Nowhere on Earth

by Nick Lake

From the Printz Award-winning author of Satellite comes a compelling new novel about a girl who must brave the elements to help a lost child with an otherworldly secret.Sixteen-year-old Emily is on the run. Between her parents and the trouble she's recently gotten into at school, she has more than enough reason to get away. But when she finds a little boy named Aidan wandering in the woods, she knows she needs to help him find his way home. But getting home is no easy matter, especially when Emily finds out that Aidan isn't even from Earth. When their plane crashes into the side of a snowy mountain, it's up to Emily to ensure Aidan and their pilot, Bob, make it off the mountain alive. Pursued by government forces who want to capture Aidan, the unlikely team of three trek across the freezing landscape, learning more about each other, and about life, than they ever thought possible."I love Nick Lake's writing. I would read anything he wrote--grocery list, email, etc.--because his writing, always, is so real and brave. He takes on subjects other writers might avoid, and he writes the hell out of them." --New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Niven on Nick Lake

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Adventure, Survival, Fiction, Teen, Fantasy

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2019

About the author

My name is Nick and I write and edit books for young adults. My first YA novel IN DARKNESS, was published by Bloomsbury in 2012 and won the Michael L Printz Award for Excellence in YA Literature. I also wrote a book called HOSTAGE THREE about a girl kidnapped by Somali pirates.

THERE WILL BE LIES is coming in January 15 and is about a girl who learns that everything she knows is a lie. To say it's a book with a twist in the story would be a massive understatement. There is also a talking coyote in it.

I live with my wife, daughter and son in a 16th century house in England with almost 19th century amenities. Sometimes the heating even works.

I like: reading, art, music, food containing sugar, cities at night, the countryside in the daytime, vintage furniture, modern standards of heating (see above), travelling.

I dislike: being sick, failing, being underdressed in the cold, being overdressed in the heat, the unnecessary suffering of children, being punched in the face.

Reviews

[Lilith Black Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

E-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own and are not affected in any way.

Actual rating: 4.5 ⭐

You don't need to truly know someone in order to be able to love them. You can love them even when you know their true self is alien to the rest of the world as you know it. This is the feeling that this book let me with.
Usually I write my reviews with PROS and CONS points, unless it's a DNF, but when my mind almost can't make a comprehensive sentence in order to at least try and be able to explain what a book means for me and how it makes me feel, I write it like this: just rambling thoughts picked from the chaos that my mind is.
This book made me feel warm, loved and powerful, the creator of my own feature. Because this book talks in equal measure about love and about feature, as it talks about hate and past and present. This book it's having an imposibile shape, like Aidan's ship, but once you get to know it, to see it as what it is, you can appreciate it at it's right value. Because this book is a little, single alien on an Earth full of humanly ones.
Your journey with it it will be full of curiosity, fear, questions, love, decisions, power, fight, loyalty and impossibility. Or maybe not. But I encourage you to take your time with this book and discover it piece by piece, word by word. Because nowhere on Earth you will find a book like this one.

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[April (Aprilius Maximus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Stories are powerful things. People look for them, even when they don't exist.”

representation: MC has Salvadoran heritage.

[trigger warnings are listed at the bottom of this review and may contain spoilers]

This was super intriguing and fast paced! We're thrown right into the action from the get go and all we really know is that a girl and her 'brother' are on the run after being in a plane crash. The writing is super simple with a few memorable quotes sprinkled in, but overall it was a really easy & fast read even if I wanted the writing to be a bit more sophisticated!
I didn't expect there to be a little discussion on sexual harassment, but it definitely added more meaning and backstory to the main character's story.

If you're looking for a fast-paced survival story with a hint of sci-fi, this is the book for you! While I enjoyed it and sped through it, it wasn't super memorable for me though, so 3 stars it is!

trigger warnings: plane crash, fire, sexual harassment, guns, gun wounds, gore, animal death (wild animals only).

Thanks so much to NetGalley & Random House Children's for the e-arc!

[Shannon Miz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the weirdest books I have ever read in my life. And also somehow one of the best? Like the synopsis says, I can’t tell you much about it, but the entire premise has the potential to be utterly ridiculous but it’s somehow not at all? This book got me right in the feels, and it also features some cool survival stuff and an amazing setting deep in the Alaskan wild. And family bonds! Just read it, yeah?

