I really wanted to love this. This book had everything that I typically love in a good sci-if novel: a dystopian earth where the inhabitants are destroying the planet and suffering from something they do not know, intergalactic travel, technology beyond comprehension, and many species of aliens. Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings about this title. On one hand, the story itself is very interesting. The characters were well developed, unique, and intriguing. The story had unexpected twists and conflict that was somehow realistic in this dystopian, alien world. On the other hand, the story had lulls of information that seemed unnecessary overall and it struggled to keep my interest.

I’d be interested in picking up a print copy of this title in the future to see how my opinion of this title changes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, and Pittacus Lore for the opportunity to read Ashfall Legacy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to start by saying that this book was provided to me in audio format with a robotized voice. I tried my hardest to listen beyond the voice, and my stars aren't based on the delivery of the narration, but it definitely distracted me, especially with a book like this. Ashfall Legacy is told from Syd's perspective -- a teen who is half-alien, half-human and who speaks with a very distinctive YA voice. Hearing some of it spoken aloud by a bot took me out of the narrative, and I had to internally convert the voice in my head so that it sounded more human (for lack of a better word).

Robotized voice aside: I enjoyed the concept of this novel. It had its moments and felt more like contemporary YA than sci-fi/fantasy YA. If it weren't for the events that ended up happening, I could've seen the course of the story playing out on Earth and being the tale of a kid who struggles with his paranoid mother. Of course, that isn't how it ends up going.

I wouldn't say I absolutely loved this one, but I did really enjoy the way that Pittacus Lore builds this world, even if some of the tone ended up feeling uneven. Granted, I understand there are a team of writers working under the name Pittacus Lore, but still.

If you enjoyed the other books in the Lorien Legacy series, you should probably give this one a shot. But it wasn't my personal favorite.

I loved having the chance to listen to this novel. I found that the narrator choice was very strategic and well thought out. I have issues reading SCI-FI so having the chance to listen to it was game changing! I thoroughly enjoyed the book and cannot wait to read/listen to more of lores works!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, and Pittacus Lore for the opportunity to read Ashfall Legacy in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to make it known that I received a voice galley of this book that was made with a synthetic voice and should no way impact the perception of the original audiobook once it comes out. I was a bit worried about the synthetic voice, but it actually wasn't that bad. Yes, I could hear the roboticness of it, but it wasn't as stand-still as I worried it might be, so that was good! I used the NetGalley Shelf app to listen to this book, and the app has done a great job working out the bugs and making a sustainable audio listening platform.

Now, about the book. Have to read the Lorien Legacies series or seen the movie I am Number Four? Well, this is a new series that takes place in the same universe, though years later (from my understanding). While I know of Lorien Legacies and even have all the books, I have not read them yet or seen the movie (as I refuse to watch the movie without reading the books first). That being said, it should be noted that you can certainly read Ashfall Legacy without having delved into the Lorien Legacies experience beforehand, though I would assume reading those books first would add a larger level of depth to the reader's understanding of this new series.

Syd and his mom are always on the run, in hiding, but Syd has been deceived by what it is they are hiding from. When his uncle shows up and explains Syd is only half-human, they embark to outer space where a whole new world is opened up to Syd. He gets to experience meeting different alien races and learns of various tensions between them. All the while, Syd looks for his dad, based on a hint that he is still alive.

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot to say about this book. It certainly wasn't bad. It was mostly enjoyable, I feel like I just had a hard time getting into the characters and the world. Maybe it's because I didn't read the Lorien Legacies before, or maybe this just wasn't the book for me, but it is still certainly a good recommendation for the right person.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t really for me. It was decently interesting and pretty well developed, though, the writing style isn’t something I’d usually pick up. Listening to this was difficult since it wasn’t a full ebook, so I can’t full review that aspect, but it didn’t make it easier to enjoy the book. It would’ve been 3 stars but the ending brought it down to 2.5/2. If you enjoy books that take place in space and have read other books by this author though, I’d definitely recommend picking this up and trying it out.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know how to tell you how ensnaring this book is. Starts out kind of like you stereotypical Sci Fi book/ movie with a conspiracy theory and with one twist you are hooked. Pittacus Lore has a way of building this amazing universe that has some old earth lore woven into it. The aliens that Sidney meets are interesting and the author writes a description that is easy for the reader to see. This will be an interesting space voyage.
Even though this was narrated by a Synthetic voice kept me hooked and I can't wait to see what the final product will sound like. I am looking forward to the next book.

I just reviewed Ashfall Legacy by Pittacus Lore. #AshfallLegacy #NetGalley

I liked the idea of thos novel and it was well paced. There were. A few times I really thought the author could've used something less typical but in all I loved it!

Great development work as well.

I can't give this a full review because I struggled so much with the synthetic voice. I will probably not request them anymore because they don't do a book justice.

