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American Chillers #16
Alien Androids Assault Arizona
A part of the American Chillers collection
- GenresChildrensMiddle Grade
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2004
8 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
Johnathan Rand
119 books296 followersChristopher Wright is the author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults. He writes under the pseudonyms Johnathan Rand and Christopher Knight. Almost all of Wright's books (save American Chillers) take place in his home state of Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 6, 2023
Johnathan Rand deserves some credit for not settling into a rut, but Alien Androids Assault Arizona is probably the most bizarre of the first sixteen American Chillers. Fifth-grader Shelby Crusado's best friends—Arielle Watkins and Joey Romaniello—moved to Scottsdale, Arizona within the past few years, but they feel like a lifelong trio. So Shelby naturally goes to them after she overhears Mrs. Rodriguez, their schoolteacher, speak in a robotic voice into a device on her wrist. Arielle and Joey laugh at Shelby's insistence that their teacher is a robot in disguise, but Shelby spies on Mrs. Rodriguez a few more times and becomes convinced the woman isn't human. When Mrs. Rodriguez catches her, she isn't angry; she seems amused by Shelby's accusation, and in her ordinary voice tries to reason with her that she couldn't possibly be an android. Wait...android? Shelby never used that word. She feels more sure than ever that Mrs. Rodriguez is an artificial life form, and Shelby takes a big risk to gather evidence of what she's overheard her teacher say in her robot voice: that she is an android acting as liaison for an alien race bent on stealing all of Earth's water. If Shelby can't convince people the threat is real, space invaders will take over her home planet.
Arielle continues to scoff, but Joey reluctantly agrees to take Shelby seriously. When he accompanies her to spy on Mrs. Rodriguez at home, he hears their teacher speaking in the robot voice; now he knows Shelby wasn't spinning a sci-fi fantasy. The android mentions that the "master plans" for conquering Earth are hidden in her garage, but swiping them turns out to be harder than expected, so Shelby and Joey opt for another angle: find Mrs. Rodriguez's spaceship at a nearby warehouse, and fly in it to her planet of origin, 430-X. There's more at stake than learning about the aliens' strategy to invade Earth: Mrs. Rodriguez apparently suspected that Arielle was on to her scheme, and had her abducted and sent to 430-X, light-years away from Earth. With courage and an extraterrestrial spacecraft as their only assets, Shelby and Joey go hurtling across the universe at warp speed. Mechanical failure and encounters with hostile aliens threaten to permanently strand Shelby and Joey in deep space; however, if they reach 430-X and return to Earth before the aliens invade, they have a vague hope of thwarting the enemy. But has the android infiltration progressed further than Shelby knows?
Alien Androids Assault Arizona is difficult to assess. The sci-fi aspects are way over the top, but represent more originality than usual for Johnathan Rand. He even attempts a few plot twists, convoluted though they are. Ultimately, Mr. Rand outsmarts himself with too many zigzags; the story gets crushed under the weight of its own implausibility. I enjoyed the brief literary conversation on page twenty between Shelby, Arielle, and Joey: Sheila Burnford's The Incredible Journey and Gary Paulsen's Hatchet are worthy subjects for a book report. It's also notable that the print size in Alien Androids Assault Arizona—the edition I read, at least—is smaller than for previous books in the series. The story goes one hundred ninety pages, a bit longer than normal, so that probably means it has a higher word count than any of the prior fifteen books. I'll bump Alien Androids Assault Arizona up to one and a half stars, but it's one of the lesser American Chillers to this point in the series. Still, I found it entertaining.
Arielle continues to scoff, but Joey reluctantly agrees to take Shelby seriously. When he accompanies her to spy on Mrs. Rodriguez at home, he hears their teacher speaking in the robot voice; now he knows Shelby wasn't spinning a sci-fi fantasy. The android mentions that the "master plans" for conquering Earth are hidden in her garage, but swiping them turns out to be harder than expected, so Shelby and Joey opt for another angle: find Mrs. Rodriguez's spaceship at a nearby warehouse, and fly in it to her planet of origin, 430-X. There's more at stake than learning about the aliens' strategy to invade Earth: Mrs. Rodriguez apparently suspected that Arielle was on to her scheme, and had her abducted and sent to 430-X, light-years away from Earth. With courage and an extraterrestrial spacecraft as their only assets, Shelby and Joey go hurtling across the universe at warp speed. Mechanical failure and encounters with hostile aliens threaten to permanently strand Shelby and Joey in deep space; however, if they reach 430-X and return to Earth before the aliens invade, they have a vague hope of thwarting the enemy. But has the android infiltration progressed further than Shelby knows?
