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Space Invaders #1
Boy Battles Bot
Both kids and adults who love video games and B-movies will love this first installment of the Space Invaders series about 10-year old Jimmy and his quest to save the world!
Something strange is happening in Apple Valley...
…and it all begins one night when ten-year-old Jimmy sees a mysterious object crash to Earth.
Investigating, he finds an alien bearing a dire warning. A sinister force is on its way to take over the planet. Already its minions are infecting Apple Valley like a virus.
But all is not lost. Jimmy receives special powers to battle the impending doom. His quest to annihilate evil leads him to cities overrun with strange robots and hostile animals, to spooky cemeteries where things claw their way from the ground, and to a carnival that should've been shut down years ago for safety violations.
Late night B-movie indulgences, eye-searing video game marathons, and a lifetime of mindless consumerism give Jimmy the skills to get the job done. He must hurry because summer break's almost over. Then it's back to school. If there's a school left...
Something strange is happening in Apple Valley...
…and it all begins one night when ten-year-old Jimmy sees a mysterious object crash to Earth.
Investigating, he finds an alien bearing a dire warning. A sinister force is on its way to take over the planet. Already its minions are infecting Apple Valley like a virus.
But all is not lost. Jimmy receives special powers to battle the impending doom. His quest to annihilate evil leads him to cities overrun with strange robots and hostile animals, to spooky cemeteries where things claw their way from the ground, and to a carnival that should've been shut down years ago for safety violations.
Late night B-movie indulgences, eye-searing video game marathons, and a lifetime of mindless consumerism give Jimmy the skills to get the job done. He must hurry because summer break's almost over. Then it's back to school. If there's a school left...
267 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 14, 2021
1 person is currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 4, 2023
A fun and snappy novel for middle-grade adventure-minded readers (including kid-like adults who enjoy this genre). Premise from our hero Jimmy's own lips: "An alien enemy is headed to Earth to wipe out our way of life and build an alien world, laying over our defeated society and rotting corpses a technologically advanced civilization." (p 241) Thus the series' video game reference title: "Space Invaders" (Book 1 of 3, so cliffhanger warning).
Set up: A friendly alien intelligence empowers Jimmy with inventory and abilities (which he records on his 'resume' stat sheet). This helps him defeat various threats and overcome obstacles in order to advance to a higher level. I assume Jimmy needs a lot more stamina and higher level abilities to face the coming evil alien invasion in the next two books. Along the way, he picks up some sidekicks to assist him thus turning this into an entertaining buddy tale full of snark and a good dose of Jr Hi humor.
The story is kind of a cross between a LitRPG novel and a video game slash comic book style hero quest. Lots of of snappy dialogue and cultural takes - reminding me of a modernized "Ready Player One" - but referencing fictional movies and video games like "Boy Battles Bot" (Jimmy's favorite RPG interactive game). These all give our hero inspiration as he tackles each situation. The setting is an alt-future Small Town, USA with a 1960s feel (referencing UHF television stations) yet replete with modern technology.
The storytelling might not be for everyone (see the 1 Star review here on GR). But you have to go into this book with an awareness of what it is - a slightly over-the-top MG adventure. There are plenty (I'd say an overabundance) of side quips - little narrative rabbit trails as Jimmy comments on every situation - that got a bit tiresome after awhile. But I skimmed some here and there to get back to the action - which can also get a bit repetitive at times. Plus, lots of clowns in sewer drains references, a running gag.
Overall, though, if you're into this kind of off-beat (even silly and slapstick at times) humor, you'll appreciate "Boy Battles Bot." The adventure continues in "Boy Battles Bug" and "Boy Battles Boy."
Set up: A friendly alien intelligence empowers Jimmy with inventory and abilities (which he records on his 'resume' stat sheet). This helps him defeat various threats and overcome obstacles in order to advance to a higher level. I assume Jimmy needs a lot more stamina and higher level abilities to face the coming evil alien invasion in the next two books. Along the way, he picks up some sidekicks to assist him thus turning this into an entertaining buddy tale full of snark and a good dose of Jr Hi humor.
The story is kind of a cross between a LitRPG novel and a video game slash comic book style hero quest. Lots of of snappy dialogue and cultural takes - reminding me of a modernized "Ready Player One" - but referencing fictional movies and video games like "Boy Battles Bot" (Jimmy's favorite RPG interactive game). These all give our hero inspiration as he tackles each situation. The setting is an alt-future Small Town, USA with a 1960s feel (referencing UHF television stations) yet replete with modern technology.
The storytelling might not be for everyone (see the 1 Star review here on GR). But you have to go into this book with an awareness of what it is - a slightly over-the-top MG adventure. There are plenty (I'd say an overabundance) of side quips - little narrative rabbit trails as Jimmy comments on every situation - that got a bit tiresome after awhile. But I skimmed some here and there to get back to the action - which can also get a bit repetitive at times. Plus, lots of clowns in sewer drains references, a running gag.
