The Frequency of Aliens

Sorrow Falls #2

by Gene Doucette

Annie Collins is back! Becoming an overnight celebrity at age sixteen should have been a lot more fun. Yes, there were times when it was extremely cool, but when the newness of it all wore off, Annie Collins was left with a permanent security detail and the kind of constant scrutiny that makes the college experience especially awkward. Not helping she’s the only kid in school with her own pet spaceship. She would love it if things found some kind of normal, but as long as she has control of the most lethal—and only—interstellar vehicle in existence, that isn’t going to happen. Worse, things appear to be going in the other direction. Instead of everyone getting used to the idea of the ship, the complaints are getting louder. Public opinion is turning, and the demands that Annie turn over the ship are becoming more frequent. It doesn’t help that everyone seems to think Annie is giving them nightmares. Nightmares aren’t the only weird things going on lately. A government telescope in California has been abandoned, and nobody seems to know why. The man called on to investigate—Edgar Somerville—has become the go-to guy whenever there’s something odd going on, which has been pretty common lately. So far, nothing has panned no aliens or zombies or anything else that might be deemed legitimately peculiar… but now may be different, and not just because Ed can’t find an easy explanation. This isn’t the only telescope where people have gone missing, and the clues left behind lead back to Annie. It all adds up to a new threat that the world may just need saving from, requiring the help of all the Sorrow Falls survivors. The question are they saving the world with Annie Collins, or are they saving it from her? The Frequency of Aliens is the exciting sequel to The Spaceship Next Door.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure

446 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2017

About the author

Gene Doucette is a hybrid author, albeit in a somewhat roundabout way. From 2010 through 2014, Gene published four full-length novels (Immortal, Hellenic Immortal, Fixer, and Immortal at the Edge of the World) with a small indie publisher. Then, in 2014, Gene started self-publishing novellas that were set in the same universe as the Immortal series, at which point he was a hybrid.

When the novellas proved more lucrative than the novels, Gene tried self-publishing a full novel, The Spaceship Next Door, in 2015. This went well. So well, that in 2016, Gene reacquired the rights to the earlier four novels from the publisher, and re-released them, at which point he wasn’t a hybrid any longer.

Additional self-published novels followed: Immortal and the Island of Impossible Things (2016); Unfiction (2017); and The Frequency of Aliens (2017).

In 2018, John Joseph Adams Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) acquired the rights to The Spaceship Next Door. The reprint was published in September of that year, at which point Gene was once again a hybrid author.

Since then, a number of things have happened. Gene published two more novels—Immortal From Hell at the end of 2018, and Fixer Redux in 2019—and wrote a new novel called The Apocalypse Seven that he did not self-publish; it was acquired by JJA/HMH in September of 2019. Publication date is May 25, 2021.

Gene plans to continue writing novels for both markets (traditional and self-published) as long as that continues to make sense. His most recent self-published novel is Immortal: Last Call (2020). He is currently at work on a large science fiction world-building project taking place on his Patreon site, the result of which will be a multi-novel series.

Reviews

[Anna]

I am enjoying this series a lot, but the author’s misunderstanding of geosynchronous orbits keeps distracting me

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining......can't say it was quite as good as the first one, but good fun all the same.

[Viking Jam · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://koeur.wordpress.com/2017/12/0...


Publisher: Doucette

Publishing Date: December 2017

ISBN:9781981274871

Genre: SciFi

Rating: 4.2/5

Publishers Description: Annie Collins is back! Becoming an overnight celebrity at age sixteen should have been a lot more fun. Yes, there were times when it was extremely cool, but when the newness of it all wore off, Annie Collins was left with a permanent security detail and the kind of constant scrutiny that makes the college experience especially awkward. Not helping matters: she’s the only kid in school with her own pet spaceship.

Review: This is the sequel to The Spaceship Next Door, which I reviewed here.... The Spaceship Next Door.

