Age: Middle School-High School
Awards: YALSA 2011 Teens Top Ten

I always have a difficult time differentiating sci-fi and fantasy. My book club identified sci-fi as a plausible future with high-tech gadgets and outerspace travel. Fantasy takes place in the past with swords and romance. So how would you classify a book taking place in the present with aliens, superpowers, and romance? Although about.com is pretty useless and is drowning in ads, I found this insightful description:

Humanity can look forward to the kinds of achievements postulated in science fiction, while with another part of our brain we can dream of the impossibilities conjured by fantasy. Science fiction expands our world; fantasy transcends it.

That being said, the impossibility of superpowers fits into fantasy, yet alien life is very possible. The ambiguity is killing me! Aaanyways, I should start talking about this book. A mix between battles, training scenes, and darling romance, this is a perfect mix of "guy" and "girl" interests. James Frey and Jobie Hughes (the real authors) really has a handle on a series, giving a perfect amount of background information while allowing the plot to continue after the first book ends--hence why I will pick up the second book.

From the reviews, you can tell that the book is plot based vs. character based. It also leans heavily on the fantasy assumption that a reader shouldn't question every bit of the plot or setting. Just roll with it. From other reviews, I can see the faults in the Lorien race but I still enjoyed the book overall and will continue with the second (which I rarely do).