Today, J.F. Jenkins’ Battlefield tour is here and I’m one of the lucky hosts to be in it! I’ll be blogging a review and giving away an ebook copy of the book so come on and join the fun!
About Battlefield
Cadence, JD, and Orlando couldn’t be more different from one another. Under normal circumstances, the three wouldn’t so much as say hi to each other if they could get away with it. Then an alien crashes through the roof of their local mall, and everything changes. Not only do the three teens gain new abilities, but they’re also chosen to help fight in an intergalactic war where the next chosen battlefield is Earth.
Reluctant at first, they change their minds when the fight hits close to home. Teenagers from school start to go missing, and some are dead. Together they must learn to work together and solve the mystery behind these disappearances before more lives are lost.
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My Review
Movies, and any other story, book or TV show at that, generally has to deal with the focus problem. I just dubbed it the focus problem so I don’t know what it is technically called. Anyway, the focus problem is that you don’t know if you’re going to focus on the plot or on the characters. Are you going to slap the characters with plot and conflict every chance you get, making for an action-packed story or would you rather let the characters drive the story?
Some novels tend to focus on the characters and it’s usually in YA and contemporary novels that happen in the present day. Teen angst, self-discovery, redemption, all that themes. But when you have a more-fiction-than-truth plot, you tend to focus on the premise and the twists and turns and just let the characters ride that wave and react to that. This usually happens in sci-fi, dystopian and mysteries and thrillers. So I was surprised that Battlefield actually focused on the characters rather than on the plot. Having a title like “Battlefield” and being about an intergalactic war where three teenagers are drafted to help, you’d expect it to be all flash and all guns and superpowers. While this book did have that, its main focus was on the three teens, Orlando, JD and Cadence and their alien mentor, Alan. It was a nice change of style and pace for me. So much that I really enjoyed this novel.
Granted that it certainly has its flaws and shortcomings, but I think those might be answered in the next book as this is just the first book to a series of novels. If that’s the case, it’s alright with me. But if it were a standalone novel, we’d have words, Battlefield, we will.
I also loved the fact that the aliens portrayed here are not the gooey green-skinned aliens we all think of. They’re pretty much human, albeit having different hair colors and such. But they’re pretty normal, for an alien, in my standards. They have feelings and all that and J.F. Jenkins has crafted a world so believable.
I do thought about the film “Chronicle” while reading this. I haven’t watched that yet but heard it was awesome. It’s about three friends who get superpowers too. Although these three teens are not all friends, they ended up being friends. So this novel is not all battle,it’s also about friendship and *love*. Haha!
I did really like Orlando because he’s snarky and sarcastic. I love those book tropes, even if they’re overdone. What can I say? Nope, cannot defend myself here. Guilty as charged. Haha!
Overall, I did enjoy this book and for sure, I will be reading the next one. :)
About J.F. Jenkins
J.F. Jenkins lives in Minneapolis where she spends most of her time creating and plotting world domination – something that has been in the works for roughly 13 years.
In her free time she works as the local coffee wench and dominates the minions of the pixilated world on her PS3.
She’s also got a little man (J Walk) and a little man trapped in a big man’s body (J Dawg) to take care of along with her two fur babies Ushi and Tibu.
She is currently unrepresented by an agency. Email jfjenkinswrites@gmail.com with questions and comments.
Giveaway!
You can win an ebook of Battlefield simply by commenting on this post! That’s one entry! Woo!
For extra points, you can do the following tasks: (Please include in the comment what tasks you did.)
+1 Add Battlefield to Goodreads (Please leave your Goodreads username)
+1 Add J.F. Jenkins on Goodreads
+1 Follow me on Twitter: @whoopeeyoo (Please indicate your username)
+1 Add me on Goodreads (whoopeeyoo)
Easy peasy! Giveaway ends on August 24 and I will email the winner. You have two weeks to enter so comment away! Good luck!
Follow the Tour!
Click on the tour banner at the top of this post to see the entire tour schedule. Enjoy hopping and hopefully, winning! :)
