The Assault

Gr 7 Up—Recon Team Angel consists of six teens between the ages of 14 and 18. This squad stands between us, the people of Earth, and complete subjugation. It is the year 2030. Sixty percent of the surface of the planet is controlled by the Bzadian. Millions of people have died or been forced into refugee camps. Separated by water from the rest of the world, the last remaining outpost of freedom is the Americas. Now, thoroughly trained and disguised as "Pukes," six young people prepare to enter the belly of the beast and overthrow the alien command post in Australia. What they don't know is that one of them is a traitor. As much adventure thriller, on the order of Alistair MacLean, as futuristic speculative fiction, the novel has the feel of an early Heinlein work. Sympathetic characters, snappy dialogue, and quickly paced action make it hard to put down.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK