Liv's father, Lee, has been missing for a couple of years after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens and returned. The reader is taken back to find out what happened after the abduction and before he disappeared.
Lee became obsessed with protecting his loved ones from aliens. He spent all his time in the shed on the back of the property making elaborate traps to catch them and weapons to defend against them. Liv and a good friend, Doug, were in on Lee's plans. Ever since Lee has disappeared, Liv and Doug go out to the woods behind her house to check the traps every Sunday. Liv just believes her father was mentally ill, but Doug believes in the aliens and takes their preparations very seriously.
Everything changes in a hurry when Liv finds an alien stuck in one of the traps.
Sooooo, I had a hard time believing what these teens did after they found the alien. I couldn't believe the lack of compassion. And that lack is what led me to figure out the twist almost immediately. The story got so gory that I had to skim those sections.
There was a big climactic event at the end, and I also had difficulty believing that Liv would do what she did. That's all I'm going to say.
A pretty gruesome, depressing story that is well written, with well-developed characters and settings. It was just the story that I couldn't get into. So, science fiction fans may enjoy Bent Heavens a lot. There's nothing wrong with the execution. I just could buy it (and really didn't want to.)
Published by Henry Holt & Co. BYR, February 25, 2020
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
304 pages
Rating: 3.5/5
I've been wondering about this one because of the premise- it sounded really interesting? Now I'm not so sure haha. The gruesomeness part has me a little reticent. I'm glad I saw your review since I've been hemming and hawing on this one. Sorry it didn't quite work for you!
ReplyDeleteIn general, science fiction isn't one of my favorite genres, so I probably won't read this one. It is always a strange feeling though, to finish a book and not be sure how we feel about it.
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