Overall, though, if you're into this kind of off-beat (even silly and slapstick at times) humor, you'll appreciate "Boy Battles Bot." The adventure continues in "Boy Battles Bug" and "Boy Battles Boy."
September 16, 2021
This is my first book by this author.
I picked this up because who doesn't want to read about space invaders? Jimmy (the MC) is a pretty normal 11 year old. He lives in the small town of Apple Valley (not to be confused with Orange Valley nearby), and has strong views on baseball, heroes, sidekicks, sci-fi b-movies, and everything in between.
His window faces a nearby butte. The word alone is enough to get him to laugh. One night he sees a space ship crash into the butte, and he goes out the window to see it. There he meets a firefly who tells him that evil is coming, and then gives him a few things that he's going to need to fight back against them.
The next morning he tells his mom that he wants to go to baseball camp after all, giving him an excuse to spend two weeks fighting evil. The bad aliens come in different forms, but they always have green swirly eyes.
With his trusty bat, he heads off. I won't spoil what happens after that, but I had a lot of fun reading this. Yes, it's written pretty close to the way an eleven year old boy's mind would work, but that only made it better.
What Jimmy does (or doesn't) do relates to something his dad says, or what he's seen in a b-movie on Channel 56 late at night. He does pick up a trusty sidekick eventually, although the sidekick is also his nemesis who doesn't always know his proper role in the team.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It's light, it's funny, and I laughed out loud a few times. Depending on your age you may or may not remember something similar to when you were Jimmy's age.
For me it was Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, which I saw late one night while visiting my aunt and uncle in Huntington Beach. The adults were drinking, so they put me outside with the TV and twelve year old me watched an amazing movie where a boy my age controlled a massive robot who could fly. Great times.
Highly recommended 5/5*
I picked this up because who doesn't want to read about space invaders? Jimmy (the MC) is a pretty normal 11 year old. He lives in the small town of Apple Valley (not to be confused with Orange Valley nearby), and has strong views on baseball, heroes, sidekicks, sci-fi b-movies, and everything in between.
His window faces a nearby butte. The word alone is enough to get him to laugh. One night he sees a space ship crash into the butte, and he goes out the window to see it. There he meets a firefly who tells him that evil is coming, and then gives him a few things that he's going to need to fight back against them.
The next morning he tells his mom that he wants to go to baseball camp after all, giving him an excuse to spend two weeks fighting evil. The bad aliens come in different forms, but they always have green swirly eyes.
With his trusty bat, he heads off. I won't spoil what happens after that, but I had a lot of fun reading this. Yes, it's written pretty close to the way an eleven year old boy's mind would work, but that only made it better.
What Jimmy does (or doesn't) do relates to something his dad says, or what he's seen in a b-movie on Channel 56 late at night. He does pick up a trusty sidekick eventually, although the sidekick is also his nemesis who doesn't always know his proper role in the team.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It's light, it's funny, and I laughed out loud a few times. Depending on your age you may or may not remember something similar to when you were Jimmy's age.
For me it was Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, which I saw late one night while visiting my aunt and uncle in Huntington Beach. The adults were drinking, so they put me outside with the TV and twelve year old me watched an amazing movie where a boy my age controlled a massive robot who could fly. Great times.
Highly recommended 5/5*
September 20, 2021
This story obviously exists so the author can let his imagination run literally rampant--without regard to consistent characters, events, timelines, logic, or common sense.
If you're a man remembering your childhood awkwardness or daydreams, this may be a book you want to suffer through. If you enjoyed the old movie The Boy With Green Hair, your sense of good taste (no offense) is so far gone, this book may actually appeal to you.
It begins like a black and white 1950's type movie, with a mother who mentions what a great country they have with giant balls of yarn. But she also had "eyes in the back of her head," and let her sons literally drool food from their mouths at the table. And Jimmy has a cell phone.
I grow weary of books that perpetuate the ideas that young boys are laughably gullible, grubby children who delight in crude humor, and think nothing of consequences or possible outcomes. It is true for some, but authors like this are bound to create more.
Imagination is not gullibility unless one neglects to use the brain they have.
Unfortunately, authors continue to think that crude humor is what children want. This book goes too far, in my opinion. And Jimmy's mother shows everyone multiple photos from her wallet and albums of Jimmy (sans clothing) as a toddler, not an infant. So often, that it's all over town. And kids nicknamed him "Naked." This can't be healthy behavior, and it certainly isn't funny. And thus ends chapter one.
Animal Violence: Jimmy kills a tiny flying bat with his baseball bat--the alien tells him it will prove his new magical strength. "Elated at knocking the crap out of a little winged creature of the night, Jimmy believed he could actually do this." In chapter 6, he hits a cat with alien eyes. (Later he worries people will misinterpret it.)
Intelligence: Jimmy is a boy of very little brain. He believes ridiculously idiotic things far below his supposed years, with the just-fine mind he has. Yet...the narrator implies that Jimmy knew what something to the "nth" degree meant? Impossible. Clancy is worse, in the beginning, but it changes frequently.
