this mess is palpable.<br /><br />I liked the second half of The Plantsider more than the first, and found myself desperate to read on and to know what happened next. I read from 42% to the end in an afternoon.  But without the world-building and character development of the first half of the book it would obviously lose it's impact. We needed to get to know Ethan, to learn about his life so that we could really appreciate what he was being asked to give up.<br /><br />The Planetsider is a very interesting read, and I found it really thought-provoking. I don't want to say to much for fear of spoilers, but I think it raises a lot of interesting questions about humanity and society. Hubris plays a big part in The Planetsider, not just for the individual characters but for entire societies.I would definitely recommend The Planetsider, the whole concept is really interesting and reading it was the catalyst for a lot of discussions I had in my own head (if that makes sense) about The Fall, The Maddening, what would happen to 'society' after destruction of this magnitude...

My Review Number 185:<br /><br />This review is on The Planetsider, Book One In The Planetsider Trilogy by G.J. Ogden. This is the first book I have read by this author. It is Dystopian story with strong Military Science Fiction elements set in the near future.<br /><br />The story starts with one main character named Maria Salus piloting a spacefighter with another man sitting in the co-pilot’s chair named Chris Kurren. They are in the middle of a space battle with other enemy fighters and things are going badly. Where they came from is a mystery. They barely survive the engagement and crash land on Earth.<br /><br />The plotline switches next to another main character named Ethan. He is part of a walled settlement on Earth trying to survive the aftermaths of a human conflict called the Fall hundreds of years earlier that devastated the planet. Ethan is a Ranger who protects the walled settlement from outsiders called Roamers. He has an older sister named Katie and a younger nephew named Elijah.<br /><br />Occasionally the settlers see strange lights in the sky and do not know what causes them. Nearby is a destroyed city that they avoid because of the Roamers who are affected by an unknown disease called the Maddening which causes people to lose empathy, become violent and go insane over time.<br /><br />This time, Ethan sees a strange light in the sky that crashes to the ground a short distance from the village. He is sent on a mission to find out what caused the crash. Any mission outside the village is dangerous and some Rangers never return.<br /><br />Eventually, Ethan finds Maria and Chris who survived the crash and they return to the village where the leaders of the settlement learn the real story of where Maria and Chris came from and why they are here. Ethan had always wondered what caused the Fall and what he learns is much harder to accept than what he wished for.<br /><br />I give this book Four Stars because the story is suspenseful, mysterious and fast paced. The characters are realistic, but one character seems overly emotional and immature. The plot is plausible and holds your attention to the end. The dialogue and writing style are good. The science is believable. I look forward to reading the next book in this trilogy. <br /><br />Keep reading good science fiction and let me know when you find an interesting novel or author.<br />