The Resisters #1: The Resisters

The Resisters #1

by Eric S. Nylund

Ethan Blackwood 12 always wanted to reach the best high school. Strange teens Madison and Felix claim aliens took over Earth 50 years ago, and control minds of everyone past puberty. After Ethan sees monster bug robots, and how new pals fight them inside insect suits with stealth modes, he must join the Resisters.

Genres: Science Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Anne Patkau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Modernized John Christopher's Tripod series, where boy joins fight against aliens exerting mind control https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Gory brawls build to local battle. Setup is clumsy, but asks for answers worth exploring. Hero has standard to reach from cowardly start, to girl I like better now. Kids have deadline to puberty, then struggle and weapons change. I read serieses for ages above and below mine, but disremember seeing any overlap niches.

Starts like a video game, where kids take on weapon set by climbing inside giant insectoid suits. Ethan Blackwood 12 dons stainless steel soccer frame, ignores Grizzlies coach tactic "Superior long-range strategy wins over superior immediate tactics" p 73, 209, hydraulically kicks "300' from goal" p 6.

Out of place teens Madison and Felix kidnap Ethan, show him wasteland, minerals harvested, protected by drones, giant insectoid monsters. Fifty years ago, alien Ch'zar Collective absorbed human minds above ground. "Some were far underground and were shielded from their mind powers" p 32 and must stay below after puberty to stay separate, safe.

"Automatic cameras .. see everything. All the time" p 74. "All the kids were prisoners, watched 24 hours a day" p 75. Dad advises "Not so much a lie, but not giving away any real information either .. how to lie". Ethan's "suit of armor" is "a wasp" p 54 whose telepathic bond threatened to supersede his own will. "In some cases the insect mind actually dominated" p 205. Madison zooms inside a dragonfly; Felix in a beetle. I don't know what an "I. C. E. system" stands for and don't care.

Twice Ethan runs away from truth. False suburban neighborhoods feed high grade potential leaders to Collective. Upper 'schools' are fake.
Ant lions "spewed out stinking gray-green ichor" p 179. Ethan rips off a locust head. "Goo and brains squirted over the school courtyard with a wet splat" p 185.

"Two enemy rhinoceros beetles lumbered toward" him p 185. "A dozen rhinoceros beetles landed in a V-formation .. were Resisters in midnight blue armor .. A swarm of yellow-and-black-striped Infiltrator wasps engaged enemy red wasps and drones" p 186. Beetle is Resister, or not; wasp is Infiltrator, or not.

"A giant midnight blue rhinoceros beetle landed. It had better be friendly" p 189. How does fighter tell their team? Not even vision screen with computer lights colored for friend or foe.

Ethan has "run away from battle .. then rushed into a fight against direct orders" p 207. Ethan's sister Emma, on fast track, among those headed to out-of-town higher 'school' aboard zeppelins are bait for Resister attack. After Colonel Winter rejects his battle plan, Ethan heads in alone, charged with treason on return.

Ethan is "most reckless pilot" but can "coax and ICE suit into stealth mode for hours at a time" p 198. Ethan's suit was from Madison's older brother. Roger wanted one last mission, but the wasp suit rejected the grown-up above ground. Resisters follow Ethan according to his plan and take down a zeppelin stuffed with "maybe a hundred artilllery ant lions camouflaged" p 191.

"Two pilots and six suits injured .. one [Ethan's] Infiltrator wasp in critical condition" p 196. "His school was leveled" p 189, so some children see "titanic robots .. fighting a war .. questions .. The Ch'zar couldn't cover it up with convenient lies" p 192. Wanna bet? Film special effects gone wrong? Military tests misdirected?

"Our wish that one day we'll all be reunited under the open sky" p 202. Blackwood family, smaller than 8-9 kids 'usual', vanishes, leaves note. Could (my) italicized phrase be clue to follow?

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Ethan Blackwood had a normal life until he's grabbed by two other kids, a boy and a girl, and forced to face uncomfortable truths. He doesn't believe their story, it's too crazy, until they show him the proof.

Fifty+ years before, aliens had seized control of Earth, blanketing the Earth with mind control the instant they achieved orbit. What this race hadn't counted on was that children that hadn't gone through puberty weren't controlled. Gathering them into camps until they did didn't work either. They needed a normal upbringing until that time in order to be functional in the new order.

So small towns were placed all over the world where children were raised until the time, where they were then sent to prep schools.

That was what the kids believed.

There is a resistance though. A small group in an underground bunker originally set up to preserve plant and animal life in case a nuclear war broke out. As long as the adults remained underground they were safe.

So children became the warriors, fighting in giant, mutated insects, cyborgs with computers, a cockpit, weapons, stealthware, and armor built in.

