This book… it’s a fun action-packed sci-fi story. Unfortunately, I am cursed with the gift of being overly analytical and unable to let things go. I want to acknowledge that this book is self-published and therefore don’t think it needs to be completely discredited for the issues I had, but I do think it’s important for me to point them out.

Firstly, I want to say I really enjoyed Osasona’s writing style. She’s got a great sense of rhythm and diction that especially shines in more action-packed scenes. A lot of the action scenes felt super cinematic and energetic thanks to Osasona’s attention to detail and her ability to play with the pacing of her writing. I think she has great potential as an author, her writing is interesting and honestly above the average self-published style.

Even though I like the writing style, I have to say there’s a lot going on in this book. The plot is breakneck in a way that makes it difficult to understand what is going on. I never felt like I had an understanding of the world, the character motivations, or why things were happening beyond a vague assumption. I really liked how the book starts out with Nira’s death and zooms backward through time to show how she came to be, this framing was super compelling and unique. However, I felt like this narrative choice never lived up to its full potential as the book scrambles around different perspectives rather than staying centered on Nira. I never quite understood the sci-fi elements of the book either, it was unclear to me why Janiya swapped bodies with Nira or how she was even able to do so. It just kind of… happens, which is a pattern throughout the entire book.

Along with issues I had around clarity, I just couldn’t get over the central conflict being the aliens infiltrating the White House. At the beginning of the book, their existence is somewhat secretive, but Nira’s journey to becoming a rebel leader is sparked by the President confirming the existence of aliens who look similar to humans with similar levels of intelligence. I couldn’t let go of the feeling that this felt way too close to conspiratorial thinking, especially the idea of reptilian infiltrators existing within the American government. This feeling was only bolstered by the fact that the aliens are implied to be some sort of gang that kidnap Nira’s brother.

This could have been handled a bit better to make it feel less questionable, but it pairs with the issue I had with not being able to fully understand the motivations behind the characters. The book never explains why the aliens are a threat beyond Nira’s insistence that they are, and without that grounding, the conflict reads more like conspiracy rhetoric than sci-fi logic. Presenting the aliens as some sort of shadowy entity without explaining why they can’t be trusted can very easily slide into xenophobia and blaming all of America’s issues on “outsiders infiltrating democracy”. This sort of trope has very real consequences in the real world, so it’s off-putting to have it in the subtext of the plot.

Because I already didn’t feel invested in the conflict surrounding the aliens’ existence, it made it hard for me to stay motivated to see Nira’s journey as a rebel leader. That being said, she was a badass rebel leader and I loved seeing the scenes where she got to show her skills in combat and political maneuvering. I just wish the deeper background was a bit more clear.

One more thing to note, and this is a side note that didn’t affect my rating of the book, but there is a LOT of AI used in the press rollout of this book. I understand as a self-published author that AI is an accessible tool for creating interesting artwork to market your work, but AI art being such a main feature has the unintentional side effect of making the work itself feel untrustworthy. The optics of using AI art freely mean that readers might naturally question the work’s validity.

Osasona has lots of potential as a writer, and I’m not put off of reading her work in the future. She has a good eye for character work and especially writing action scenes; I would love to see Nira’s struggle in a truer sci-fi setting rather than being constrained to an alternate America, where conspiratorial tropes risk undercutting the story’s strengths.

this was a strong opening chapter to the Unexpected Arrival series, it had that alien elements that I was hoping for and enjoyed from this type of book. It was a unique concept and worked with the world that was going on. The characters had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. Anita Osasona wrote this well and left me wanting more, as I was engaged with the romance and how it was used in the fantasy world elements.

I like this book,pure sci-fi and action.Told from few POV,it's fast read,and sometimes to fast,have to switch fast to other character,still I could not put the book down.Non stop something happend in this book .

Would like to see Nira's journey continue.Would resistance win against aliens,
or will human become batteries for them?
I recommend this book for sci-fi fans.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for ARC.