Alien: Echo by Mira Grant
Published by Imprint on April 9th 2019
ISBN: 1250306299
Pages: 304
Goodreads

Author Mira Grant brings a new installment to the Alien franchise with young adult novel “Alien: Echo.” Olivia Shipp has traveled around the universe with her xenobiologist parents and her twin sister, Viola. Now they are on Zagreus, a new colony out in the middle of nowhere where most of the planet is wild and unstudied. Her parents were hired by the colony to do scientific research. Her sister Viola is so sick that she is housebound, so Olivia has to go to the school on her own with the colonist children. Even on a distant planet, there’s some typical high school drama: crushes, bullies, secret parties, etc. When the colony purchases an abandoned ship for cheap resources, that’s when things hit the fan.

Once the action starts, it barely slows down. There is plenty of gore and death, as in the original Alien movies, but teens will enjoy it. There is an LGBTQ romance that felt a little thin on Recommended for fans of the “Illuminae Files,” this young adult novel is a good addition where science fiction is popular.

Reviewed by Kate Radke, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook.