Grays. Just saying it freaks me out. It's such a simple word. A color. Not black or white. But something in between. Something unknowable. Something that makes me not want to sleep.

I'd never read anything by Ronald L. Smith before, but when I first heard this middle grade sci-fi/horror was releasing, I got so excited! I was terrified of aliens as a kid, so naturally, I'm totally fascinated by the whole idea of them (and abduction stories) as an adult. Plus, aliens + owls? Major Fourth Kind vibes (not that the film is where the idea originated, but still), so altogether, I was super stoked to read this! On top of everything else, a biracial kid with asthma as a main character, and a book that takes the time to seriously tackle toxic masculinity? There's just so much good stuff going on here, y'all.

Unfortunately, it's not all good: the writing is okay, but not my favorite, and there are some issues that never get addressed, like Simon's father's total absence most of the time (and his emotionally abusive nature when he is around), or Simon's paralyzing fear of mental health professionals and medications (which could be great if he grew to learn that they are super helpful for some people, but instead, they're vilified to the end). I know some books are just for fun, and that's great for a lot of readers, but as a mom and children's librarian, it's hard to watch an author sail right past these opportunities to shed light on some really heavy (and important!) topics for kids while telling the story.

The other issue — and this was the biggest reason my rating isn't particularly high — is that Simon is writing a fantasy novel, and we're periodically forced to sift through a chapter at a time of that. This is a totally personal issue, but I hate the "books inside of books" trope, especially when the inner-layer "book" is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the story we signed up to read. It just comes off as pointless filler and it's frustrating and disjointed.

All in all, not my favorite MG horror by any means, but it had its fun moments and I flew through it. I'm not sure it's the first thing I'll be recommending to kids based on the problems that aren't ever addressed, but with the right reader, I could see this being a world of fun and creepiness.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Clarion Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!