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Mothership
Mothership
Mothership
Ebook328 pages5 hours

Mothership

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

Teen pregnancy is never easy—especially not when extraterrestrials are involved. The first in a new trilogy that’s part Juno and part Aliens.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 10, 2012
ISBN9781442429628
Mothership
Author

Martin Leicht

Martin Leicht decided at the age of three that he wanted to spend his life spinning stories, and he went on to receive his MA from the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU. He lives in New York City, though his heart will always be in Philadelphia. Martin Leicht and Isla Neal are the authors of The Ever Expanding Universe trilogy, which includes Mothership, A Stranger Thing, and The World Forgot.

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Reviews for Mothership

Rating: 3.79999995 out of 5 stars
4/5

50 ratings13 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't even know where to begin with this one. I felt exactly like I was reading a high schooler's inner monologue which I was. Just because that student happened to be pregnant and in a floating 'pregnancy school' didn't stop her from acting like a junior in high school. Strangely this worked. My husband asked me what I thought and I just collapsed into giggles. I can't even explain why I enjoyed this so much, perhaps the absurdity of it? This is one when you just want an off the wall crazy adventure that you can suspend disbelief for.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Awesome
    funny book. be a great movie too. not sure how I feel about a sequel i wanted to read more by this author but I hope the sequel doesn't ruin the book for me. it can happen. it was great as a stand alone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    You guys. There are soooo many things I want to say about this book. I had never heard of this one before I was contacted to review it. I am so grateful for this chance. I just wonder how many other fabulous, amazing, awesomesauce books are out there that I haven't even heard of! MOTHERSHIP was hilarious and moving with a heroine who kicks some major ass, a stellar setting, and a crazy cast of characters. This was one of the few 5-star reads for me this year.

    Elvie is seriously one of my favorite YA heroines. She has made mistakes in her past, but she isn't afraid to face them and to admit she was wrong. Yes, she is a pregnant teenager, but that doesn't mean she isn't smart. Her biggest dream is to make it to Mars, studying intense physics for the past few years, ever since she found out going to space was even an option. She has dedicated her whole life to her dream. Elvie's father taught her all about mechanics, and she can basically fix anything: old classic cars, broken toasters, and she can even rig a vending machine to give up the goods.I love her take-charge attitude. When everyone was scrambling around, Elvie was quietly forming a plan. And when she had to, she grabbed the reigns on her own destiny. Sure, she may have had some choices taken away from her, but she wasn't going down without a fight, determined to take her life back. The best part about her: her huge heart. She loved her friends dearly, and even had room in her heart for the girl who picked on her relentlessly.


    But beyond the kick-ass-ness of Elvie, she was also unrelentingly hilarious. She made the best of every situation, always finding the humor in any given moment. Sure, she had a foul mouth, but it fit her character perfectly. I can not tell you how many times I woke my husband up last night cracking up because of this book. Think Juno in space, hilarious.


    The action never stopped in this book. From the opening pages Elvie was fighting for hers and her classmates' lives. Crazy commando attackers, teachers turned bad guys, and of course, the resident mean girl. I was on the edge of my seat wondering how these pregnant teenage girls are going to get out of this mess.


    I highly recommend MOTHERSHIP by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal. There is a strong message of female empowerment, and Elvie, our heroine, is a wonderful role model for girls -- yes, even if she is a pregnant teenager. She takes charge of her life, learns how to make the right decisions, grows as a character, and wields a ray gun. What more could you ask for? MOTHERSHIP is hilarious, action-packed, and one of the my favorite reads this year, possibly ever.


    For this review, and more like it, please visit Pretty Deadly Reviews.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Elvie wanted to go to space, but going to space in a ship turned into a the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers wasn’t in her original plans for how she’d spend her junior year. She’s still okay with going, though, until the ship is invaded by a team of attractive commandos, including the baby’s dad, Cole. These commandos tell her that their teachers were aliens, but so are they, and the ship was created to help repopulate their alien species. During the attack, however, the ship is damaged, and Elvie has to decide who to trust to help her and the other pregnant girls find a way off the ship if they want to survive. Elvie learns to figure out how to survive the multiple alien species she is introduced to, determines how to handle Cole, and decides if she’s keeping the baby or putting it up for adoption after all.

    There are some aspects of the book that may trouble readers. The majority of the characters are pregnant teenagers, some of them die in disturbing ways, and the aliens impregnating teenagers girls and then making them sterile could be upsetting and brings up a lot of issues about consent. However, overall this book is a lot of fun. Elvie is funny, smart, and a problem solver, but she still makes mistakes and sometimes has a difficult time knowing what to do in tough situations. Her commentary is laugh-out-loud funny and her determination is admirable. The technology in the book feels right for that far into the future. The story is completely ridiculous, but in a way that is fun, entertaining, and special even in the more intense moments. The book is definitely fluff, but the teenage science fiction element makes it unique and fresh.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was so awesome and weird that words fail me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is just downright campy fun!

    "Mothership" is a book that doesn't take itself too seriously while simultaneously taking on some more serious subject matters. Mix together a teenage pregnancy and all the choices that's going to entail, a baby-daddy that skips town the moment he hears your preggers, and then add a big dollop of space-ships and aliens. It's sounds ridiculous, and it is, but the authors manage it well and still leave you laughing.

