Mothership

Mothership
By Martin Leicht and Isla Neal
Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2012. 308 pages. Young Adult

Elvie Nara is a student at the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers, but pregnant is not the way the young engineer expected to get into space. When the school is attacked by hunky alien invaders—one of which is the guy who knocked her up, oops—Elvie's got more problems on her hands than an alien baby on the way. With a saboteur on the loose, a ship crashing through Earth's atmosphere, and an evil, pregnant cheerleader to jeer at her every move, Elvie's got to use her sharp wits and even sharper tongue to save the day.

Mothership's the best kind of popcorn novel, filled with action, adventure, and sci-fi kitsch. While it's light on plot (and even lighter on characterization, except in Elvie's case), it's compulsively readable, hysterical good fun. I found Elvie's snark wildly entertaining, and loved that she's a strong, scrappy, likable character. (And Leicht and Neal get MAJOR points for making her an engineer! Go girl scientists!) While some of the themes might seem mature, the only content warning here is for language. A great read for anyone looking for a very humorous, action-packed sci-fi.

CA