The first 30% of this novel on the Kindle reading app was veerrrrry slooooooow. Meaning not much happens other than this seemingly endless build up. There is literally gallons of explanatory prose coupled with the wit and social commentary relevant to Doucette’s style of writing.

Once the action picks up, you can’t put this down. All the characters I liked in the first novel are back and better than before and the movement transports you into a fun story line. While the writer keeps things light with his witticisms, what still comes through in spades is this malevolent alien force that frankly would have scared the shjt out of me if written in a serious context.

Get this, you will enjoy the escape.

[Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, not bad. Doucette still knows how to construct an intriguing alien mystery, and he does an impressively good job of keeping it mysterious despite all the revelations of the previous book.

Unfortunately, it lacks a certain.... call it synchronicity... that the last book had. Keeping the action confined to Sorrow Falls in the previous book lent a tightness to the plot, and it was a genuine question of who would be a survivor and who wouldn't. That's lacking now, and it slows down the story.

Still, a fun read, and I'll be looking for Doucette's other books.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one difficult to put down once I got used to the narrative. The story is pacey and due to the humour, feels quite different from, say, Fade Out, which I have also recently read and reviewed. This could so easily have been a grim tale of humanity facing a possible apocalyptic threat and while events are stacking up and there is a definite sense of unease, at no stage did the tone alter. I found it quite refreshing.

However, the catch with using any form of omniscient viewpoint – where the narrator is driving the story forward instead of the main characters – is the narrative can tip into being a mouthpiece for the author. So as I read on, I became aware that Doucette isn’t a fan of the military mindset, while feeling protectively admiring of isolated, rural settlements like Sorrow Falls.
Is this a major problem? It certainly wasn’t for hundreds of years, or for the likes of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. However the current fashion is for our protagonists to tell the story from their viewpoints within the story, on the grounds that no one has an overarching, ultimate view of what is happening – and that is exactly what is going on throughout this book. If Doucette wasn’t so deft with his humour, I think I would have had more of a problem with the viewpoint but because his wry irreverence permeates the story, he manages to pull this one off.

Other than that, the writing is slick and effective, while he keeps the pace rolling forward. All the main characters were reasonably appealing, although I did find the bloodthirsty survivalists a little unnerving and wondered if Doucette is playing too much with stereotypes in his characterisations. However, the denouement and ending was well handled and I enjoyed reading this sufficiently that I will be looking out for the first book in the series, The Space Ship Next Door.

8/10

[Richard Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, one of the best I've read in months. I think it's a good as its predecessor, The Spaceship Next Door. Annie is older and off to college and the world is going crazy and is blaming Annie.

A great exploration of what happens to the most powerful human on Earth when she goes to college. Funny, touching and thoughtful, it explores the responsibility such power can bring.

Also a good exploration of the frailties of government.

[sheila nielander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The frequency of Aliens😮😄(Sarrow Falls)

I have read both books 📚. And highly recommend them. A very interesting story line and fun read. I wish there was a third book to let us know what happens to Annie.

[Patricia Mullis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! More please?

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Just as great as the first one.

[Michael Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not Frequent enough

Gene Doucette returns us, well not quite to Sorrow Falls (initially), but to the lives of Annie, Ed, Violet and the Spaceship Next Door.

So what happens to the teenage girl who saved the world three years after the most significant incident in history? Well college of course. Trying to balance tests, boys, friends and parties at college is hard enough for anyone, let alone when you have secret service agents following you everywhere, with the question being are they there to protect her from the world, or the world from her?

Zombies were bad enough for one night, but now people are seeing vampires, werewolves, ghosts, aliens and anything else they can imagine, and blaming it all on Annie.

As Ed tries to piece together pieces of a puzzle across the world, it looks like it may be time to get the survivors of the incident back to where it all started.