Ethan is destined to be one of the fighters, in his wasp armor, and later to be one of the leaders.

A lot of fun this one. Even for an old "young adult" like me.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eric Nylund (who I know as the guy who writes the good Halo books) sets up a new series about elementary school kids who use sentient(?) mecha-bugs to fight off the aliens bugs who have taken over our planet. While it does sound like a pretty standard plot with kids substituting for adults (since it's book for kids), but there are a few things that set it apart. We start off with our main character, Ethan Blackwood, playing mecha-soccer (which is weird because even though the book is just beginning, it never really sets off the "This is the future!" alarms I would have expected it to by that point. Ethan kids abducted by two kids his doesn't recognize, who reveal to him that all of his whole life has been a charade. The Collective has taken over the planet and is draining it of all its resources. All of the adults have been brain-washed and are part of the Collective's hive-mind. When kids reach puberty, the spores that the Collective spread begin to affect them as well and the turn, too. There aren't too many surprises, but I won't go and ruin any. The Resisters is a children's book, easily topping out at a middle school level. With this, the plot is writing is simple and there is little character development. The plot feels pretty bare. I wish it was more fleshed out, because even though it really isn't a new or novel idea, it does have some interesting elements that kept me reading. The target audience will probably enjoy it, but I felt a little let down.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't received yet, just received notice I had won. 4/27/11
Received Saturday I think. I plan to start after my current read is done. 5/2/11
Started and finished Saturday 5/7/11

Ethan is the captian of his soccer team even though he is younger than most of the other players. He thinks soccer is the ultimate battle until he meets Madison and Felix. He is then thrown into a battle that only children can fight to save humans minds from alien control.

I thought this book would be a fun read for my nephew who loves Halo (even though I feel he is too young for it) and is too young for those books. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did though. A different take on alien abduction/domination. It is great for boys, because it adds sports, fighting and bugs. :)

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for 5th/6th grade boys. Reads like a combo of Power Rangers and Transformers. Who wouldn't like giant symbiant bugs with full weaponry?

[D.J. Sylvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting ideas, but so massively formulaic and one-dimensional that I can't recommend it to anyone. There are much, much better books to spend a day or two with.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kidnapped by a pair of strange kids after his soccer game, Ethan is shown the truth about his once peaceful world: aliens have invaded and taken over the minds of teens and adults, and it will take his skills and the help of the Resisters to fight back! Nylund begins and exciting series that takes great characters to new heights with plenty of epic action and cool tech. Can Ethan truly trust the Resisters, or would it just be safer to live in the lie?

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Aliens took over Earth 50+ years ago and created a hive mind that only affects adults. Pre-pubescent kids and enormous half-sentient bug exoskeletons are the world's only hope. Fantasy fans G4+ will love this.

[Cheryl]

Kinda like K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series?

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book for awhile,when i first saw it in middle school.I got to say this book is amazing,and i recomand it for sicfiton people.

[William Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read.

[Michael Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it as a kid. Loved it.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

formulaic and trite. pictured drone tactics on the ds the whole time :)

[Ariana Wilson]

This book was really good. It first began with a boy. His name was Ethan. One night, after his soccer game, he got kidnapped by two kids, a boy and a girl. The girl's name was Madison, and the boy's name was Felix. They told him that fifty years ago the world got invaded by aliens. The aliens tryed to take over everyone's mind on that planet, but for some reason it only worked on adults after they hit puberty. Ethan thought they were crazy, until they showed him the giant bugs hiding in a huge cave. They told him that they used to be normal bugs, but then the Resisters took them and made them big. They were part robot, and to control them you had to go inside them. They told Ethan that he could have the wasp. That was when Ethan knew they weren't kidding. Then they told him that when kids were sent off to high school, if they hadn't hit puberty yet they would give them this shot and that would make the aliens take over their mind. Ethan then remembered that his sister, who was only thirteen years old, would go to high school early. She would go the next day. Ethan knew he had to stop them from taking her. But first Madison and Felix took him to the Resisters' hidden base underground. There were adults there that weren't mind controlled. If you stay underground the aliens can't control your brain. He tells their leader that he needs to go save his sister, but she says it's too risky. So, at night, when they're all asleep, he goes outside and takes his wasp with him. He goes to his house to try and see if his sister is still there, but she isn't. Then he sees a note from his mom, saying that her and his dad took his little brothers and went somewhere safe. That's when he found out that somehow they weren't mind controlled. Then he went back outside, and he saw the thing that was taking her to the high school. He tried to save her, but the thing that was taking her was too guarded, so he couldn't. But he convinced himself that he would save her someday. Then he went back to the Resisters' base. That's when they told him he could be a resister.
At first in the book Madison is super mean to Ethan. She won't stop telling him how stupid he acts. But then, in the end of the book, she gets nicer. They actually become friends.
I really like this book. It was super fun to read. But, it was kind of sad, because it would suck to find out that your parents are being mind controlled by some aliens. But it was still really good.

