Book Review: We Are The Ants - Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are The Ants - Shaun David Hutchinson

There are a few things Henry Denton knows, and a few things he doesn't.

Henry knows that his mom is struggling to keep the family together, and coping by chain-smoking cigarettes.  He knows that his older brother is a college dropout with a pregnant girlfriend.  He knows that he is slowly losing his grandmother to Alzheimer's.  And he knows that his boyfriend committed suicide last year.

What Henry doesn't know is why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn't know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship.  He doesn't know why the world is going to end or why the aliens offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button.

But they have.  And they've only given him 144 days to make up his mind.

The question is whether Henry thinks the world is worth saving.  That is, until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters.  But before Henry can save the world, he's got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven't given him a button for that.

3/5 stars (liked it)

I can’t decide if Henry was truly abducted by aliens or if it was all in his head.  The book ends two hours before the world is supposed to end.  I think Henry was truly abducted by aliens but the red button and the end of the world was not really what it appeared to be.  When Henry is told that he is the one who decides to end or save the world, it’s really a time for him to take a look at his life and see if he truly wants to live.  Through this he is forced to face the death of his boyfriend, Jesse.  Face an old friend, Audrey.  And make new a new friendship through Diego.  I really enjoyed this book.  I would have liked to learn a little more about Diego.