Remember, these boys are around 11 years old, and don't read. The intelligence of both boys fluctuates depending on how snarky or funny the author wants them to be. It must be very confusing inside their heads! (See comparison below.)
“Do you think he means literally or figuratively?” asks Clancy. And "Are we finished with the socioeconomic debate?"
Jimmy compares things to bioluminescence and Belgium mosh pits.
vs.
Thinking that a single alien "firefly" crashed in meteorites in two different places, miles apart.
Jimmy knows what a protagonist is, but thinks evil wolves forced his dog to kill sheep in a gang-style initiation.
[Jimmy] "figured talking slow and monotone would be the best way to show the aliens he was in control, saying 'You have… travelled… from afar.'"
It has been a while since I read a trashy comic book, but I've seen plenty of stupid movies (international as well), and not one of them mentioned socioeconomic debates. I think this is stretching the boundaries of possibility too far. A magic backpack, okay. But this? No.
My Opinion: The only mildly amusing parts are when he invents fictional movies for the boys to have seen and remembered; which sometimes helps them or just provides a sense of deja vu.
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It isn't for children or teens, and it isn't for adults who want a consistent story without gaping holes and meaningless tangents.
Cliffhanger Warning: Sadly, the cliffhanger ending arrives too late to save us from a (beaten-to-death) joke paired with another chapter filled, no, stuffed with chapters of endless 'Clowns are scary and evil, how will we ever survive, oh, no, what oh what will become of us?'
Content Warnings: Crude humor, actions, and events. Animal violence. Psychological abuse.
1/10 Stars (rounded up to 1/5 for convenience)
If you're a man remembering your childhood awkwardness or daydreams, this may be a book you want to suffer through. If you enjoyed the old movie The Boy With Green Hair, your sense of good taste (no offense) is so far gone, this book may actually appeal to you.
It begins like a black and white 1950's type movie, with a mother who mentions what a great country they have with giant balls of yarn. But she also had "eyes in the back of her head," and let her sons literally drool food from their mouths at the table. And Jimmy has a cell phone.
I grow weary of books that perpetuate the ideas that young boys are laughably gullible, grubby children who delight in crude humor, and think nothing of consequences or possible outcomes. It is true for some, but authors like this are bound to create more.
Imagination is not gullibility unless one neglects to use the brain they have.
Unfortunately, authors continue to think that crude humor is what children want. This book goes too far, in my opinion. And Jimmy's mother shows everyone multiple photos from her wallet and albums of Jimmy (sans clothing) as a toddler, not an infant. So often, that it's all over town. And kids nicknamed him "Naked." This can't be healthy behavior, and it certainly isn't funny. And thus ends chapter one.
Animal Violence: Jimmy kills a tiny flying bat with his baseball bat--the alien tells him it will prove his new magical strength. "Elated at knocking the crap out of a little winged creature of the night, Jimmy believed he could actually do this." In chapter 6, he hits a cat with alien eyes. (Later he worries people will misinterpret it.)
Intelligence: Jimmy is a boy of very little brain. He believes ridiculously idiotic things far below his supposed years, with the just-fine mind he has. Yet...the narrator implies that Jimmy knew what something to the "nth" degree meant? Impossible. Clancy is worse, in the beginning, but it changes frequently.
Remember, these boys are around 11 years old, and don't read. The intelligence of both boys fluctuates depending on how snarky or funny the author wants them to be. It must be very confusing inside their heads! (See comparison below.)
“Do you think he means literally or figuratively?” asks Clancy. And "Are we finished with the socioeconomic debate?"
Jimmy compares things to bioluminescence and Belgium mosh pits.
vs.
Thinking that a single alien "firefly" crashed in meteorites in two different places, miles apart.
Jimmy knows what a protagonist is, but thinks evil wolves forced his dog to kill sheep in a gang-style initiation.
[Jimmy] "figured talking slow and monotone would be the best way to show the aliens he was in control, saying 'You have… travelled… from afar.'"
It has been a while since I read a trashy comic book, but I've seen plenty of stupid movies (international as well), and not one of them mentioned socioeconomic debates. I think this is stretching the boundaries of possibility too far. A magic backpack, okay. But this? No.
My Opinion: The only mildly amusing parts are when he invents fictional movies for the boys to have seen and remembered; which sometimes helps them or just provides a sense of deja vu.
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It isn't for children or teens, and it isn't for adults who want a consistent story without gaping holes and meaningless tangents.
Cliffhanger Warning: Sadly, the cliffhanger ending arrives too late to save us from a (beaten-to-death) joke paired with another chapter filled, no, stuffed with chapters of endless 'Clowns are scary and evil, how will we ever survive, oh, no, what oh what will become of us?'
Content Warnings: Crude humor, actions, and events. Animal violence. Psychological abuse.
1/10 Stars (rounded up to 1/5 for convenience)
September 17, 2021
Amusing enough story. Seems to be targeted to younger readers, so it is a bit simplistic, but the story is sound, and it's written well enough to hold the attention.
September 23, 2021
A fun juvenile book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews