Book Review: “Aoléon the Martian Girl #1” by Brent LeVasseur

Crop circles magically appear in Farmer Johnson’s field. A mysterious light sweeps over the night sky and awakens Farmer Johnson and Gilbert, the boy next door.

Curious, Gilbert ventures out to discover the source of the light and stumbles onto a beautiful Martian girl sitting in a crop circle. Farmer Johnson also investigates the strange light, and, thinking that Gilbert and Aoléon are vandals, he chases them. But they sprint to Aoléon’s saucer and escape, only to be pursued by the U.S. Air Force.

Gilbert has never been attacked by swarms of giant killer robots. Never met strange aliens from other worlds. Never skyboarded across a megalopolis hidden deep inside an extinct volcano. Never trekked across a vast Martian desert. And never been eaten alive by a gigantic slor (well, almost never, unless you count Billy the fat bully at school).

And, luckily, he has never ever confronted an evil ruler of Mars bent on conquering the Earth to steal its cows.

Never…until now!

This may be the adventure Gilbert always wished for.

If only he can survive.

I haven’t read a middle-grade book since my Junie B. days, and I have to say, reading Aoléon the Martian Girl Part One brought back some really good childhood memories.

Gilbert has dreams–very realistic dreams. One night, after being awoken from a familiar dream, he notices a bright light outside his Nebraska home and decides to investigate. His investigation leads him to meet the very pretty and quirky alien from Mars, Aoléon, who abducts him from his home planet and whisks him away to Mars. Their adventure is just beginning, as Gilbert realizes that he’s now a part of a galactic mission to save Earth from an impending invasion by the evil and domineering Luminon.

Is it odd that I completely loved this novel? Gilbert is just by far too lovable, and, obviously, he has ingested some hallucinogenic drugs that has allowed him to believe that he and this blue alien are the Earth’s (and its cows’) best line of defense against an evil alien leader. Still, I went along with him and Aoléon for the ride and I am still enjoying the high of it all–especially the art. I’m not sure what software the author used to create the images in this novel but they are just spectacular. There’s so much detail involved and I love the fact Aoléon isn’t the only glowing being in the book; when Gilbert wakes up from his nightmare, light is emanating from all parts of his body.

The author’s sense of humor is also another thing that makes this book really delightful. When Gilbert arrives on Mars, he’s in awe of this gorgeous, futuristic, and thriving society. Apparently, Gilbert has only traveled out of his hometown twice and, when comparing his hometown to Mars, he describes Nebraska as “a place where the cattle population far exceeded that of the people.” Also, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their dog are what really add comedic relief to the novel; when Mrs. Johnson spots the strange lights in their field, she resorts to pouring a bucket of cold water on her husband to wake him instead of using less…crazy methods. This tactic reminded me of a typical Warner Brothers’ cartoon, which made the moment even funnier. The Johnsons’ dog is also something else. The dog’s name is “Tripod,” but it used to be “Oscar” before he had an “unfortunate accident” that left him with only three legs.

The only thing I didn’t like about this novel is its extensive use of the crop circles from the movie Signs. I would have preferred if the author went with something less clichéd.

Still, I enjoyed reading this novel and also intend to review the other four books in this pentalogy.

Rating: 7.5/10

Meet the Author:

Mr. LeVasseur enjoys crafting good stories based on lovable characters designed to translate well to multiple media formats such as books, games, movies, and toys. He lives in New York when he is not commuting between Southern California and Olympus Mons, Mars. His hobbies include writing, 3D animation, musical composition, and intergalactic space travel. He also enjoys various sports such as skiing, running, and exospheric skydiving.

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