As a HUGE Pittacus Lore fan, I adore his newest series. While I think so of it may have been lost on me since I was listening audio and at some times I got confused, I still know that its going to be great!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the Audio ARC

Disclaimer: I received this early audiobook from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Ashfall Legacy

Author: Pittacus Lore

Book Series: Ashfall.Legacy Book 1

Rating: 1/5

Recommended For...: ya readers, sci-fi lovers

Genre: YA Sci-fi

Publication Date: August 17, 2021

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 432

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore, slight romance, drug use, animal violence jokes, language)

Synopsis: We have waited generations for you…

Syd Chambers knows that there’s life on other planets because he’s descended from it. His father was from a distant world called Denza, and has been missing—presumed dead—for years.

When Syd discovers a device his father left behind that shows not only that he’s alive, but where he is, Syd must set out on a mission of his own. But along the way, he discovers a deadly, unbearable secret that could destroy Denza, Earth, and the universe.

Review: I didn't think that there would be a book that would rival the hatred that I had when I read Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings, but this one is a close second. The book was so tropy and so horribly written that I became enraged when I read it at work and I had to stop reading it at work. The book is your standards early 2000s young adult in which are young protagonists finds out that they have some extraordinary ability but they view themselves as too obsolete to have ever possessed it. The book had the classic Chosen One trope and it even went a little bit into the love triangle trope. Besides the tropiness of the book, the character development was non-existent and most of the characters didn't make sense whatsoever. For example, we have the mother figure who is the classic mother character of most YA books in which she does everything that she can to protect her child. But then as soon as her missing husband is mentioned, she completely abandons her child and set some up to be some sort of bait to get her husband back. I don't know if that plays into the later books but that is so aggravating to have such a complete 180 from a character development standpoint. The world building was also non-existent and the book is so slow paced. I honestly could have summed up this book within three paragraphs maybe but it was expanded to probably 300 plus pages. And, from a Sci-Fi standpoint, the way that the author crafted these aliens was way too OP. the aliens can do all of these things and aren't affected by anything on Earth and yada yada yada, she didn't give hardly any weaknesses from what I saw for these aliens in the book. Finally, the main character reminded me of every single dickheaded boy that I had to interact with in high school. he had this air about him that he didn't give a s*** about anything that didn't affect him, and he treated others as just tools for his own success. I don't honestly remember a part of the book in which the character got interested in any of the side characters' lives, and I know that this is kind of going to that classic YA book trope but we left that behind in 2013. In sum, I hate this book.

Verdict: It's bad for me, try for you?

I really loved this book, it had everything in it and I never wanted to put it down its a must read. And I am happy I got the privilege to read it before it comes out.

A YA Sci-fi full of various alien species and lots of action with a little twist near the end.

While the premise was intriguing the execution fell a little short for me. I did enjoy the various characters from different worlds, but the character work wasn't enough for me to really care about any positive or negative impacts on their life.

If you're a reader that cares more about plot line and action, then this might be for you.

Thank you to #netgalley and #harperaudio for the audiobook sent for review!

I received the Audio Galley of Ashfall Legacy from NetGalley free of charge. It was my choice to read and review.

This is the first book I've read by Pittacus Lore. This was really bad. The synopsis says it "will enthrall fans of Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, and Brandon Sanderson." TOTALLY disagree. It felt more middle grade than a young adult book to be honest. I was impressed with the plot progression because when I started listening I had predictions about where the story would go and it went further than I thought. That's about the only good thing I can think of about this book. The characters and world-building were underdeveloped and because the scope was so big, there should have been fewer characters so the reader could feel more connected to the characters. Also, the reason I read sci-fi is to read about creative alien races and far-off places. I don't read sci-fi to be reminded "humans are dangerous" etc or really ANYTHING about humans (if I wanted to be reminded of that I would turn on the news or read more literary fiction) so this made the conclusion of the plot super disappointing.

I like the premise of this novel; however, I wasn't impressed with the language. I like to listen to audiobooks while I cook dinners and I was listening to this one and didn't realize just how many curse words it contained until my son quoted back a line. By no means do I mind curse words here and there in a novel; however, this one had too many for my tastes and my mom life.
I did like the space odyssey that unfolded in this novel. Syd is on the run when his uncle finds him and reveals the past that his mother has spent his entire life hiding from him. The universe unfolds before him and the ring left by his father lights his path. Half earthling, half Denza (an alien race), Syd embarks with a diverse crew to try to save humanity.
What I liked: the different alien races were pretty cool. I liked the descriptions and imagination that went into creating the worlds, the aliens and the conflict.
What I didn't like: the explicit language, the dialogue.

Years ago I really got into the Lorien Legacy series (I Am Number Four) and really enjoyed them, so when I saw this available on Netgalley I thought I would give it a shot. Welp. Should have known this would end up being a series and now I will have to wait for the next book! Ugh. Really enjoyed the action and the characters in this book and while it is YA it didn't feel super young to me, which I appreciate! Recommended to anyone who likes YA, fantasy or sci fi.

