It Came From the Sky by Chelsea Sedoti SPOILERS IN REVIEW

This is the absolutely true account of how Lansburg, Pennsylvania was invaded by aliens and the weeks of chaos that followed. There were sightings of UFOs, close encounters, and even abductions. There were believers, Truth Seekers, and, above all, people who looked to the sky and hoped for more.

Only...there were no aliens.

Gideon Hofstadt knows what really happened. When one of his science experiments went wrong, he and his older brother blamed the resulting explosion on extraterrestrial activity. And their lie was not only believed by their town―it was embraced. As the brothers go to increasingly greater lengths to keep up the ruse and avoid getting caught, the hoax flourishes. But Gideon's obsession with their tale threatened his whole world. Can he find a way to banish the aliens before Lansburg, and his life, are changed forever?

Told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more, It Came from the Sky is a hysterical and resonant novel about what it means to be human in the face of the unknown.

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I was really looking forward to this. I enjoyed Chelsea's book As You Wish very much, and I expected another fun, frothy, light hearted read. I kind of got what I was looking for, a bit?

First, what I liked. The relationship between the brothers was great, and I enjoyed seeing it grow and develop as they got deeper into the prank. Also, the occasional moments of pure random fun, like Ishmael insisting on introducing himself exactly the way you're thinking he does, or running into the woods at night after a cow. Owen seemed perfectly nice, the little time we spent with him. The style, with the insertion of blogs, articles and interviews, was intriguing.

However.

I didn't connect with the main character at all. And as an introvert, with an interest in space and science...though not, admittedly, to the point of building my own lab and blowing things up...I should have been able to. He just didn't seem like a real person most of the time, not to me. Honestly, I knew Ishmael for about six lines and I knew why he was asking how to make the explosion bigger. Brainy Gideon couldn't figure it out?

It's not a dreadful read! I enjoyed parts of it, and the climax is appropriately satisfying. (Although it didn't occur to Oz to claim that the audio was manipulated?) I'll be looking out for more books by Chelsea. I love the way she mixes something a little bit weird into an otherwise normal world.

(But what was going on with Maggie? I never did understand that.)