Alexandra Ispas

Didn't finish it. I was from the beginning annoyed by it. There were mistakes, past and present tense next to each other, the story in the first and third person. And I was totally annoyed by Jennifer and the way the story was build up. I mean, they are fighting against aliens, are somewhere lost in space (I think) and they totally loose all they knew in the past? The girl doesn't know what the difference is between 'like' and 'love'? I gave it up.
Disclaimer: I got this book in the Librarything Early Reviewers.… (mehr)

The start of the book enticed me into the story of why the main character Jennifer is the only women on this planet, I was hoping to get little tidbits along the way to unfold the mystery, this hadn’t happened by the time I gave up reading the book. This is not something I do very often. The referring to Jennifer at times as ‘the girl’ was jarring and disrupted reading flow, and I found the inconsistencies in the writing such as going from a good sentence structure to “and off they went” too distracting and unnecessary to the narrative.… (mehr)

A tale of teen relationships that may or may not flower into romance, Forced In Between by Alexandra Ispas takes place in a world where these teen warriors prepare to join the battle against earth's alien invaders. Jennifer believes that she is the only female left on earth. She doesn't know how this happened, but she knows she is the only female in the compound she lives and trains in. Her two best friends are Peter and Mark.

We meet the characters through Jennifer's experience and thoughts. Their daily lives revolve around rigorous fight training, including hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting. In this “man's world,” Jennifer is always struggling to show everyone she is at least as good as they are, but she sustains frequent injuries. Finally, hospitalized with severe, perhaps deadly injuries, she encounters help from a stranger who aids her recovery and gives her new purpose.

Jennifer's new focus brings her shocking discoveries, new relationships, and an exciting mission. At the book's conclusion, there are many unanswered questions. While not explicitly indicated, the author seems to intend a sequel. I hope so!

Forced In Between is a recommended read for young adult fans of science fiction. The author's scene descriptions provided me clear visualizations, and the story moved along quickly. I finished the book in two days.… (mehr)

Jennifer is a young woman training at the Warband Academy to fight in a war against an alien invasion. She is the only girl at the academy and, believes she may the the only girl left. Women have been mysteriously disappearing since the aliens invaded. When she is saved from near death by an alien, she realizes everything she has been told might be a lie. With the help of her friends she hopes to survive long enough to find a way to bring peace to her world.
I was given an ARC to read and review. I am not sure how much of the awkwardness in the writing will be improved by further editing. The first few paragraphs read like a book blurb and if the book is going to be published with those paragraphs as written it is not a very encouraging start to the book. I don’t usually find starting with exposition very appealing. There are also the problems of poorly constructed sentences, switching randomly from first to third person, and logical inconsistencies. “Nobody would tell her how she was brought up on this planet everyone seemed to call 'Earth', or to what purpose. All she knew was that she had to move on and get used to it. Ask no questions, ask no questions, she would tell herself. Asking useless questions makes you weak, and that's the last thing I need.”
This novel is more of a YA highschool relationship book than a science fiction adventure. You can tell this author has spent quite a lot of time thinking about her characters. She describes them all quite well and we get a sense of their personalities. The young soldiers in training at the academy spend their days training in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting (not the most effective techniques against the aliens attacking them with explosions). They don’t seem to do, or learn, anything else which leaves them time for love triangles and conflicts. There is a problem with a couple of the characters acting in ways that are not consistent with their earlier behaviour.
The world building is not as successful as the character development. The motivations and strategy of the aliens, as well as the human authorities, make little sense. There is no back story to any of the young people at the academy. Where did they come from? One of the most glaring logical flaws is why Jennifer, if she is a rare surviving girl, would be repeatedly injured, almost to the point of dying, for the sake of “training”.
The book ends in a bit of a cliffhanger and appears to be the first of a series. Perhaps some of the logical holes in the plot will be explained in future volumes.… (mehr)