Straight up I read this book in May and I STILL think about it, so. I'll throw this at anyone and everyone, and I am So glad it is being published in the US!

[Oceana Reads Co. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aw what a touching ending! There was intense action from the start but then really sweet moment near the end. I liked it a lot! Cool sci-fi I haven’t read in a while.

[Karen’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nowhere on Earth was a surprise to me as I wasn’t sure what it was about going in. It turned out to be one of the sweetest stories I’ve read in ages! Emily and her little brother Aiden are stowaways on a small mail plane which is heading to Anchorage, Alaska, from a very small town in rural Alaska when the plane crashes.

Emily, Aiden, and Bob the pilot have to survive the freezing cold, the bears, avalanches, and... the men in white who are trying to kill them.

Emily was a wonderful character as she does everything possible to keep her little brother alive and safe. She does the same for the pilot as the three trek miles through the Alaskan wilderness. Along the way, the three share their stories and bond over their journey.

I loved this! I loved the characters, and the survival aspects. I adored how much Emily loved her little brother!

This was an action packed story and a quick read which I devoured in a day. I have read and enjoyed another of Nick Lake’s books, Satellite, so when I saw this one, knew I had to read it as well. I’m so glad I did!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Books / Random House for the advance copy!*

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting from Nowhere on Earth. There is a lot going on for sure. A girl on the run, a plane crashing in the middle of nowhere and government officials that are after her 'brother'. Maybe a little bit too much for my taste.

Nevertheless, there was something that captivated me when I was reading Nowhere on Earth. It was almost as if there was an alien trying to get me to care about the book 😉. It is rather action packed, so a quick read, but it also touches on some deeper problems (this part however could have been explored a little better though).

For me a nice quick read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Find this and other reviews on my blog https://www.urlphantomhive.com

[Caitlin Theroux · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed herein are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.

This review contains spoilers.

You’ve probably heard me say this before: I tried to like this book. I really tried. Every aspect of this book were nickels in my gumball machine, and in my excitement, I neglected to note that each ball smelled faintly of feet and armpit sweat before popping them into my mouth for the unfortunate mouthful.

To wit, this book sucked.

The story starts with a plane crash. Emily and her little brother Aidan have stowed away on a cargo plane heading out into the Alaskan bush, and the pilot has no idea they’re inside his cargo hold. Shortly after surviving the crash, Bob, Emily, and Aidan are met with a helicopter and gunfire from government agents. Bob takes a shot in the arm, and the trio use leverage from the broken plane wing to ride down the mountainside like a giant sled. Then it’s a matter of survival in the wilderness and early near-Arctic spring to help Aidan get home. Cuz he’s an alien.

Some added internal tension comes about because Emily caught the boys’ locker room on fire at her school just before she stowed away in Bob’s plane, and we don’t know why. SO! The set up works. It could have been really interesting. Survival stories always get me clenched up in stress, and you throw in dodging bullets, you’ve got me sold. That’s how I ended up requesting this in the first place.

But…sadly, no. A lot of tiny wrenches ended up in the cogs and overwhelmed the works like those tiny bugs on wind turbines.

The characters. The lack of things happening probably wouldn’t have been such an issue if the characters had been more than two dimensional. Emily starts out the story as a girl who doesn’t understand her parents (granted, she’s sixteen), hates that she moved to Alaska, and is not at all happy to have traded ballet for cheerleading. By the way, we’re not given a super solid reason why she can’t go to dance in a different town nearby, or if there’s a dance studio in town…now that I think about it, I don’t even remember the name of the town where she lived. And it definitely doesn’t help that we’re not given a solid idea as to which cardinal direction they head so they can end up in Anchorage.

Anyway.

Emily stays the same. Bob stays the same. Emily’s parents get about as much filling out as a half-price taco. And I’ll get to Aidan later. Oh, will I get to Aidan. One of the things Aidan the alien can do is get living things to protect him by appearing small and helpless, basically a baby in their species. He then implants false memories so that these people/animals don’t question how he’s suddenly appeared. But when Emily’s parents treat him like their child, she feels strangely jealous suddenly, as if they’ve never loved her. And she says a few times that her parents never hug her, but I feel as though that’s inherently untrue, as she has no attachment issues or emotional instability. She’s a perfectly normal teen. And later on, they’re shown to hug her and care for her. Like…make up your mind. Either her parents are neglectful and want nothing for Emily but what they think she should do, or they’re supportive and she’s being dramatic.

