REVIEW: The Alien Effect

The Alien Effect by Carly Neeper

Genres: Science-Fiction, Adult

Published: November 3rd 2014 by Penscript Publishing House   

Pages: 280 pages  
Format: Paperback
Rating: 6/10

 Description:  Raised on the Jovian moon Varok, the young woman Shawne longs to return to Earth and help her devastated home planet build a new civilization—one that can thrive for millennia. When she and her “mini alien invasion” set up a school in California, they face unexpected lessons in love and humanity, unaware of the long-term consequences of their collision with life on Earth.
The third novel in Cary Neeper's Archives of Varok series, The Alien Effect joins the characters from Nautilus silver medalist The Webs of Varok as they explore an alternate 21st Century Earth. With two more titles coming in 2015, the five-volume Archives of Varok travels from Earth to the Oort Cloud, with several stops in-between.
An avid proponent of sustainability and steady-state economics since the 1970s, Cary Neeper studied zoology, chemistry and religion at Pomona College and medical microbiology at the U. Wisconsin - Madison. Cary paints landscapes in acrylics, including the cover art for The Archives of Varok series.

As someone who cares deeply for the well-being and sustainability of our Earth, The Alien Effect by Carly Neeper, was definitely an intriguing read for me. However, was a terribly complex book which a concise, snappy way in which Neeper told the story. 

The first 100 pages or so were very slow and very confusing. There was a flux of different names, extraterrestrials, and different biology, so I had to really force myself to read through the pages, and re-reading things that I could not quite comprehend right away. 

The writing style and confusion aside, the story itself focused alot on family, relationships, and the state of the Earth. These bits were intriguing, and there was alot of action that really helped the story along. Alot of the relationships and the way things connected were very hard to place at times, and the headers really helped. There were also alot of jumps through time, which like Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life" was not very clear, which let to a lot MORE confusion. 

After getting past all of that however, there were alot of things in this story which is good. There were nice illustrations and charts that really added to my understanding of this world and of the people/aliens inhabiting it. Neeper clearly knows her stuff about the environment and economy and that really shines through this novel.    However, the story is hard to digest and does take quite an advanced reader to really appreciate it and one must take it apart to really get the best out of it. Therefore, I wouldn't reccomend this story for everyone.