Book Review – Influx, by J C Jones
As a fantasy and sci-fi fan, I was excited to pick up Influx. This is not only because of the content of the book, but that I happen to know the author, and he’s a darn nice guy too! Nevertheless, I read and review every book fairly and honestly and by its merits.
Plot
I will do my best not to make comparisons with invasion films I have seen, but I couldn’t help but think back to certain scenes from movies that unfortunately, made the ending in the book mostly predictable for me. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, as there is an original element in this book and I did find myself wanting to read the sequel… as it is obvious that there should be one! So that means that Jones has certainly done something right with Influx.
One thing that I recognised immediately, is that in some respects, Jones and I share a similar writing style. He broke his book into movie-like scenes, which I enjoyed. To be honest though, I found myself ignoring the chapter locations and time and just reading through the story. It’s great that Jones has focused on creating a timeline, but I didn’t think it was necessary to enjoy the story and follow what was going on, as there were no time shifts, and things flowed nicely.
Influx tells the story of what looks to be an alien invasion originating from the moon, and in some respects, this was done in a way that I hadn’t seen before. Sadly, as someone who is somewhat obsessed with watching alien invasion movies, some of the story felt too familiar. Being fair, Influx was written far before a lot of films which I would compare it to, that I have seen in the past few years. The most notable comparison is Transformers: Dark of the moon, where I got the biggest sense of deja vu. Who knows, maybe the directors got a copy of Influx?
The idea of self replicating machines and an invasion from the moon is evident in the Transformers series of films. They self replicate with the “cube”, are intelligent, learn, and adapt and want to take over earth. It’s a comparison which may irrit JOnes, but as I said… he wrote the book far before the Transformers movies came out.
There were also moments that were very Independence Day, especially with the way that the invasion force was stopped. I did love the way that the last decoded signal was done, but in the scene where Starscream escapes into the stratosphere in Transformers, I did see it coming.
Comparisons aside, this was an enjoyable ride. I did find that it was slow to start, and thought that there were almost too many characters, but once the proverbial hit the fan, I was hooked right in… and I then found myself looking at the remaining pages and wanting to scream “Noooooooo! not much left???”
I do absolutely love that it’s evident that Jones knows his craft, and his research is clear… as is the endless references to coffee. I found myself having cravings from reading the many descriptions of the stuff.
Probably the biggest thing that bugged me (ba-dam-ching), was that there seemed to be no descriptions of people dying from the invasion or aliens themselves, fatalaties, etc. We have an alien invasion, and they get angry… very angry. Later in the book, there is mention of people who had died. There was a good scene depicting the brutality of military. When the aliens were coming into the base, I was gearing up for some blood and guts, but although they got their butt kicked… people were unscathed.
If this is re-written, then there should be expansion in these scenes, and a new cover, as the words Jones used to describe that scene outshine the cover 1000 fold.
This had better be a series out of this! Because there was substantial build-up, a decent amount of action, but then as a reader… I am left wanting.
Characterisation
There are a lot of characters in this book, and that can be okay for a series. Some characters I enjoyed more than others. Angela and Ziggy were my favourites. There were some action scenes where Jones really shined in his writing. Jones definitely can write, and well too! I will get to that.
Some characters were well developed, and others were a touch plastic… but that may be intentional as an opener to a series. I really didn’t feel too close to many of the characters, but Jones managed to get me emotional at a final scene between Michael and Matthew. Good work on jerking a tear out of me! It’s not easy for a book to do that. All of that character building paid off 
Willis was a great character too, and kind of reminded me of Bruce Willis (at least that was what I pictured) in action movies. Loved his scenes.
Writing Style
This was one of the cleanest reads and very smooth at that. Jones knows how to write, and writes well.
The only annoyance with style, was that there was no differentiator between narrative and internal thought/dialog. I found myself re-reading many passages to know where the story stopped, and the internal thoughts began, and vice versa. It was small, but annoying.
I know that there are reasons that this book has been “americanised”, but there were times that it irritated me. Most alien invasion movies are set in the states, so that makes sense, but at times… there were moments of overkill.
Jones really shines in his action scenes and technical writing, which showcases his research and experience. There was a lot of care taken in getting the details right, and it is appreciated.
Overall Opinion
Influx was a decent read, and it did hook me in. The build up was nice, and I would definitely recommend this to fans of sci-fi and alien invasion books and movies.
The comparisons with films do not mean something bad, but instead… it shows that he’s nailing something and doing it well. There are some absolute blockbuster alien invasion films, and to be compared to them is actually a compliment. There are no “used” ideas here, just familiarity.
It is not perfect, but what book is? Even Tolkien has flaws and annoyances. And for anyone worried about it feeling “dated”, it didn’t feel that way at all.
Solid debut novel from Jones, and I can’t wait to see what he does with his second. This boy has talent! and this series has huge potential.