[Leslie Preddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After an important soccer game one evening, Ethan is thrown into a war for his world. It is a futuristic world where sports are played wearing a 600 pound exoskeleton and students must have good grades, be well-rounded with extra-curricular activities and are tested for mental, physical, and social readiness for high school. Ethan is an MVP soccer player who is kidnapped from his yard by two very young resistance fighters. The only problem is that Ethan didn’t even know there was anything to resist and although Ethan has a hard time believing it at first, he learns of the alien invasion of earth which occurred over fifty years ago. The aliens use mind control to subdue humans. After the invasion, large families are raised in special neighborhoods because until children’s brains mature during puberty, they are immune to the alien mind control, so Ethan learns his whole childhood had been a lie. The aliens use the adult human race as worker bees for labor and research while the aliens strip the earth of all its resources. In their quest, the aliens mutated insects into giant exoskeletons which are a combination of living mass and technology and have sensors and weapons to enhance strength and speed, which the resistance has been able to tame, enhance and use in the battle against the aliens. Interestingly, the Insect Combat Exoskeletons, similar to Ethan’s sports suit, are sentient creatures with personality, not just robots. This novel is full of great action sequences with real-life reactions, like when Ethan becomes so frightened in the middle of his first battle in a wasp exoskeleton that he abandons the battle, escapes for home, and tried to pretend his life can go back to normal. The author creates a fantastic premise for putting the kids in a leadership role: the adult resisters must stay underground or risk alien mind control, so the adolescents must be the fighters and heroes because the adults may never leave their subterranean protection. The world created is perfect for young readers in its simplicity and believable in its logic. Although much is left unanswered, the end is a satisfying segue to the next book in the series, for which readers will be begging. This is the beginning of a new high-interest series which will grab the reluctant reader and video game fans.

[Jnase1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Resisters is a story about a boy named Ethan who lives is a storybook neighborhood. He is a typical teenage boy who seems to be living in a typical town, but soon finds out that his neighborhood and the entire world is not what it seems. One night after the big soccer game in which he scored the winning goal, he runs into Madison and Felix, two teenagers who are part of the Resisters, an underground organization fighting the alien invaders who have taken over the world. Apparently these alien invaders have mind control over anyone who has hit puberty because of the way brains work after that age. The adults in the Resisters live underground so that they are protected from the mind control of the aliens. Ethan, of course, believes none of this until he sees it for himself and is attacked by one of the aliens large insect robots. In order to save himself he climbs into a large wasp robot stolen and reprogrammed by the Resisters to fight the aliens. After this adventure, he decides he would rather just go back to his normal life and flies the wasp robot back to his neighborhood. But unfortunately, things will never go back to the way they were because the aliens know that he is aware of their mind control and send in adults to capture him. Will Ethan escape and decided to join the Resisters after all? Well, this is the first book in the series, so you can probably guess what his choice is. A fun science fiction novel tame enough for elementary students.

[L_manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun book! The Resisters is the story of Ethan Blackwood. A sports and science standout at his school, Ethan's future is looking very bright. Then he meets two strangers who tell him that his world is not as it seems. His life is quickly turned upside down, and he begins a new adventure.

The action goes at a quick pace. It's exciting, but still age appropriate. It reads a bit like a video game, with lots of action punctuated by some story thrown in there. I think it's a great summer read for kids, especially ones who enjoy video games. It should keep their interest, but also brings up good points about thinking for yourself. The book goes by very quickly, and it leaves you wanting more.

I think this is a great kid's book. It will get them involved in the story quickly, and the characters are easy to relate too. I think it can serve as a gateway book for kids to show them that they can be just as exciting and fun as other forms of entertainment. Any book that can get kids reading is awesome to me.

Book won on Goodreads.

[Orion W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ethan is a normal kid until one day two kids named Felix and Madison Tell him that the world taken over by aliens called the Ch,zar 50 years ago. Soon he sees them fight the aliens with robot bug suits. He crashes his bug into a soccer field and later has to help Felix and Madison find their bug. Then he crashes into a train to save his sister. He wakes up in the underground base. He goes home and is captured but is saved by the Resisters.
At the beginning of the book Ethan is kind of cowardly and doesn't want to be a hero. "If he survived one more day he would someone else do all the hero stuff." Later Ethan learns to be brave and fights the Ch,zar and becomes a Resister.
I really liked the book and how intense it was it was very action packed. I liked how the moral is to think for ourselves. And it is a really good science fiction book.