While not my favorite of his books (that is either Fixer or Unfiction) it is enjoyable following these characters once again as they piece together just exactly what is happening and how to deal with it. Watching a simple ordinary small town girl who becomes extraordinary overnight as she tries to be normal is enjoyable enough, and though it starts a little slow building the characters, it ends with a bang that honestly left me wanting more.

Doucette mentioned in his blog that this was intended as a sequel, not a series, but Amazon would not let him list it as such (thus becoming Sorrow Falls Book 2). However the ending, while not quit open ended (at least no more than the first book) did leave me wondering what is going to come next for Annie, Ed and Violet (and the rest of the scooby gang :-) ) And while he hasn't announced any plans for a third book (in the trilogy perhaps), all it takes is an idea . . .

[Paige Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second in the trilogy so far for Sorrow falls was a good, solid 4/5 stars for me.
I had a neutral feeling so far- I was excited to dive deep into a sci fi again, and feel this series is a really good introduction if you want to dip your toes into sci fi.
The one major thing is since im newer to reading, everything seems like a new, and exciting trope im exploring for the first time- this one aliens! The IDEA of how the author percieved these biengs is very interesting to explore.
I touched base on this in my previous review with spaceship next door, but i really am enjoying how the author plays around with personifying non living things, and ideas- making them seem like they have there own sentience. They even get nicknames! This makes it in a way emotionally investing into that object. The only other similar thing ive seen so far with this is people naming swords, and emotions tied to losing/those objects breaking.

As usual, the writing takes me a minute to get into- especially scenes trying to set up locations, or surroundings. The coversation, and dialogue are very fluid though, and make the characters feel very unique, and have a solid identity- even side characters!

I do lose focus quite alot when it comes to the governmental/facility talk- but cant be helped with the whole "aliens threatening modern earth" idea.
This seems a wierd thing to add to a review, but this is the firt book to actually me notice how impactful chapters are, or parts/acts that may be involved. It is very enjoyable to have shorter chapters, as there is more impact, and cliffhangers at the end of chapters, and i really enjoy how it all builds interest, and mystery!

One of the characters is by far my favorite, and i'm really interested to read the final book to see how much they are involved, and what happens to there follow-up!

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gene Doucette's 2017 novel "Sorrow Falls, Book 2: Frequency of Aliens, The" is not as good as its predecessor, but it's still very good. As with "The Spaceship Next Door," the writing is excellent and we spend a good part of the book scratching our heads over weird things happening. But, I do have a couple of issues with it. First, the story gets a bit less-than-pleasant during the first half. It does turn around and climb out of that chasm, but that descent ties into my second complaint: no one seems to talk to anyone about what's going on. Everyone sees little bits and pieces of things happening, but they don't communicate to anyone else. Given what's actually happening behind the scenes, it does make sense. But, it's a bit irritating. And, finally, my third complaint: the previous book ends with our protagonist having a sentient idea lodged in her brain. Given that, this book ought to have picked up with that and given us something about how she's coping with it or handling it. Instead, it's mostly glossed over. The story we do get does relate, but it's coming in at a tangent. So, even though I still enjoyed the book, I'm dropping my rating just a tad to a "mere" Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gene Doucette's The Frequency of Aliens falls prey to the second-novel-in-a-series syndrome. It is awfully hard to keep them going, particularly if the first was good. I really didn't enjoy it very much. Most of the ideas were pulled directly from the first novel.

Most of the characters were from the previous novel. Tellingly, the most enjoyable characters were still the main character and one new character. Far too much of the story revolved around the secondary characters of the first novel. They weren't strong enough to be more than secondary characters in the first. They still weren't strong enough in the second novel.

So we don't have new ideas or new characters. What about the plot? Well that was extremely derivative of the first novel. So really, there was nothing new. As much as I enjoyed the first, I had to struggle through the second. Only 3 stars, and that may be a stretch.

[Andy Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:

Shippie and Annie are back! But who would have thought Annie would be the dullest part about this tale? At least in the beginning...

