Book Review: Alien Terror by Chris Archer

Book #40 of 2024:

Alien Terror by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #1)

Another old middle-grade reread for me. As a series launcher, this title has potential, although it remains mostly setup for the future at this point. When wimpy kid Ethan turns 13, he gains super-strength and expert fighting skills during times of stress, but is cryptically warned that he should hide his newfound abilities before they bring on unwanted attention. Sure enough, a shapeshifting enemy is soon stalking him and reveals that the hero’s father was an extraterrestrial, though that’s all we really get for now besides a minor arc about standing up to a bully but pulling back from the urge to kill him once he’s at his victim’s mercy.

This book came out in 1997, and it’s fun to spot both the references like Marvel comics and Mortal Kombat that are supposed to establish the protagonist’s nerdiness and the clear but unmentioned plot influences of popular genre works of the era like The X-Files and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The storyline cribs from those a mistrust of authority and hints of a wider conspiracy, although that angle would have to wait for the sequels to develop any real specifics.

I dig the visual aspect of the boy’s eyes turning jet-black when his powers activate, the light body horror of the other changes he’s feeling inside, and the creepy implication that his adopted parents know more about his situation than they’re letting on to him. As I sometimes mentioned in my Animorphs reviews, books for this age range often traffic in metaphors for puberty and feelings of teenage alienation, and that element doesn’t get much more literal than this. It’s a solid start for a concept that I remember going in some interesting directions later on.

★★★☆☆

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