This is a very unique book. I think fans of Lore's previous books will enjoy this new book and find what they seek in his writing. The really enjoyed all of the characters and the fast paced nature of the book. I can't wait to read the physical copy or listen to the final audiobook.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this early!

Sydney is half Denzen and half human. After being on the run from the government alien program after his father disappeared, his uncle finally finds him and tells him his father is alive, and the only person who can find him is Syd. But Syd would have to leave Earth forever and go into the vastness.

This book was just okay for me. The writing just seemed to be for a younger audience, more middle grade than you adult. I just couldn’t get into it, I wasn’t invested really. I liked some of the side characters, but Sydney was just okay for me. The narrator (even though I know it’s synthesized) was very distracting with random pauses, and weird inflections. I think it made it harder to get into the book.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashfall Legacy sounded like it was going to be a good book. Maybe even great. However, since I've only ever read one book (I think?) by this author.. I didn't trust myself before I dove into this. So, that being said, here is what I thought.

The beginning was actually pretty interesting. I thought things were going to go one way but then it kind of switched on me. Which was a nice a surprise and I thought the rest of the book was going to keep me on my toes as well. Spoiler alert: It really didn't.

I'm not going to lie. This book confused the heck out of me. Especially towards the ending because my brain felt like pudding. So while having pudding brain.. I just kind of went with the flow and just wanted to see how this was all going to end.

It also didn't make things easier with it being an audio - which is kind of weird to say. Typically audios are supposed to make reading a bit easier because you are listening to someone read to you. Yet, with this.. I got a very robotic narrator that was all kinds of monotone and made me want to fall asleep at 4pm. 4 freaking pm. That's not bed or nap time for me AND I was still working.

Maybe the book is better in ebook or physical form? Not sure though since I received the audiobook version. Maybe I'll dive into the actual book.. maybe not. At least I tried.

**4.5 stars**

I’m a big fan of the Lorien legacies series and was beyond excited to see that Pittacus Lore came out with something new, and I am glad I got to read it!

First things first, I gotta say, I was expecting far more of this book to take place on earth, but it really felt like an unnecessary precursor to the real story. It’s not that this was bad, but it was a little weird because the things brought up in the first few chapters have basically no impact on the rest of the story. Also I was expecting Roswell to play at least some role in the story, and unless I missed it, it was not mentioned once... so I don’t really know why it’s mentioned in the description, but whatever.

With that said, I must say this book definitely gave some me Aurora Rising vibes. It follows Syd -a half denzen, half human hybrid- who joins an intergalactic space program (not a spoiler because you find out about it VERY early on) in pursuit of his long missing father. Enter the ragtag crew, interesting alien species, long-distance space flight, and fight scenes.

As a whole, the book was good. It was not my favourite, but the characters -most of them at least- were quite lovable, the plot was unique, and I love the moral dilemma that we are left with (even though it stresses me out). I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was definitely written by the same people that wrote the Lorien Legacies series, so you can expect similar heart-stopping things to take place (*cough, cough* do with that as you will). Anyways I’ll definitely be excited to see where the series goes from here, but hate that I’ll need to wait so long for that to happen.

I would say that for lovers of YA sci-fi, this book is definitely worth checking out!

This is difficult for me to review because the main reason I didn't like this audiobook was the robotic narrator. It's an artificial voice reading the story and usually I don't find them so bad, but this one was rough. It made the plot very difficult to follow and I found myself lost a lot of the time.

I haven't read the Lorien Legacies series so I'm not sure if this ties in or not. The plot follows Sydney, a half human, half alien hybrid on the run with his mom. After ten years staying one step ahead of their pursuers, Syd is found by his alien uncle. He then journeys into space to attend an academy and search for his missing father. That's about all I understood, there were several species of alien that I couldn't keep straight and I didn't really get what the school was doing for Syd. There's a battle at the end and I feel like there will be a sequel with how open it's left.

Maybe a human narrator would help me like this better, but I also felt like the events in this were a bit jumbled and some parts didn't seem like they mattered to the whole story. I'll have to check out the author's other books and maybe come back to this when it's released.

I received an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

The story was interesting, but the characters fell flat for me. None of them were all that interesting. In a SciFi world that is built up incredibly, this was a little frustrating. I wanted to like Syd, but he fell so heavily into the chosen one trope that it was boring. Admittedly, I never read the I Am Number Four books, and so I don’t know if this is a common theme with Lore’s writing. The book was enjoyable, but nothing particularly cerebral.
I enjoyed the different creatures and the general lore. The way that humans are described and what you find out that they truly are was intriguing. Again, the real downfall here was the characters.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC. I know that Pitticus Lore is really a group of people,but this is the first time that the book actually feels like there are different people writing it even though all of the chapters are told in first person from one character. It was uneven and I had considered stopping a few times. It is an interesting new universe. I will be willing to try out the second book in the series, but it will have a short leash.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Audio for providing the synthetic voice recording of Ashfall Legacy by Pittacus Lore in exchange for my honest review.