The story starts slow because we have to see what life is like for Annie, now that she has a personal spaceship following her around. Unfortunately it isn't captivating, and more than a bit irritating. We do have the mysterious disappearances and odd sightings too, but that plot line is also a slow burn.

But once the cavalry arrives, the story takes off and the bullets start to fly (literally). At this point we also get to learn a lot more about Violet and how the aliens work. The author has created an extraterrestrial unlike any others, so it's a lot of fun learning about how they became and why they're here.

The ending is great but I can't really comment on it without giving something away. I enjoyed the book and if you've already read the first book, you might as well read this one too!

Read it!

[Deborah Bausmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d enjoyed the 1st book last August, THE SPACESHIP NEXT DOOR. This 2nd book continues with Annie Collins, the 16-yr-old who “saved the world”. She is just the right amount of intelligence, street-smarts & social confidence. Now she’s a freshman in college being closely monitored by Secret Service.

The dialogue feels so natural. I appreciate the explanations of some of the scientific aspects of the story; I figure a “real scientist” would roll his/her eyes, but he makes it sound reasonable enough that I’m willing to go with it. For instance, one of Annie’s friends is “not of this world”, & this friend explains:

“Appreciate that in my natural form I don’t experience time. Not in the way you do. I have experiences, and they change who I am, but in a number of ways I’m both the entity that existed before, during, and after those experiences, because my consciousness isn’t contained within those concepts. There is no ‘before’.”

[Becky D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great sequel. Annie Collins has developed into such a great character- at some points you couldn't tell when the alien ended and her cleverness began. But also a great reminder that Annie is still a human, with flaws and limitations. I also appreciated that we got a chapter from Violet's POV, which added to some of the lowkey horror factors throughout the plot. Ed having a romantic life felt kind of off- it was only discussed at the beginning of the book between him and Melissa, and not concluded on by the end (especially with the shoot out you'd think this would come back up somehow). But besides that it was great to see everyone back in action again with some strong new characters too.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The saga of Sorrow Falls continues with Annie going to college. Her not so normal life involves a spaceship following her movements from orbit and security (guards?) detail. Annie is the girl who has a spaceship and now everyone thinks she's 'selfish' for hoard the spaceship.

I read this right after the first book. I felt the fun, easy-going, sometimes snarky narrative, was missing from most of this book. It's not a bad book, I rather enjoyed it, but it seemed to be missing until Annie goes back to Sorrow Falls for the conclusion of the book.

Just like the first story this has some big ideas and does a good job of following through on them. Enjoyable if not particularly surprising.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while to get comfortable with this story. For the first half, there was growing pressure from the faceless bad-guys that undermined the personalities of millions of people - setting them against Annie. Given that there seemed no glimmer of a path out of darkness, a gnawing sense of hopelessness seeped into the narrative. Thankfully, as Annie's team started to learn more, the reader was gifted with a little foreshadowing of hope. It helped that Annie herself was almost always up-beat.

The final solution was a let-down. It just didn't ring true that the enemy would be so trusting, nor that they were that vulnerable. It wasn't terrible, just weak.

[Jim Kratzok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sequel.

The Frequency of Aliens is a good continuation of the Sorrow Falls series. Annie is now in college but has her own secret service detail to guard her since she is the only one on the planet with her own interstellar spaceship with the ability to destroy the planet. But are they there to keep her safe from loonies or to keep the planet safe from her if she should have a bad day and cause the ship to take action? Either way, it's far from your typical college experience. Then the weird stuff begins to happen... I'd recommend both of the books in this series to anyone who likes their science fiction delivered with a bit of snark and wit.

[Bryan Macleod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another highly recommended installation in the Sorrow Falls series. and another five star read. lots of reasons for that... a good "can't put it down" excitement component mixed with guffaw out loud wit. a pleasure digital cover to cover. I found myself highlighting some of Doucette's very intelligent and artful turns of phrase... "that was so well written I want to be able to come back to that..." sort of thing... in my review of the "Spaceship Next door" I described the writing to be like its protagonist, intelligent AND sardonic... really just great... Strongly recommended from YA to VA... (very old)... Looking forward to the next installation!

