Review: Domination by Jon S. Lewis

Domination

Author: Jon S. Lewis
Series: CHAOS, Book Three
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 279 pages
Release Date: April 16, 2013
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries  
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

THEIR GOAL IS SIMPLE: TOTAL DOMINATION.
With six arms and jaws that can snap a man in two, the warmongering race of aliens known as the Thule has conquered every planet they’ve attacked.
And now their invasion of Earth has begun.

Humanity’s only hope springs from a mysterious Thule legend about a Betrayer, who they believe will rise up and destroy their people. The American government tried to manufacture their own Betrayer by injecting children with Thule blood but time after time the experiment failed . . . until Colt McAlister.

A decade later, Colt is a 16-year-old cadet at the CHAOS Military Academy where he’s training to defend mankind. But he’s afraid that the alien blood may be turning him into a Thule—and he’s beginning to suspect that fulfilling his role as the Betrayer may cost him everything.
Experience a cosmic battle filled with high-tech gear, gateways to other planets, and ultimate stakes. Not everyone will survive. But heroes will rise up and step into their destiny in this earth-shaking conclusion to the C.H.A.O.S trilogy.

My Review:

Well….. let me start off by saying that I loved the first book in this series, Invasion. It was original, full of action and I loved the characters. I wasn’t a fan of the second book, Alienation, due to some holes within each of the characters personalities and relationships so I wasn’t very excited to pick up the last one, but I still held out hope that it would bring back the magic that got me so excited about the first one. It didn’t. I was annoyed from the start and if this book was any longer I probably wouldn’t have finished it.

Let’s talk about the first annoying thing that happened. A certain character was kicked out of the CHAOS military academy for a really stupid reason. Then a few weeks later someone pulls some strings and he’s back in. I saw absolutely no purpose in kicking him out. It did not add anything of value to the story and was a waste of paper.

Oz and Danielle had a semi-relationship going in the first book and by relationship I mean they liked each other. Then in the second book it was like that attraction never existed and they were just friends. Then at the beginning of this book Danielle realizes she loves Oz. Um excuse me? As if that’s not annoying enough, they never define the relationship, never kiss, and never act like they’re together the entire rest of the book. We are left wondering if Danielle and Oz are going to be together, never finding out how the relationship panned out. And this is the last book so I guess we will be wondering forever.

I felt like Colt developed a lot in the first book and then just stopped. He did work through some issues in this book and accepted who he was, but his character just felt stagnant to me. He’s supposed to be the one person that can save them all, but honestly he felt weak to me and I would much rather have seen Oz in his role. Colt is also pining over Lily, the girl he likes that he left behind in Arizona. He really likes her, may even love her and he misses being around her. Then some other random girl kisses him and he kisses her back and even mentions that he liked the feeling of her lips on his and the way it made him feel inside. What about Lily? To make matters worse, after this kiss, the girl is never mentioned again. She served absolutely no purpose in the story. She didn’t cause any conflict because Lily never finds out. Colt debates for about five seconds which girl he likes more and settles on Lily. It was so pointless.

There is a new character in this book, Pierce, who is a member of Colt’s squad. Well, I think he may have been briefly mentioned in the last book but he didn’t play a major role. He’s a jerk. He is constantly trying to pick a fight with Colt and is just an all-around bully. I kept thinking that there would be some crazy plot twist with his character because he was such an ass, but it never happened and once again I was disappointed.

The last thing that bothered me was the ending, well sort of the ending. So we are all gearing up for what is sure to be an epic battle between Colt and Koenig, the leader of the Thule who has his heart set on destroying the world and eliminating the human race. We get to a point where you know the battle is going to take place and I’m actually getting pretty excited and then it was just such a letdown. It was over in about three pages and it just ended so lamely that I literally sat there for a minute and flipped back wondering (hoping) if I had missed something.

Something I liked about this book was that it was very Captain America-esque. If you’ve seen the movie Captain America, you know that he becomes a symbol of hope for the country during a time of crisis. He goes on tour around the country putting on shows to rally the people’s support. The same thing happens in this book only with a character called the Phantom Flyer. Colt becomes a symbol of hope for the people during a time where thousands are dying and no one knows what to do. At first, Colt is hesitant, but then he realizes that the people really need this and he accepts the role and all its glory.

Overall, this book really disappointed me. The characters were underdeveloped and the action scenes just weren’t that good. There were a lot of characters and events that happened that I felt served no purpose which made the book difficult to get through. It was so crushingly disappointing because I really did love the first book. I wish I had more nice things to say about it and I really hate writing bad reviews. I will now go read another book to cheer me up! Happy reading all!