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.

QOTD: name a sci-fi book or movie that you’ve really liked

I am literally shocked by HOW much I liked this story about a a kid who is half-human and half-alien. I had heard of I am Number Four by the same author(s?) (pseudonym Pittacus Lore-which is apparently a team of five authors?!), but had no idea the Lorien Legacies were a WHOLE THING 🤯🤯

It was totally an accessible and hilarious sci-fi story. I was able to finish the almost 13 hour book in 2 days! Moms out there know this is an accomplishment, but I really was wrapped up in the Ashfall Legacy universe.

It doesn’t hit shelves until August 17, 2021 (thanks @harperaudio and @netgalley for this gifted audio copy!), and I’ll be over here reading the whole rest of the story between now and then (you will want to, too).

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