Alien Androids Assault Arizona is difficult to assess. The sci-fi aspects are way over the top, but represent more originality than usual for Johnathan Rand. He even attempts a few plot twists, convoluted though they are. Ultimately, Mr. Rand outsmarts himself with too many zigzags; the story gets crushed under the weight of its own implausibility. I enjoyed the brief literary conversation on page twenty between Shelby, Arielle, and Joey: Sheila Burnford's The Incredible Journey and Gary Paulsen's Hatchet are worthy subjects for a book report. It's also notable that the print size in Alien Androids Assault Arizona—the edition I read, at least—is smaller than for previous books in the series. The story goes one hundred ninety pages, a bit longer than normal, so that probably means it has a higher word count than any of the prior fifteen books. I'll bump Alien Androids Assault Arizona up to one and a half stars, but it's one of the lesser American Chillers to this point in the series. Still, I found it entertaining.
May 2, 2022
When this book came out one of my friends told me I was featured in the blurb. Hearing that was one of the most exciting moments of my pathetic, miserable existence so of course I rushed to the book store to pick up a fresh new copy.
Instead, all I could find was a stale old copy. Because the book store didn't have it. The library did. It completely changed my reading experience.
The book was checked out when I got there so the librarian told me I'd get it on the first of the next month. Then on the first he told me I would get it on the first of the next month. This went on for six months, with each passing day the book getting older and staler and me still waiting to see my blurb.
Finally, after people stopped giving a shit about the book, I managed to get the chance to rent it out and take it back home to my small piece of shit trailer where I tried not to trip over all the beer cans. I threw myself down on the couch, grabbed a cold one and put the book on my hairy beer gut. My wife called out from the bedroom, "Earl! Why does it smell like piss in here?"
"It's this stale old book!" I shouted back, pissing myself as I did. After 6 months and two divorces, I finally had the book in my hands. I enthusiastically threw the book open, still pissing myself as I did.
Keep in mind, I said that in my Angry Army Ants Ambush Alabama review that I'm 40 now. Back then I was 23. And back then, I was still a little Bitch. I continued pissing before I even got to the first page because I was so scared. When I read the first line, it actually happened.
I shit my pants.
This was the first time but certainly not the last I would shit my pants. Of course I had pissed myself a lot but this was my first time dropping a fat log in my pants. This was such a shock, but what I realized next was even more shocking...
My wife came out of the bedroom wanting to fuck, not caring that it smelled like shit and piss and beer in the trailer. We fucked and we made the book watch. I set it on the couch facing our direction.
Instead, all I could find was a stale old copy. Because the book store didn't have it. The library did. It completely changed my reading experience.
The book was checked out when I got there so the librarian told me I'd get it on the first of the next month. Then on the first he told me I would get it on the first of the next month. This went on for six months, with each passing day the book getting older and staler and me still waiting to see my blurb.
Finally, after people stopped giving a shit about the book, I managed to get the chance to rent it out and take it back home to my small piece of shit trailer where I tried not to trip over all the beer cans. I threw myself down on the couch, grabbed a cold one and put the book on my hairy beer gut. My wife called out from the bedroom, "Earl! Why does it smell like piss in here?"
"It's this stale old book!" I shouted back, pissing myself as I did. After 6 months and two divorces, I finally had the book in my hands. I enthusiastically threw the book open, still pissing myself as I did.
Keep in mind, I said that in my Angry Army Ants Ambush Alabama review that I'm 40 now. Back then I was 23. And back then, I was still a little Bitch. I continued pissing before I even got to the first page because I was so scared. When I read the first line, it actually happened.
I shit my pants.
This was the first time but certainly not the last I would shit my pants. Of course I had pissed myself a lot but this was my first time dropping a fat log in my pants. This was such a shock, but what I realized next was even more shocking...
My wife came out of the bedroom wanting to fuck, not caring that it smelled like shit and piss and beer in the trailer. We fucked and we made the book watch. I set it on the couch facing our direction.
April 19, 2021
Lol...eh.