I guarantee you, it’s the second one. Because when her parents show up to rescue the trio later on, and they ask her why she ran away, she points out these things: they like a bunch of things that she doesn’t and they make her do them (which yes, they’re her parents, it’s kind of a thing that just happens), she didn’t want to move to Alaska, she didn’t have friends in school, and she doesn’t feel listened to.

Girl. No.

This is where my line fell for Emily. She went from being a flat teenage stereotype to an entitled brat who had no idea how privileged she was. From then on she just sounded more and more whiny, and that didn’t change throughout the rest of the book.

And now, Aidan. Oh, Aidan. We’re told that any creature who sees him has an instinctive need to protect him and keep him safe. We see this with Emily, with Emily’s parents, and with the bear in the forest. Even with Bob. But for some reason the government agents chasing them are immune to this power? And even though Aidan didn’t touch their faces or hands to tell them he’s an alien, they somehow know that he’s an alien? For Emily and Bob to realize what he was, he had to show them his true form, but apparently it wasn’t necessary for the men chasing them into the wilderness to see it because they know what he is.

And why was Aidan so susceptible to the cold? That’s never clarified.

And why does his dialogue fluctuate between “normal kid” and “alien child”?

The thing that bothered me most about Aidan was the trope he became: the perfect problem-solving child. No problem was too big for him to fix. No obstacle stood in his way–when he felt like leaping over it. Most of the book seemed to depend on Aidan’s attitude toward whatever they were facing. And for a book that was nearly 300 pages, nothing much happens.

The plane crashes. The trio heads into the wilderness. There’s an avalanche. They find a cabin and eat stuff. Emily’s parents show up. They make it to Anchorage. They contact Aidan’s family. Aidan leaves. Emily and her family go home. The end…

Except.

EXCEPT.

A glaringly, blatantly impossible plot point is what Emily’s ballet career hinges upon. When she showed Aidan how she danced, they were in the cabin in the wilderness. They had ditched the SPOT tracker that would help locate them. Bob was healing from being shot in the arm, asleep in the cabin. But somehow a video turns up that Bob filmed of Emily dancing by the lake with Aidan.

(Of course, since no one else saw his true form, he’s not in the video and no one can see him. Because of course.)

Bob didn’t have a camera. Bob didn’t have a cell phone. Either the author is just not a good writer, or Bob is a cyborg.

Then we learn why Emily caught the boys’ locker room on fire: a creepy football player hit on her. She said no. He left. She got upset and went to burn his football jersey. The locker room caught on fire (?).

Listen. I never said this book made sense. I warned you it was bad.

Nowhere on Earth tries to be five or six books all at the same time. I get it, unwanted flirting sucks. But guess what. Brad walked away. He didn’t grope her. He didn’t stick his tongue down her throat. If you’re going to make a statement about sexual assault or harassment, maybe don’t squeeze it into a poorly-constructed tale about ET and the Alaskan wilderness. Unfortunately for Nick Lake, I’m currently reading The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis, and have just finished reading both The Grace Year by Kim Liggett and listening to Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee. Concerning Lake’s attempt at a social message, he done goofed.

On a petty note, the punctuation in this book drove me nuts. In five or so lines that were littered with commas and dashes, we had four colons and a semicolon. This isn’t an academic paper. Prose only ever requires complicated punctuation if you’re either A) Victor Hugo, or B) F. Scott Fitzgerald. And you ain’t, chief. You ain’t. Not even Jane Austen used this many colons and dashes in the span of a page. For anyone wondering, YES, I do have OCD that targets punctuation and its use. And I hate it.

ALSO. STOP BREAKING UP YOUR DIALOGUE WITH ELLIPSES. JUST STOP. It doesn’t effectively indicate a pause, it just makes your writing more stilted and awkward than it needs to be.

Just…I’m so disappointed. This was terrible. I expect more from an author who’s written four or five books. I won’t be reading Nick Lake again.

You can see this review and more on my blog: https://pipesandexpensivefurniture.wo...

[Jypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was written by my 11 year old son.