(Thanks to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.)

This book was soo good ! It one of the best I have read in a while 😍The story captured my interest right away! There better be a sequel to this book because it has a huge of a cliffhanger. I really loved all the characters in this book and can’t wait to see how they develop in possible future Books 📚 I highly recommend this book 📖

The storyline is interesting, but this book started out really slow. Pittacus Lore is a really good author, and I've loved all of his other Lorien Legacies books, so I thought I'd love this one too. But while I thought Syd would be an interesting character because he is half human and half alien, he kind of fell flat for me.

The narration was also very monotone and very robotic, which made it difficult to finish in the audiobook format. However, I liked most of the storyline and would like to read the next one.

the premise of the story is interesting, but I could not find myself getting invested in the story. I'm not sure if it was the pacing or the amount of character/character types, but I found myself getting lost and distracted after the first few chapters.

This book did not work for me.

I used to be a really big fan of Pittacus Lore novels, but I found this story to be a bit manufactured and below average. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, and was not blown away by anything here. The plot was engaging enough, but the author didn’t really seem to have anything new to say. I think part of this is definitely due to the synthetic voice production, but perhaps that just helped to reveal the flaws in this story.

Overall, I think some may find this to be fast paced and engaging enough for their tastes, but it just was not for me.

<i> I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </i>

Sydney is half alien, on the run with his human mom in a United States that feels post-apocalyptic. His alien dad has been missing since leaving Earth years ago, searching for a cure that could help the dying human race and save the planet Earth. When a relative from his dad's side shows up and offers Sydney the chance to go find his dad - and hopefully the cure - Sydney jumps at the chance to travel into space and see other worlds. The catch is that if he comes back without the cure, he won't be able to survive on Earth after the changes human bodies undergo in space.

Sydney trains for the mission on his father's home planet, meeting other species and learning about alien cultures and the history of his two descendant races while he discovers that not everyone wants the mission to succeed. A crisis on the planet forces Sydney to reveal his father's location (Ashfall) to foes and the mission starts early, racing to beat them to the destination. When the crew reaches Ashfall, a massive showdown ultimately reveals the answers to Sydney's questions and solves some of the mysteries set up throughout the story, but leaves him with more difficult questions about who he is and what his future holds.

My advance copy of Ashfall Legacy was an audio copy read by a synthetic voice, so it lacked all the performance aspects of the reading that I imagine the real audiobook will have (which isn't available as of this review). The robot voice definitely did not help the story, unfortunately. I found parts of the story hard to follow and I couldn't tell if it was the writing or the robot voice.

That said, I did like various things about this book and I'm glad I finished listening to it.
Some of the humor in this book reminded me of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and I had some laugh-out-loud moments even with the robot voice reading the story. I really enjoyed the different life forms in the story and the way Sydney both embraced but struggled with his new situation. The descriptions - especially during battle scenes - could turn suddenly horrific and I was impressed by how gross the story was here and there :)

I did have some trouble with the ultimate reveals in the end but I think that was because I had a hard time keeping the histories of the races straight, so I wasn't positive if I was understanding what Sydney learned. I definitely wish I had gotten the e-book instead of the robot voice so I could be more certain as to what was going on with the confusion. I would probably listen to the real audiobook or read the print version before going to the next story in what I'm guessing will be a series.

I think this book will appeal to all the fans of the Lorean Legacy. A lot of fast paced action and just enough wild Sci Fi concepts to keep you guessing. I look forward to seeing this book in its final format. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. If you are reading other reviews of this title that complain of the robotic voice, understand that we were warned when requesting the title that it was a computer generated reading and not the final version.

Another outstanding working created by the elusive Pittacus Lore.

The creative juices the flowed on the pages didn’t even disturb the fact that I listened to this with a generic computer generated voice. I was hooked from its open line all the way until the final period.

I listened to part of this book. Listening to a robotic voice is a challenge. However, when you think about this, it is a voice of a boy telling the story or from his point of view. Him and his mother are always on the run and he does not understand why. The story is more sci fi oriented with aliens being involved. Syd is on a journey which takes him to outer space in search of his father.

I am a fan of the I Am Number Four series, so I was excited about this book. It did not disappoint. I found myself hooked from the very first chapter. I received this book as an audiobook, which is not my typical genre for reading, but this book was so great that I was enthralled even with this medium. You do not need to have read this author's other books to appreciate Ashfall Legacy. I cannot wait for this to officially come out in August 2021 and next in the series.