I need to preface my comments by saying that listening to the synthetic audio was, at times, incredibly difficult. You get no emotion. At times it felt right, because of the world this story takes place in, but it made it difficult to connect with any of the characters. That caused me to lose interest in the story quickly. That said, here’s what I can tell you about Ashfall Legacy.

We meet Sidney, who is a teenage boy on the run with his mother. Most of his life has been on the run because he’s half-human and half-alien. We get some basic background information and then we follow Sidney on a trip to his father’s home planet and a quest to find his missing, thought to be dead, father.

The story itself was lacking the details I seem to need to get into a world. I found Sidney to be okay to start, but I didn’t care for a long time. He slowly grew on me, but it was really difficult to immerse myself in this world, I can’t say if that’s due to the writing or the audio and for that reason, I don’t know how to rate this one.

I think if you’re into Lore, or half-alien characters give it a try, but I would recommend reading the book, as it may provide a better feel for the world.

Unfortunately, I didn't like this book. I thought the premise interesting, having a boy half human half alien looking for his missing father after a life of running with his mother but the execution is where the book lost me and in the end, I simply did not enjoy reading this book (or listening to in this case).

I honestly don't have a lot to say about Ashfall Legacy as it never manage to grab my interest. It is now among those books that I never managed to connect with. The last YA sci-fi that I didn't connect with was The Last Human.

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Thanks to the publisher for providing a voice galley of Ashfall Legacy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not a Lorien Legacy fan. I read and disliked I Am Number Four because of what I found to be an incredibly lackluster narration style and stopped with the series there but all of the Pitticus Lore fans I know constantly insist that the writing duo's style drastically improves as the series continues so I figured there was no better way to check that out than with Ashfall Legacy.

I found the narration here a lot better! Sydney felt like a real person thrown into all of the book's chaos and it was fun to listen to his narration. I also really liked the supporting cast here and the pacing was really well done. This is a fun, unique sci-fi adventure that I could easily see being enjoyed whether or not you're a fan of the writing team's previous works.

Ashfall Legacy

This audiobook is spoken by a synthetic voice, male to be exact. I found the voice easy to understand but at times near the end of a sentence the word would be clipped off. That made listening to the book at times harsh. I did find the voice easy to understand but needs to be slowed down a few seconds.

I had never listened to an audiobook before (literally never!) and I was excited to start with this one, but unfortunately the robotic synthesized voice made it too difficult to tolerate. I could not properly review this or finish it - it was too horrible to listen to. I'm giving it three stars only because I'm sure the storyline is great.

Well, I have to say that this is a first for me. I requested and received an ARC for this new series, but it was given to me in an audio form. The audio form was a synthesized version of a book reader, not what is going to be the final audio version with a narrator. To say that it was a unique experience would be an understatement. Now, that is not going to take anything away from the actual book comments - but it was an odd experience.

Having enjoyed the I AM Number 4 series by Pittacus Lore, I was interested to find out more about this new series. I wasn't sure if it was in the same world - it isn't. And I didn't know if it was a spin off of the Number 4 series - again, it wasn't.

This book introduces the reader to a teenage boy who is on the run with his mother (on Earth) and they spend their life hiding off the grid. In fact, they have been on the run for most of his life. This boy's name is Sidney and after a couple of years his mother informs him that his father was a being from another planet....or, as he says it - an alien. That means he is half human and half Denson (this was on audio so my spellings of names are probably wrong)

So, after certain events, his Uncle finds them (he is also an alien) and he takes Sidney with him away from Earth. They are going to be on a quest to find his long lost father. The book is interesting. There are many different types of characters that we get to meet. The ship they meet up with has a crew of people from several different planet (i think) because there are many different species. The secret the Sidney finds out is that in outer space, humans are the super people with super strength and almost invincibility. Interesting....

Alright, enough of the summary. Don't want to give out any spoilers. The story is extremely unique and the characters, while not completely fleshed out, are at least given some development for the reader to make determinations on whether they like them or not. But, all is not as it seems and before long it becomes apparent that there are several factions who want different things.

The story kept my interest, but it was also very superficial and not as descriptive as I would have liked. I did liked Sidney, but I didn't like him enough to REALLY root for him. As the story got more involved, I did begin to like him more - so there is that. Maybe it was because I didn't actually read this, but I felt like I never really was able to immerse myself completely in the story. And to be honest, the plot kind of made me think, "really?"

Obviously, this is book 1 of a series, so the ground work is just being laid out and the characters are just being introduced. As far as that goes, that was done fairly competently. The story, while not ending in a cliffhanger per se, does end at a point that makes you want to find out what is going to happen next. And I will be interested to see what happens so will be getting book 2 when it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. The opinions expressed are completely my own.