Skywatchers by Carrie Arcos (2020) You may well ask........what's rusty, crusty, dusty BQ doing with a Young Adult novel?
How could we stay away from this one......it's chock full of jumbo chunks of our childhood.
1950's Red scares! UFO's streaking across the skies! Imminent nuclear war threats! And who knows........maybe even ALIENS! ALIEN ABDUCTIONS! ALIEN INVASION!
In short, everything that fascinated us while maturing into the immature state we've arrived at today......and still does, to tell the truth..
So pardon us if we couldn't help pouncing on this book to re-live our old fears, enthusiasms, and still current obsessions.
So travel back with us as we find four teens, two boys, two girls volunteering to sit in an old fire tower as observers of potential suspect aircraft........('cause you never knew when those damned Russkies were gonna lob over an atomic bomb at us......forcing us to 'duck and cover' to live through the blast)
Sure enough, brightly colored, odd shaped UFO's catch their eyes on night, as well as a glowing light coming from the middle of the forest that surrounds their tower.
In true sci-fi/horror movie tradition, the kids bravely investigate......and promptly disappear. Days later, only three of them return from the woods, with absolutely no memory of what befell them Whatever did happen to them has left them with some strange new abilities, like speaking Mandarin, playing piano and newly acquired self defense skills......
Everything we've described, as well as the usual teen angst woes you'd expect in a YA novel, take over two thirds of the book's length......
In the final third, author Arcos unleashes her Big Reveal, and it's an ambitious doozy of a premise to try to cram into the last few chapters. Most YA authors could build a three book series based on "Skywatchers" final revelations, but Arcos plunges ahead with her way-out-there explanation of what her characters encountered.
It makes for quite a rushed, somewhat abrupt finish, but we have to admire this author for her sheer audacity, originality and the skill she uses to keep it from sounding too ridiculous. We can promise you this much.......the book will confound any attempts made to guess the mysteries ahead of time.
Definitely not what we expected (or even hoped for) but that's okay. "Skywatchers" takes its conclusion (and its readers) into wild, uncharted territory and a thrill ride you never saw coming. And for us, that makes it a 4 star (****) blast from the 50's past.
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