I recieved a gifted copy, and voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions are belonging to me.


Review:


Nowhere on Earth: brilliant! Recently, (About three days ago), I finished Nowhere on earth, by Nick Lake. I have also read, from him, Sattelite. Satellite was amazing! He took a sort of different turn on this one. Anyway, on to the story. Sixteen-year-old Emily finds 7-year-old Aidan wandering in the woods outside her house in Alaska, after returning from school from a.... mishap. Emily learns that Aidan isn't in his environment, and needs to get home. She helps him run away, with her tagging along. They stow away on a plane and later, they crash. Everyone is alright, even the pilot, Bob. In this ever-gripping story, this trio battles government, creatures, and learn a thing or two from each other. Though they encounter many problems and/or obstacles during they're their trek to the place they can send Aidan home, they pull through. I truly, truly, TRULY enjoyed reading this book, and hope Nick continues to write these types of books. Great job, Nick! 10/10, 100/100, you should read this book. Trust me when I say, you'll love it!

[Annemieke / A Dance with Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway. 

While Nowhere on Earth is a sci-fi story, at its core it is a story of self-discovery in a difficult situation for a young girl. 

Emily has gotten into some trouble at school and when she meets Aidan, an alien, she finds she has more reasons to run away. Emily finds herself along the way. Pretty basic and for the most part it is. There are elements that didn't quite work out for me and others did.

How she didn't tell her parents what actually happened at school. She had such a skewed idea of her own parents, as if they didn't care for her at all. Yet a lot of their actions were because of caring, including when they appeared in the middle of this story. That is one of the elements that I did really enjoy. A young adult story where the parents are present and where they work things out. 

I think my main problem was that I just couldn't really get into Emily as a character to like. Aidan, the alien, didn't really work his cute charm on me either. I did like Bob the further we got into the story however. He gave a more realistic feeling to the whole situation as he didn't just take it at face value. 

All in all not a book that worked for me entirely. However I think if you can like Emily this might be a book that might resonate with you a lot more. 

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nowhere on Earth is one part sci-fi, one part adventure story. I really enjoyed this story of survival - both against the elements and against the bad guys. Rugged terrain and the beauty of an icy Alaska backdrop brings a sense of harshness and danger to the story, while the mystery of Emily’s past and who and what exactly Aidan is, draws the reader in.

Emily is on a mission to save her brother. They have snuck aboard a plane heading from nowhere Alaska to Anchorage. Emily has been wanting to escape since her parents dragged her to Alaska and away from her friends and ballet, wanting also to escape the trouble she is in at school. But when the plane crashes, she, Aidan and the pilot must depend on each other to survive. Emily will do anything to protect Aidan, even if it means fighting off the men who come after them. Because Aidan isn’t from Earth and they want to prevent him from being able to go home.

It’s funny, the fact that there are aliens, spaceships and ‘people’ from another planet is almost a side story in this book, one that isn’t overly explored. Details of how or why or what aren’t explored. If you want to know everything about the aliens, where they come from, what they want, how their technology works or where they live, you won’t find it in this book. Emily readily accepts that Aidan is from another planet, though his spaceship is kind of hard to dispute.

We join Aidan and Emily after the plane crash, so her finding him and his spaceship, him joining her family, and their decision to flee is all filled in as backstory. It works, as it places the focus of the story on Emily and Aidan’s survival as they navigate the plane wreckage, trying to make the journey on foot and out running the bad guys.

Emily is awesome. She is a dancer, but as her parents’ daughter she can shoot, hunt and hike. And she’s not afraid to stand up for herself. She’s the perfect character to survive a plane crash in the middle of the snowy wilderness. As we learn about what happened to cause the trouble at school it becomes clearer show strong she is. Then she takes out the bad guys and gets Aidan, Bob the pilot and herself down the mountain on the plane wing!! She is clever, strong and doesn’t back down from a fight.

Nowhere on Earth was and yet wasn’t what I was expecting. The story of adventure and survival ticked all the boxes for me and I loved the strength of Emily. The bits about aliens and Aidan were curveballs I wasn’t sure what to do with. It works for the flow of the story, so long as you are okay with not learning more. And I think the details we do receive make the story of Emily’s past, her relationship with her family and facing her demons that much more important.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library

[Jude · Rating 4 out of 5]

My initial thoughts were that this book was probably a 3.5 star book but I did find it quite compelling so I went with 4 stars. The plot is unusual - a young girl is trying to help an alien (in the form of a small boy) get to a place where he can be transported home. Don't be put off, there is a lot more to the story than that - there's a plane crash, men chasing them with assault rifles etc.