[Paul Rizzuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spaceship lands in a field in a small Massachusetts town and just sits there for 3 years. Strange things then happen involving zombies and mass hallucinations. Eventually a local teenage girl convinces the ship's owner to give it to her and she becomes famous and also feared as she now can destroy the planet with a mere thought communicated to the spaceship. She tries to stay as normal as possible, but the government, trying to protect her, won't allow that. I found this to be a fun and entertaining novel.

[Mark Zodda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good follow-up to the earlier "The Spaceship Next Door" that moves the story along in ways that I didn't anticipate, yet provides a suitable ending while also leaving room for more stories about Sorrow Falls. I get that I am not the target demographic, but I still found the story enjoyable though I did want him to move things along a bit faster and get to the point where he would reveal some interesting new capability to resolve the action and open the way for another story. All in all a fun and quick read.

[Mike Haxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too bad this isn’t a trilogy

Gene Doucette writes some eclectic stuff.
And I think I would like to live in Sorrow Falls,
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK FIRST. It won’t make sense. Read Book One.
Then read some of the Immortal books. They’re fun and you don’t especially need to read them in order.
I understand that I have a few followers, so I will admit that a book about spaceships and sentient ideas is a little out of my wheelhouse, but I found the duo fun to read, and I was disappointed when the end came. That’s 5 stars in my book.

[JPT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook
Story: A, Narration: A

Not a review, just some thoughts for personal reference. Spoilers.

I downloaded this book as soon as I finished TSND, but with a bit of hesitation. TSND was delightful and I would have been OK if that was all there was to Annie's story. I was also afraid that a sequel wouldn't match the original. While this book wasn't as fresh as the first, it still came pretty darn close. I won't go into the details, but it was both tense and humorous. Once again, I'd be OK if things ended here, but there are enough open questions to warrant more. And I'd love to see Annie, Ed, Violet, Sam, and the rest of the gang for another outing.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good sequel. I sort of liked it better than the first one, though I don't usually care for threats this insidious where everyone stops reasoning. I keep screaming at them, knowing full well that it wouldn't do any good if they heard me, kind of like the real world. I'm not sure where they go from here, though. There's lots of scope for Annie and all her friends to have further adventures, but it would require something different, perhaps a little less mind controlly.

[Walter Ponath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel is as good as the first. Like the first book, The Spaceship Next Door, it starts out slow and the about half way through, it takes off. Annie Collins is at college now and dealing with the popularity of having her own spaceship. It had been awhile since I read the first book and forgotten some of the characters. I would recommend reading The Spaceship Next Door and then let The Frequency of Aliens be your next book so you can keep track of the characters.

[the_frat_nanny_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I have to agree that this book is maybe half a star away from being as good as the first one, but just being able to dive into a world where I see the characters as friends was amazing. Annie Collins is back and all she wants to be is a normal college student, which is not easy with an Alien Spaceship attached.
I was so glad to meet most of my favorite characters yet again and I so hope there will be a third book in this series.

[Deborah Shanks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annie's back!

Now a college freshman with a security detail. She still has her own alien spaceship. Friends, enemies, zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and of course aliens. College life, finals, and assassination attempt's. Major complaint.... This book is too short. I want more! If you haven't read the first book in this series. Get it now. A must read series.

[Mark Hennessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a casual read of a small town girl who has her own spaceship. The writing has a cozy feel to it and it's a enjoyable escape. I read the first book in the series years ago and only recently realized it was a series. Now, I look forward to reading the third book to find out what becomes of Annie Collins.

[Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey, I really liked this one! The setup is already done, thanks to the first book. The author gets right into an interesting puzzle. It’s still unbelievable, but I already bought into it so whatever.