Conquest was a fun and enjoyable read that for the most part hit the marks that I like in Sci-Fi novels. It has some interesting topics in there even if it does not cover much new ground compared to other works. The characters were well written and detailed though not all of them I liked. Interesting technology, aliens and world building were all present so it kept my interest all the way through. I will be continuing with the series when the next novel arrives in 2015.

3.5/4 stars for the fun story.
( )

As a Young Adult novel, this isn't bad. It has a teenage protagonist (and appropriate sidekicks), close calls, narrow escapes, and various adventures, but as science fiction... well, it just didn't quite click for me.

It's a story of alien invasion. The aliens (Illyri) arrive, subjugate the planet (as somewhat benevolent conquerors), and then defend themselves against the pesky, unappreciative humans who have now become terrorists. Until a plot twist at the end (which reminded me of one of the poorer Star Trek TNG story arcs), the Illyri seem to be pursuing the same kind of folly as European colonial powers of the 19th Century, with Earth serving in the role of Africa, India, and China. It seemed unlikely to me that an advanced, star-faring civilization would be so short-sighted, and the Illyri's motivations for conquering Earth are never clear (or, when implied, not believable). But then the aliens don't seem very alien. Essentially, they are people without eyelids (who can pass for human in poor light if they wear sunglasses), but their intelligence, worldview, emotions, reactions, and culture are all on par with contemporary mediocre humans. They've got some cool gadgets and spaceships and such, but they don't seem like an 'advanced' or even alien civilization to me.

The prose is adequate for a YA novel, the dialogue works, and the editing is good, but the characters and plot felt contrived beyond my ability to suspend disbelief. All in all, the book is okay. In Goodreads parlance that equates to 2 stars. ( )

Really promising start, then spirals down into mediocrity. ( )

I read this book when I read "Desperation's" companion "The Regulators." I thought the plot of those two books would be the same, thus wanted to read another book. The two "Stephen King" books turned out to have different plots, but the fact that Conquest had two authors made this book "fit" nicely.

Unfortunately, some of the chapters really sucked for me. There was a chapter when the heroine met the villainess, and the heroine purposely dumped a cup of coffee or something on a rug - that was a "she needs to be disciplined" moment, but I think was suppose to be a "she's got spunk" moment. Maybe? maybe it was put into the book as a "she's young" thing.

Another section that bothered me: our heroine was in trouble. The brother of her boyfriend to be was trying to help, but also got into a no-way-to-get-out-of-this-situation. The way the situation was resolved was too convenient. The author backed into a corner, and to get out of it, gave a character a supernatural ability. Convenient - and that bugs me.

Some of the other parts were very enjoyable. However, I can't think of examples of the good parts as I can of the bad .That's not a good thing. ( )

Conquest was the first book I won on Goodreads, and I was so stupidly happy to start reading it. I'm not going to lie, I had completely forgot not only about entering the contest but what the book was about, but after a quick re-read of the summary I was looking forward to it. Then I started it, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't really click with it straight away. This book is nearly 500 pages, and for the first 100 pages I was close to putting it down and forgetting about it. However in the summary on goodreads it's regarded as a book for fans of THE 5TH WAVE and I AM NUMBER FOUR. Now I haven't read the Lorien Legacies but I do happen to be a big fan of The 5th Wave, so I thought I would give the book the benefit of the doubt and carry on with it. Well low and behold soon after contemplating it in my DNF pile, I became hooked.

Though this book has been compared to The 5th Wave, the one big difference you have between the two is one is about a young girls survival in a world that's recently been invaded by alien, while this book we get to see it mainly from the aliens having the majority of the dialogue coming from the Illyri which is really refreshing. As far as character's in the book go we have a lot of interesting one's but the one's that will stick in your mind the most for obvious reason's is the 16 year old Syl, the only child of the new ruler of earth and Paul, not only a human but also part of the resistance. Both characters, as well as the rest, are not only well written but relatable at times no matter the race.

I think as much as I love the characters, and I do, the one thing that took my break away about this book was the world they had built. Set in Edinburgh, we have the lovely Scottish highland and castles, one of which Syl lives in, nothing is left to the imagination, they set a picture in your mind perfectly and it sticks with you for a long time. Aside from that, the relationships in the story are so believable and slow building, you enjoy it , you feel along with the characters and in the end it leaves you wanting more. The best type of relationships always do.

Though this book written by the new comer, Jennifer Ridyard and name that people around the YA community have heard at lest once, John Connolly (author of The Book of Lost Things) is in the YA genre, it more than your typical book aimed for younger people. It has mature themes (not content, it's pretty straight and narrow), the authors don't try to treat you like children by dumbing things down and overall it's just a really lovely, unique SCI FI book that could be enjoyed by people of all ages ( )