[Dr. Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wild ride!! After like the first two chapters, I was hooked. And the chapters are so short, which was kind of a relief since the book before had ridiculously long chapters.

It starts with a plane crash. There are survivors: a teenage girl and her little brother. They are running from something. But what? Then the men arrive. They are hunting the girl and boy.

Emily was a great character, I loved her spunk and quick wit immediately. Aidan, her younger brother, was very interesting and the relationship between these two was so heart warming and poignant. I seriously loved them so much.

This a quick, action-adventure survival tale. On the run from an unknown threat, Emily is determined to get her younger brother to somewhere safe. This is made much harder when the plane pilot, Bob, becomes injured in their escape from the plane crash.

The story made so many good points, and had so many overarching themes that I loved. The main two where family and living in the present. Overall: really quick and fun read that I loved.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Nick Lake, and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read Nowhere on Earth in exchange for an honest review.

What initially drew me to this book was the point in the back-of-book blurb which reads: “But getting home is no easy matter, especially [when] Emily finds out that Aidan isn’t even from Earth.” Cool, aliens! I’m into reading about aliens right now…

Despite this book featuring an alien, it was quite mundane in the science-fiction elements. Rather, this book sends a powerful message about what it means to be a family.

After accidentally setting her new school on fire, Emily isn’t sure how to confront her parents. When she runs outside after hearing a crash, she finds a little boy and a not-so-inconspicuous spacecraft. Aidan, as the boy calls himself, uses an alien ability in which he looks like something that needs to be cared for and protected by any who see him (as long as they don’t see his true form underneath, which Emily has). This means, when Emily’s parents see Aidan for the first time, their memories are flooded with him as if he was always the little boy in the family.

Knowing Emily must escape the small Alaskan town, from her misstep at school and to help Aidan get home, the two stow away on a man’s delivery aircraft. When it crashes in the mountains in the middle of nowhere Alaska, men dressed in white with more than a few guns are on the prowl, probably to catch and dissect Aidan. In the pursuit of what Emily calls the “men in black” (even though they are wearing white, ha ha…), the trio (Emily, Aidan, and shot and injured pilot Bob) make their way down the mountain.

Emily’s goal is to get Aidan to the old HAARP facility where he can send a long-range communication to his people and thus be saved. During their journey, Aidan and Emily’s relationship proves that family is more than blood. Bob’s past comes to life, and Emily’s relationship with her own parents is explored.

A major message is that the past is the past and the present is the present, but the future is in the hands of the individual. Occurrences of the past will not be forgotten. Those who we have lost are never forgotten.

While the story felt somewhat simple to me, in terms of my alien expectations, I absolutely loved this writing style. The chapters were usually quick and focused. The structure was interesting as well. The book starts with the plane crash and the reader is filled in periodically throughout the book about Emily’s past. This keeps the action going while giving well-paced breaks to the reader.

This book was riveting and intriguing. Nick Lake’s writing style is phenomenal, and I am definitely interested in reading some of his other works, as I devoured Nowhere on Earth rather quickly. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a solid story that feels close to home.

[Lilyfae · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is an intriguing one, two youths on the run from mysterious men with guns in the Alaskan wilderness turns out to be far more complicated than a simple chase and survival story with awakening, coming of age and hopefulness amidst disaster permeating the plot.

Inevitable comparisons will be made to ET but I think that does the book a disservice as it really is several metaphorical journeys woven together, the actual physical journey but emotional ones too; especially the coming of age of the protagonist Emily as she comes to terms with her anger and grief at being uprooted from everything she loves in Minnesota to the arctic wilds of Alaska, and how her perception of herself and adults around her changes as she moves emotionally and mentally from a child to a young adult.