Every chapter ends with poorly written cliff-hangers such as, "but what happened next would be the worst thing out of all." Or "Joey and I were filled with fear like we'd never known." Or "what I would find next would leave me with tangible horror."
I just hate these cheap ways of hooking you in. They didn't really hook me in.
Also, this book is pretty poorly written in my opinion and sorely lacks detail about the characters and events. It's mostly action-packed but moves around too much the entire time. Shelby spies in her teacher, then her teacher catches her. Then Shelby spies on her again. And then her teacher catches her again. Then Shelby spies in her teacher again....it just never ends.
A new name for his story: Girl spies on Teacher and Friends Refuse to Believe Teacher is Android.
Anyways, Goosebumps is better.
Every chapter ends with poorly written cliff-hangers such as, "but what happened next would be the worst thing out of all." Or "Joey and I were filled with fear like we'd never known." Or "what I would find next would leave me with tangible horror."
I just hate these cheap ways of hooking you in. They didn't really hook me in.
Also, this book is pretty poorly written in my opinion and sorely lacks detail about the characters and events. It's mostly action-packed but moves around too much the entire time. Shelby spies in her teacher, then her teacher catches her. Then Shelby spies on her again. And then her teacher catches her again. Then Shelby spies in her teacher again....it just never ends.
A new name for his story: Girl spies on Teacher and Friends Refuse to Believe Teacher is Android.
Anyways, Goosebumps is better.
September 1, 2020
Very weird...
December 17, 2020
One of my favs, as well.
May 1, 2024
A 3? I know, I’m as shocked as you. I didn’t figure out a twist that explains all the other stuff. It’s all kinda dumb and half the book takes place in space…
Read
February 27, 2011This book is about how is how Shelby has a weird feeling that her teacher is a robot because she keeps talking to her watch with a weird voice. But no one believes shelby. So she tries to stalk the teacher for proof. When she found out that they were not robots, they were androids from outer space. Ahe gets her friend, Joey for proof. He was surprised at the moment and all of a sudden they got a letter. One from one of best friends. She said she was captured by the androids and set to X-470(planet) joey and shelby steals an alien flying saucerer and takes off to X-470. When they arrive the aliens were no friendly. They couldnt find their best friend and also they were attacked by those midget aliens, so they left. But when they got back to Earth they find a shocking report. Yes the teacher admitted she was an android, but Shelby's best friend is also an android. Something that super surprising to me was Joey was an android, but on the good side. The androids captured Joey and Shelby and took off to the Grand Canyon, the androids secret base. Joey reported all aliens(on his side) to the grand canyon. Joey went on the computer next to the prison place and controlled the androids from good to bad. i thought it would be cool if i was a robot was there are some weak spots.
March 10, 2014
I really liked this book. I would reccomend this book to alien believers and action lovers. This book had so much action. This book ended with some scary chapters, but the it was all fine. If you read this you will want to pay attention. I thought I knew what would happen next, but I was wrong. Finding out that Arielle was gone did surprise me because she didn't believe Joey. It didn't surprise me that she was an alien because she was captured and taken away. I liked this book a ton and you should too!
December 8, 2015
I thought that this book was a very good book to read. The author did a very good job on this book with details. Also, he did very well on the words. I picked this book to read because I live in Arizona. I liked the main character because they were really brave. The girl that was the main character was really brave to go back after she found out her teacher was a robot. The author described her emotions very well because I could feel exactly how she was feeling while reading this book. I would recommend this book to people who like adventure.
February 22, 2017
Yup it was good
April 14, 2008
Sam is really into American Chillers, so I had to read one so we had something to discuss. It was actually a pretty good read.
May 15, 2011
Its ok but its not a horror only a fantasy and it says it is the scariest american horror book and i have read more terrifying comedies. SO don't bother reading this "horror" book it is not worth it.
November 14, 2011
The reason I didn't rate it 5 star is because it was too scary.
October 19, 2011
This book was an ok book but needs more discribtion
October 22, 2012
It is a exciting book about androids that build a alien base in Arizona's Grand Canyon.
September 15, 2015
Aliens Androids Assault Arizona is about Aliens invading Earth and blending in with society. Is is up to Shelby to find out why they are here. A good book for fictional readers.
January 15, 2016
Very captivating. Interesting and just plain weird. A very lovable story.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews