Sylvain Neuvel

Aster is a middle school girl with precognitive ability that kicks in in emergencies. She goes on the run in 1999 when homicidal aliens and their human allies kill her foster father. She is also the target of a government agent she calls Bruce Willis, who hopes to weaponize her alien genetics. She is rescued by Samael, one of the predatory aliens who seems to have had a change of heart. Nor has Aster forgotten her mother’s rules for survival and her life goal of nurturing the human space program.
Aster is the most fully developed character in Sylvain Neuvel’s Take Them to the Stars series. Her slangy speech is laced with knowing references to millennial pop culture that is just a bit too knowledgeable for her age but renders her dual nature credible.
For the First Time, Again is an enjoyable read that is probably not the end of the series.… (mehr)

Until the Last of Me is the second part of the Take Them to the Stars saga about genetically identical, mostly human mothers and daughters whose 3,000-year mission (Take that, Enterprise) is to promote human development of space flight in time to thwart an alien invasion they suspect is on the way. They are pursued by a team of genetically identical fathers and sons, who regard them as prey. The women operate by simple rules:
1. Preserve the knowledge.
2. Survive at all costs.
3. Don’t draw attention to yourself.
4. Don’t leave a trace.
5. Fear the tracker, and always run, never fight.
In the first volume, the women rescued Werner Von Braun from the Nazis. In this one, the next generation pushes for the timely grand tour of the solar system and works to keep the space race from fizzling for lack of interest. Each chapter title hooks us to a playlist of songs from the era. Space Oddity, anyone?… (mehr)

Not sure about this. Picked it up on sale when I saw the comparison to World War Z (so good -- read that one if you haven't yet!) and this is written in a similar style but it's not nearly as gripping.

I wish it was a stand alone instead of the first in a series because I'm not sure I care enough about anybody in the story to continue even though the idea of investigating alien technology on earth and the political ramifications of such an undertaking are something I'd like to read more about.… (mehr)