I particularly liked the fact that the plot comes to include Emily's parents in a major way, the book starts much like a typical 'get the parents out the way so she is free to make decisions' plot device of children's and young adult literature, but the reintroduction of her parents midway changes the dynamic both within the action and in Emily's mind as she begins to see her parents outside of the narrow shallow roles she has cast for them and begins to see them as fully rounded adults with flaws and strengths, hidden depths and unknown capacities that young people often in their self absorption fail to see until older.
The immersion of the parents in the plot I found a strength when the story was beginning to lag and took it in an interesting direction.


There were a few minor issues I had with the book though, not dealbreakers but enough to warrant a mention.
The target audience is Young Adult, and our protagonist is 16 years old but there are times where the language and construction of the writing seems younger than that.
I would say the feel of this book is more Middle grade overall but it happens to have an older protagonist, guns (and thus could present problems for some) and one rude grown up word for a bottom repeated twice (I think), perhaps even the reasoning for Emily's criminal behaviour (although what she did was wrong) seems softer than has been dealt with in other Young Adult fiction I've read recently.
However I do actually applaud this as it's a 'safe' novel for younger or more sensitive teens and tweens wishing to read it but not be scared or just read an adventure without being confronted with more mature situations, but I wonder if it would've been better with a few edits and marketed as middle grade fiction.
Equally the thinking, behaviour and symbiosis between Emily and Aiden seems to hint at something more powerful, but this ultimately falls away and I think would've been been interesting to have explored further. The ending itself can feel a bit of an anticlimax or at least unsettlingly calm after the breathless action of the plot prior and the really short continuing chapters thereafter, I don’t think there needed to be such discombolation of the narrative by breaking into more chapters.

However I would strongly recommend this book, there's much to think about what it means to be human, what experience really means and reflecting on what is important to ourselves though it's worth noting I think the book comes across younger than intended.

[Ms Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exciting adventure story about a girl who finds an alien boy near her house. (Yes - it is a science fiction thriller) She runs away from home to protect him and ends up in a small aircraft which crashes. From then on the children and the pilot are running from the sinister"men in black" who want to capture the alien boy.
This is a bit like the E.T. story but was exciting enough, with a bear encounter and the difficulties of surviving in the snow.
I enjoyed this and think it would appeal to anyone who likes adventure, thrillers, survival stories or science fiction.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

NETGALLEY CURRENTLY HAS THIS AS A READ NOW... GO GO GO!

14/12/19 - 4.5 Stars
WOW...

I think I'm in shock right now. I fully went into this not knowing what to expect - actually I don't really remember properly reading the synopsis at all so it was definitely one hell of a ride. I have to say, not knowing what I was getting into made the whole reading experience so much more entertaining, and maybe that is why I loved this book so much. It is definitely NOT your typical survival story.

"The explosion was breath made manifest, the whole field of snow a lung."

There is SO MUCH I want to talk about with this book, I barely know where to begin. This is a fast paced, adventure filled read that was somewhat predictable in places but with such powerful meaning behind every action, every word it turns into something much more spectacular. I fell in love with the writing style, how it flowed so smoothly and wasn't the slightest bit hard to follow. It really takes you there, to the Alaskan winter wilderness, surrounded by beautiful scenery you can almost physically see.

We start off immediately being thrown into a plane crash, in which our main protagonist Emily has stowed away with her 'younger brother'. It is not initially explained why these two chose to ran away, but there isn't much time to get your bearings before figuring out the 'men in black' are in hot pursuit. Luckily Emily has learned, if not reluctantly, crucial survival skills from her parents which become invaluable in saving all of their lives - pilot included as he is severely injured from the get go. From here on in it is a treacherous trek across the mountains, trying desperately to reach their important destination with all of them intact; but there is more than just the physical journey for our characters to embark on. There is a metaphorical one, an emotional one. How this creates such a passionate message really shapes this entire story and creates something else entirely. Emily learns of love, and the depths it can reach. She grows from a child to a young woman, coming of age in a rough, necessary yet magical way. We learn that she is a talented dancer, who was forced to move with her parents and become something she was not in a school and a town that she hated. We learn how much she misses her past and wishes she could go back, how she feels misunderstood and alone. It resonates with everyone on some level, of remembering your childhood, or teenage years when at some point you inevitably feel different, left out, lonely - as we all do. It creates this bond between reader and character, a connection that develops as the plot thickens and we are carried along on this discovery and growth with her. The writing really does develop her character with such grace, it is genius.

"It's strange to me," he said, "that instead of enjoying this place, you people always want to fight over who owns it."