"Ashfall Legacy" by Pittacus Lore is a new series by the author of "I Am Number 4". I must confess, I originally thought that this series was going to be a continuation of the world of "I Am Number 4", as they are both about aliens that are in hiding on Earth. So once I realized it was a different universe, it took me a minute to mentally change gears.
All-in-all, I have mixed feelings about this book. There are some things that kind of bothered me. Most notably, the main character very early on gets the opportunity to leave Earth, but is told that he would never be able to return or he would suffer from this horrible wasting disease that has no cure. Despite the fact that he is his mother's only family, he doesn't even have to consider it before deciding he wants to go. He just says "bye mom!" and leaves without a backward glance.
Other than that, I did find the plot a bit interesting, but the characters were such that I never really felt emotionally investing in them. I honestly didn't care if they lived or died, which was a bit problematic when they got into troublesome situations. That being said, I did want to know what happens next, and - because of this - will most likely want to read the next book in the series when it comes out.

This alien adventure was great. The boys life challenges were interesting and journey was fun, I look forward to seeing the next in this series. It had a great balance of past story and current so that you could follow the story and see the characters motivations.

Sydney and his mother have lived the last 10 years of their lives in hiding. Changing names, schools, and homes as easily as one would change their clothes. Sydney is half-alien and because of that has been chased by unknown shadows. When Sydney learns that his father is still alive, he embarks on an adventure that spans galaxies in a quest to find his father.

What I enjoyed:
The characters – Pittacus Lore did a great job creating characters with depth. I enjoyed learning about the various alien species – especially the Etherealki
The writing – there was depth and continuity – the story ebbed and flowed quite well.
The world-building – The world (or worlds) introduced in Ashfall Legacy were well written and original. It gave depth and credibility to each of the alien species.
The ending – there was a major role reversal at the end that left me shocked.

What I did not like:
The ending – It felt a little rushed but all in all nothing major.

This book was the perfect set up for what is sure to be an exciting series. I cannot wait to read more of Sydney’s story. A big thank you to HarperCollins and Pittacus Lore for an advanced review copy.

I listened to this with the new Netgalley audiobook program. The robotic voice was both impressive and still horribly distracting. Despite the nature of the audio , I was glad to have it - I almost never have time to read, but I’m always looking for good audio books.
I was surprised by how much I liked this one.
I don’t remember getting into the author’s first series, but this one was great.
A lot of voice, great humor, good writing, consistent tension, amazing & original world building. I would’ve given it 5 stars except I had a few problems with the main plot.

SPOILERS BELOW!!

The ending (last quarter?) gave me whiplash. People randomly switching sides, changing motivation, life goals, and belief systems based on a single revelation, or their own limited logic.

Specifically: (SPOILERS! You’ve been warned!)

So his dad finds out humans were the historical tyrants of the universe. Okay that’s a cool twist - although a little self- deprecating. Smacked a little of the kill-humans-not animals (or the earth) fanaticism. Humans are so bad - they’re ruining the earth and we should all be euthanized. (That’s what the modern-day people haters say, not the author or this book) but I did get a lot of the same “be ashamed to be human” vibes I’ve heard so much from extremists. Surprise surprise earth was nearly uninhabitable because of pollution. Just once I’d like to hear a story with the fate of the earth that didn’t boil down to humans not recycling enough.

That wasn’t what actually bugged me the most however. It was peoples varied (melodramatic) responses to the revelation that humans were in prison on earth cause they were too powerful and evil.

Syds dad for example decided to save humanity by keeping the secret from getting out - even if it meant actively killing his own son.... okay. Certainly don’t want to discuss it with like-minded wise friends/leaders. Best to make the decision for the whole universe.

He goes through such lengths to keep anyone from finding the temple (and the secret) yet he keeps his brain alive artificially which ensures people actually WOULD find the secret by following his “tether”. As far as I heard, they never did explain why Marcius —or whatever his dads name is—didn’t just kill himself so they’d be impossible to find and this keep the secret safe?? No that would’ve been too easy.
And the sweet old scientist suddenly turning into a kidnapper and torturer because after thinking about it he decided his friend Marcius—with whom he’d been plotting and working—wasn’t of sound mind. So the nice little old man turns into a psycho - in order to force Sydney into finding his dad WHICH SYD WANTED AND WAS PLANNING TO DO ANYWAY. Wha????
And it’s beyond ridiculous how tight knit crews suddenly turn on each other (historically and contemporarily) upon learning that humans were big jerks once.
Yeah let’s not discuss this like intelligent - non-racists let’s all become instant extremists xenophobes because that would make the ending more dramatic.
Okay...
Like I said, I really loved the book and the revelations. Pretty much everything was awesome - except for the motivation and crux of the entire plot. 😆
So I guess that’s kind of a biggie.
I could’ve swallowed this big pill but it would’ve taken a LOT more preparation and persuasion on the part of the author. I’d like to see this book have a little more common sense when the final version comes out.
And if all that was explained well - then explain it better- so those of us with lower IQs can pick up on it.