4 out of 4 stars
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Pandora’s Eyes by James M. Corkill is the fifth book in the Alex Cave series. It is a science-fiction book full of danger and adventure, focusing on a team of people working together to save the world. It is in the third person, but the main protagonist is Alex Cave. Alex initially wanted to lead a calm life as a geology teacher, but that was not how it turned out. In this suspenseful and exciting story, Alex and his partner-in-crime, Okana, live their lives one top-secret mission at a time.
The book starts out by revealing that Alex and his team have a new problem on their hands in need of solving. Previously, Alex had found four alien machines that have the ability to destroy the planet if they are in the wrong hands. He thought the machines were safely stored away, but soon discovers that they are all missing, including one that is in orbit. With the devices causing strange and extreme weather patterns, Alex and Okana set out to locate and stop them. With the help of their friends in research facilities and research ships, the pair begin their work immediately.
Soon after, Alex and Okana stumble into an unusual, large object while in Iceland. They discover that it is an alien spaceship containing an entire colony of people. They can communicate through earpieces with the leader and the ship’s artificial intelligence, and quickly learn that the ship has been hidden away for the past 180 million years, waiting for the Earth to become habitable. Unfortunately, the aliens do not come in peace. They value rare eye colors and do not tolerate brown eyes, so the artificial intelligence is appalled when it learns that 95% of Earth’s population has brown eyes. The ship allows a woman, Pandora, to leave and represent her in order to negotiate with Earth’s leaders. Strangely, Pandora’s eyes look different to Alex than they do to everyone else, but no one pays much attention to that. Pandora’s job is to explain to the humans that they must kill everyone with brown eyes, or else the ship will destroy the entire species. Alex, Okana, and their friends are on a mission to save the world, but it becomes more difficult when they find out that the ship already set its plan into action. Alex was unknowingly infected with an alien disease that is transferred from person to person through skin contact and is fatal to anyone with brown eyes. Now Alex has three tasks: find the alien devices, stop the ship’s artificial intelligence from destroying the planet, and find a cure to the disease that he accidentally started to spread.
As a science-fiction fan, I absolutely loved this book. It has the right amount of surprises and suspense and the characters were developed very well. The plot kept me hooked from beginning to end because, just when I thought the problem was solved, something completely unexpected happened. I must compliment the author on the way that he was able to include and keep track of so many different characters throughout the entire story. There were many characters and, most of the time, they were in different parts of the planet. I think he did an excellent job of organizing them and maintaining their roles. I really enjoyed the feeling of being on edge and needing to know what would happen next. The book kept me interested and did not have any dull, action-less moments.
One of the few things that I didn’t like was that it jumped directly into the story. I did not read the first four books in the series, so I had no idea who the characters were or what their purpose in the story was. That confused me for a bit until I was able to organize them in my head and understand who they all were. This only means that it would be a better idea to read the whole series rather than just one book. The other thing I didn’t quite like was that they are constantly switching locations. The characters, especially Alex Cave, are always on a jet, helicopter, or ship trying to get to another location. I understand that it was necessary to do that because they need to travel a lot to succeed in the mission, but it was a little confusing. Aside from those small problems, I have no complaints.
Since I loved the story and there were few grammar mistakes, I decided to give this book 4 out of 4 stars. At first, I was amazed to find that the grammar was perfect, but near the end, there were a few mistakes. The mistakes were not common and do not appear until the last few chapters, so I’m not going to take off a star for it. I think this book has everything a great science-fiction book needs and will appeal to fiction fans. It is definitely a great read, but I recommend reading the whole series for a better understanding.
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The Alex Cave Series Book 5. Pandora’s Eyes
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