This quote hit me. Hit me right in the feels.

- A little backstory for you, which has pretty much nothing to do with the book at hand, I am at the moment living and working (travelling) in Canada. Right now I am lucky enough to spend every day in Banff, slap bang in the middle of the stunning Canadian Rockies. It's winter, it's freezing cold, there's snow everywhere so it's not hard for me at all to picture the landscape that this story revolves around. And, it. Is. BEAUTIFUL! I cannot express to you how beautiful. Magical. It takes my breath away. SO having said that, reading the scene containing the previously mentioned quote, I very almost teared up. Because it's true. It is so true. Our world is beautiful, and rather than simply appreciating it, we (those humans in charge ha) need to possess it, to use it, to discover it's secrets and take them as though they are simply there for the taking... And it's incredibly sad. That is why I resonated so much with the above quote. It really did hit home. -

ANYWAY, back on track. I just had to mention that. I have come to really love Lake's writing style and have noticed how it tends to have that effect on the reader - of burrowing deep, bubbling up emotions, making you think. Everything seems to have a deeper meaning than simply what the words are telling you on the page. It's unique and absolutely spell binding.

"She opened her eyes, and he was gone, the future in front of her, untraveled, a road waiting to be driven down."

The 'gift' that Emily receives at the end rendered me speechless. It was everything I hoped for and more when mentioned earlier on in the story (also given to Bob but we are unaware what said gift is until the end). How she comes to terms with her past, and her present and learns that her future is there for her to shape, to become whoever and whatever she chooses. It is a lesson I believe can benefit all of us. To take things as they are, to accept ourselves and realize we have the power to change our own futures. We are only as trapped as we let ourselves be.

All in all I cannot praise this book enough. It is a captivating, lyrical coming of age story that teaches the characters (and the reader) about love, and family and to appreciate the world that we live in. Trust me, you want to read this.

"The past was always there. The future was waiting to be shaped."

//

PRE-READ
09/12/19 - Let's get this show on the road!

ARC received from NetGalley

[sephieisgay · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent without the flashbacks, which were PAINFULLY not-like-other-girls shaped. my favorite part was when they stole the maga truck it was funny

[Lucy Gotham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced action, lovable characters, emotional moments, intriguing set up. What more could you want from a sci-fi YA read? Really enjoyed it!

[Kriss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Nowhere on Earth. It is so nice to find a YA novel that isn't about falling in love, but focuses on family! I really enjoyed the action of Nick Lake's writing and I'll be looking for more books by him!

[Dawn Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone had told me the crucial detail of this book I would not have picked it up, and would have missed out on a wonderfully compelling novel. We quickly learn that Emily stowed away on a plane which crashes in the Alaskan mountains. Luckily she is unhurt and the pilot alive. She was accompanied by her young brother, but the reason for their escape is not fully revealed immediately. The spot tracker which will enable rescue is concealed by Emily herself, suggesting she really doesn't want to be found. Fairly swiftly a helicopter arrives with 'Men in black' to find the siblings. But Emily's parents have equipped her with skills most of us would not even contemplate acquiring. Survival from sharp shooting with either a pistol or a rifle, fire-lighting, building shelter, foraging for food and having faith in those skills means Emily is determined to do what she set out to do.
Although we quickly learn Emily is a dancer and these survival skills at first don't seem to fit with dance, it is precisely the extremes of what Emily wants and what her parents thought best for her that the novel centres on. They thought they were helping, but at school it led her into a topical situation she thought it her job to extract herself from and didn't seek help from elsewhere.
The novel lurches from one tense situation to another just when you think the journey to Emily's destination may just be possible.
This is a story of survival and of love, and Emily analyses her love for her brother and parents very candidly.
I was afraid that the ending would be left in the air, but I was very satisfied with the conclusion to this powerfully gripping novel.

[catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Throughout the book I was enjoying Nick Lake’s style of writing. There was description present but it was cleverly masked by the intriguing plot. When I book has heavy description it tends to take me a very long time to read it. Whereas I flicked through the novel in a couple of days! The plot wasn’t hard to follow, and you don’t need to read this book my any means. However it is a good book to get you out of a slump, and it’s different to anything I’ve read before in the YA section!
The rest of this review will be on my blog on the 20th January: http://kittyjadeblog.com

[EdenB15 · Rating 2 out of 5]

After wanting to read this book for ages i finally got it out of my school library. Its a great adventure story and the main protagnosit emily is not annoying which is always a plus lol.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is everything and more.
It's a weird one, at first. Yet, I was not able to put it down.