[Alex Rennick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eric Nylund pinged on my radar as first a Halo author, second all other things. This shaded my perception of the world he created here, where mechanical suits are standard soccer gear. First thought? Spartans in downtime.

Once I got past that, the read was good. Not amazingly entrancing, like his Mortal Coils series, but this is meant for a younger audience and definitely hits what it's aiming for there.

Solidly written, with characters that fall outside the stereotype - example being the 'bruiser' also being smart and a strategist. I enjoy the triad of protagonists and will read the next book, though I'll likely wait for softcover.

As aimed at the audience, this book is great. As a follower of his more complex works, it did not entrance me.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Resisters is about a boy named Ethan who lives in the future where world war four has passed and where technology is really advanced. After walking home from a soceer game Ethan meets two kids about the same age as they are and they tell him that the world was invaded by aliens who stopped world war four. They give him a choice to join them or to go back to the life he has already.And obviously he joins them.
I picked this book up because it looked really interesting because of the cover.
I finished this book because I was interested in how Ethan lived and I liked the action in the story.
I would recommend this book to Gabrielle because this had alot of action in it and I think that she likes action books.

[Jeff Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every so often a book comes along that surprises you. Eric Nylund is probably best known for his Halo novels, which I have not read and pretty much automatically dismissed. This is a new series he's putting out for kids about a number of insurgent types trying to rid the world of their buglike alien overlords who have taken over Earth.

It's a quick-paced, action-style novel that was actually a lot of fun. The story doesn't waste much time to get rolling, and while it's not going to win any awards, it was the perfect diversionary piece I was looking for. Definitely worth taking a look at if you're into this sort of story or know someone who is.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the premise that alien invaders have peacefully subjugated all adults on the planet and no one even thinks of resisting, I thought of John Christopher's classic Tripods trilogy. Christopher's work is more complex and was more interesting to me. I didn't really connect with Nylund's characters, and much of the plot felt too coincidentally perfect. However, I think plenty of today's kids will enjoy the Resisters' fast-paced adventure full of machines and technology that would look at home in their favorite video games.

[The Fizza · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 STARS - It's like Manga without the art!

Sadly though, this book was not written for me, but I could see how kids might like it. And while I'd actually give it 1 and a half stars I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

It's like Battletach and Tripods had a child... and it was less clever than expected. But clearly the audience for this book must be much younger than I'd expected.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book 10 year old Drew would have loved and one that 29 year old Drew liked. It's a typical story, main character discovers the world is not as it appears and with the aid of two friends he learn to harness his new found powers. In this book the world has been taken over by aliens and all adults are brainwashed, but pre-pubescent kids are immune to the brainwashing, so they are the ones who fight the aliens. This is a good start to what should be a good series.

[Jefferson Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Resisters is a great book that is science fiction. It’s rare for books to catch my attention but this book caught my attention right away. Just so you know I am one of those people who do not like to read a lot of books.
The main character’s name is Ethan. The story is set in the future where Ethan grows up in a city where all the grownups are under mind control. This book is so good I am going to give it five stars.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up because of the cover. I decided to read it because the plot sounded a lot like a modern version of When the Tripods Came. It definitely has similar elements, but the organic-mechanical bug fighting suits are an interesting twist. I can see this book being a good introduction to sci-fi for a kid who hasn't read a lot.

[Stephanie Pitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great plot and lots of action. Kept mine and my 10 year olds attention. First chapter there's a bit of a learning curve for a younger reader (which is who this is geared toward) due to author jumping right into narrative and action without any type of explanation this is a future earth, but after a chapter or two it's all starting to get explained. We were both sad it was done and are hoping there's a sequel. We want to know what happens to Ethan and his family.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this audio book while driving from WA to CA after the 12-year-old and 10YO read and enjoyed the book. An exciting and inventive tale reminiscent of TRANSFORMERS crossed with THE TRUMAN SHOW. Clearly set up to become a series, I was nevertheless relieved by the hanging ending because I wanted a break from the action and Insurmountable Obstacles.

[Ms. B's · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of action and fast paced this science fiction middle school read is both engaging and well worth the time! A start to a new series that left me wanting more, but darn those cliffhangers. The Resisters by Eric Nylund is a clean read and a guaranteed hit with the boys! I can't wait to get a copy for my library.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book as I intend to use it as a Battle book this year. A boy is kidnapped and discovers, after much disbelief, that the world he thinks he know is completely faked by a group of aliens that are mining Earth until everything is used up. He joins the resisters who use giant robotic bugs to fight the enemy. Kind of weird.