I got all three of these books from NetGalley. Two are older, from last year, and the third came out on September 8th, so I recently read all three, and I am writing a review of the whole trilogy.
This trilogy is about Marv, code name Gold Leader, who is obsessed with the fact that aliens could invade at any moment. His friend, Jace, code name Baller One, mostly humors him by going out and staying in an abandoned tower where they have made a fort so they can look out for aliens. Basically, Marv has to play basketball with Jace, and in turn, he lets Marv do the alien thing.
In book one, Marv gets new neighbors, and he just knows they are aliens in disguise. It's a father and his daughter. One night, while Marv and Jace were on alien patrol in the fort, they are followed by Nora. They see some lights in the woods and go investigate. What they find makes Marv freak out, as it must be an alien spacecraft. They see what looks like an alien, as he has a helmet on, getting something off of the craft and putting it in a vial. They get chased by the "alien" and take off for home. The next day, Marv and Jace follow the neighbor. After Marv's mom says something to him about what Marv told her since Nora was there, Marv shows him a fuzzy picture, and he reacts. Marv is even more sure that he is an alien. Following him leads them to some spooky things, and they find out what the thing is in the woods, but knowing could be dangerous.
In book two, something from the first book is still around, and it may have gotten into Marv's large stash of toilet paper that he had at the fort. So again you have Marv, who, after things that happened in the first book, is very much on high alert for aliens, still thinks his neighbor is an alien, at least the father. All three kids are out in the woods doing some "survival" training that doesn't go well. Jace and Nora go home, but Marv stays out, wanting to do some more looking out in the fort and sees a motorcycle being chased by a car, but the motorcycle has nobody driving it. He sees something that spooks him, and he tells his friends; they don't believe him at first, but soon they will. We get introduced to a new character, Kenji, code name Pyro, who comes in handy when dealing with a toilet paper monster of sorts. This one was a lot of fun!
Now, book three felt a lot different than the first two; it was a bit lighter sci-fi than this third book. Even the cover of this one looks way different. In this one, Marv, Jace, and Kenji are camping out (Nora being a girl isn't allowed) where Marv thinks a UFO signal is coming from. Marv thinks that an abandoned house has something alien in it. They keep getting a signal on their walkie-talkies saying, "We are the homing signal," which has to be alien, right? While investigating the house, something strange happens, they get Nora on the walkie and ask if she sees anything; she says a bright light was coming from over where they were. Then they go down to the basement and find some abandoned instruments. All three seem drawn to the instruments; Kenji starts playing the drums, Jace is looking at the keyboard, and Marv is even interested in the guitar. The next day, they get Nora to go with them to check things out, as Marv is convinced something alien is going on, and he can't get that guitar out of his head. Nora invites another girl as she thinks Marv and her will have a lot in common, and she plays the guitar. So in comes the new character, Liv, code name Alien Lover. Liv is a fan of aliens and thinks it would be cool to encounter one, so Marv and she are not on the same page about aliens.
Something weird is going on, though, and when they play the instruments, it's doing something to them. They don't realize it at first and decide to create a band, as there is a contest going on and Liv thinks it would be cool to compete. The more they mess with the instruments, the more it seems that Marv forgets about aliens, but soon realizes something isn't right, and with Liv's help, he has to help his friends who seem a bit possessed by the instruments. Soon, something happens that could be out of this world.
This trilogy was a lot of fun; I really enjoyed the characters. I admit at times Marv's obsession with people being aliens could get a little annoying, but after a while I just sort of got used to it. I think the first two are lighter on the sci-fi than the third one, which is why it felt different to me. I think all three have a slight spooky element in them and some light violence. It was nothing that was graphic, but mainly what might spook kids. One thing about book three I didn't care for was that Liv carried crystals with her, which were supposed to be what helped Marv fight being possessed himself, and I just do believe in that stuff, so it's a me thing.
The conclusion to this trilogy was very good, and it has to do with Marv and his alien obsession, so I can't really say much about it, but I thought it was a good way to conclude things.
Overall, this was a fun middle-grade trilogy that would be perfect for this time of the year!
The series gets 4 stars!
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