Nowhere on Earth centres around a teenaged girl, Emily, and her not-really-brother Aidan. Aidan who - as it turns out - is not human and who needs to send a message into space to get back to his people. There are some obvious ET-Referances that even the book itself acknowledges, but it is also so, so much more than that.

It's a story about unconditional (non-romantic!) love, about growing up and becoming the person you want to become. It's about standing up for what you believe in and about what it means to be human.

While I loved everything about this book I think it needs to be mentioned that the writing would have been more fitting for a middle-grade book, rather than YA. That is my only complaint, however, as I really did enjoy everything else.

It's rather untypical for YA literature to not have any sort of romance in there. I was pleasantly surprised that there was so much love in this book - all of it non-romantic. There is the love between Emily and Aidan. They may not be siblings, but they love each other nonetheless. There is nothing Emily wouldn't do for Aidan and vice versa. Theirs is just pure, wholesome love.
Then there is the love between Emily and her parents. As a typical teenager, she struggles with the difference between what her parents want and what she wants. I enjoyed how Nick Lake brought her parents into the plot to help their daughter. This family is an absolute dream-team and if they wanted I'm sure they could take over the world.

The thing that shook me the most, was the 'gift' Aidan gave her before he left. I'll admit it took me a second to understand it but once I did, it hit me. Hard.

The past was always there. Aidan would never be gone.

I don't really know why, but this hit me right in the feels. It is a very calming thought and one I plan to hold on to.

I think the ending was one of the strongest aspects of the book. It wrapped everything up, Emily grew up, she has opportunities to take and all of that with a very strong support system (her parents) to help her through it.

Nowhere on Earth is a riveting though it may seem a bit simple at first glance, it is actually anything but and will leave the reader to marvel about it for days, if not weeks.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for the opportunity to read Nowhere on Earth in exchange for an honest review.

[Hâf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nowhere on Earth took me completely by surprise, in a good way! I had convinced myself this was a typical dystopian YA novel and started reading it without any other idea of what the book was about. It actually turned out to be one of the sweetest YA stories I’ve ever read, I really enjoyed it. The story follows a teen girl who is attempting to help a young boy who is posing as her younger brother, but who is in fact an alien desperate to get back to his family. There are human forces hunting this boy down so the novel is fast paced and action packed but the story is also full of tender moments where love, family and friendship are discussed in deep and meaningful ways. This novel is like a reality check on yourself.

[Ixxati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this make me feels like I'm watching ET lol I read this in one sitting! It was a fun adventure and full of actions. Emily survival skill and her actions doesn't fit her age but whatever it's cool af!! She tried hard to make take her younger brother, Aidan to somewhere safe.
I love Emily and Aidan's relationship. You can see how much they love each other.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for this ARC! Omg! The cover is soooo beautiful!!

[Nessa [October Tune] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the review copy!

I went into this book being very excited, because it started off with the action right away. As we got more into the book, however, I kind of lost interest. I still enjoyed the adventurous aspect of this, but I think it was mostly the character that didn't interest me as much. I did stay up late to finish this book, so I guess bonus points for that, but unfortunately I didn't love this one.

[Library Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a weird, beautiful book. Set in Alaska in the mountains (I'm freezing just thinking about it), the craziness starts immediately with a plane crash, where Emily is just trying to keep herself, her brother (or is he?) and the pilot alive. This book managed to cram in a survival story, aliens, a family coming together, and following your dreams all in under 300 pages.

[Loni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, I'm not even sure how I ended up picking this book to read but I'm glad I did! I read it quickly and really enjoyed it. Some of the writing style took some adjusting to get used to, but I really liked this book! Suspense, mystery action, a bit of sci-fi. Really good book.

[Sara Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a pleasant surprise. This would not be a book I would have picked on my own I don’t think, but received it as a gift and truly enjoyed it, reading it in one day! Exciting, interesting, and heart warming.

[E'in Nadh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was mildly bored even with things happening non stop. Took me a long time to get through this.