    The novel's protagonist Elvie Nara is spunky and smart and just because she currently finds herself with a bun-in-the-oven doesn't want to give up her dreams of an Engineering degree and being on the first team to terraform Mars.

    I'd encourage people to give this book a shot because it's fresh and funny and something different what's on the YA market right now.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this one, although it didn't really grab me. Elvie is a pregnant teen sometime in the future and has joined a school for pregnant teens that is in a spaceship in orbit around earth. Then things get really weird.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun story. I liked how the authors take a different bent on teen pregnancy. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Mothership came highly recommended from a number of highly trustworthy sources, but, I have to admit, I had a healthy dose of skepticism about me ever being able to appreciate it. I mean, it's a book about pregnant teens. I'm not a big fan of anything about pregnancy, let alone with a focus on teenagers. However, Leicht and Neal manage to craft a hilarious, albeit occasionally really gross, story out of the premise of pregnant teens in space.

    Though I try not to go too crazy comparing books to other books, since it doesn't tend to reflect well on either of them, I ust have to here. Mothership reminds me heavily of Libba Bray's Beauty Queens in the style of the humor, only, instead of beauty queens stuck on an island, we have pregnant teens on a spaceship. I didn't like this one quite so well, but I think that if you liked Beauty Queens, you will definitely appreciate this and vice versa.

    The best part of the book is definitely the humor, which Leicht and Neal keep up throughout. Elvie, the MC, has plenty of sarcasm and makes lots of hilarious observations. On top of that, the whole situation, and Elvie herself, are patently ridiculous, adding additional layers of laughs. There will definitely be a few moments that will make all but the most determinedly grim chuckle out loud. There's a wide variety of comedic styles, varying from potty humor to nerd jokes to irony, so Mothership is pretty much bound to tickle your funny bone one way or another.

    The whole pregnancy angle is handled quite well, I think. Though it's obviously a main theme and they do not gloss over it, there isn't so much focus on pregnancy that I couldn't handle it. I mean, there's discussion of birthing and the consideration of the baby bump, but the humor and Elvie's wandering mind keeps things from getting to bogged down in baby drama. Also, just because the girls are pregnant doesn't mean they're completely useless, which was nice.

    The reason I didn't like this book more than I did is the characters. They're funny and highly entertaining, sure, but I really don't like any of them. Elvie's probably the best of the lot, in that she's the only one to really have any depth of character, in that, despite the fact that she talks and acts like an airhead most of the time, she's really quite bright. Ducky and Ramona were my favorites, but they, like everyone else, really don't ever emerge from stereotype status. Britta was the worst by far, always remaining the classic mean girl airhead, and never showing the slightest glimmer of uniqueness. Cole, too, is completely unlikable to me, but he's not treated as such by the author, which is frustrating. This doesn't detract from the entertainment of the novel, but kept me from loving it.

    The ending sets up the next book nicely, but I do think it was a bit ridiculous, even within the context of this universe. While I cannot explain in detail because of spoilers, I think one of the twists at the end, regarding Elvie's baby, does not make any sense plotwise. There is absolutely no reason for things to have gone down the way they did, except to make things happier.

    If you're looking for a book to make you laugh, a nice break from dark contemporaries and dystopian drama, then Mothership is a perfect choice. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, because you can always use more laughter in your life.

    3.5/5
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In a futuristic version of the US, Elvie attends a space station school made especially for pregnant teens. Things for Elvie are complicated enough what with the mean cheerleader who shares the same baby-daddy, but everything gets more challenging when aliens arrive and the school is under attack.This breezy, fast-paced book is candy for teen sci-fi and chick-lit fans and has the same characteristics as candy-- it's fun and sweet, but also empty. Mothership briefly touches on important issues of teen pregnancy, premarital sex, and abortion, but rushes past them, rather than discussing or dealing with them. However, Mothership also provides a smart, headstrong female protagonist, who doesn't let romantic feelings present her from taking action. The book doesn't shy away from death and violence, but even that doesn't break its light-hearted tone.Recommended for teens interested in funny sci-fi, but not necessary for all library collections.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    fun but VERY light weight. The Buffyesque popular culture riffs were a little thick to my taste but not enough to ruin the read. Looking forward to upcoming volumes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I didn't know what to expect when it came time to read this book. I love YA and Science Fiction but this was an odd combination. Elvie is 16 years old and pregnant in the year 2074. She got pregnant during her first time with popular and cute Cole. Cole actually was dating popular Britta when he cheated with Elvie. Now Britta is pregnant also and Cole is no where to be found by either girl. The girls end up being sent to a school for pregnant teenagers which just so happens to be a spaceship in Earth's outer orbit. This spaceship is then taken over by Aliens and the staff and faculty of the school are trying to kill their charges. And now Cole shows up on the ship? What is going on?I was intrigued at first. I really liked Elvie's best friend Duckie. If she was an adult she would scoop Duckie up and marry him asap. That is a dream husband right there. But since she is young and fueled by hormones hunky and dumb as a box of rocks Cole is who she wants. Even if he is wrapped up in all this alien drama. I read a ton of YA books and rarely have I seen one that pushed the envelope of YA as much as this one. It was almost off-putting how casually these characters act about being pregnant and the cussing is very blatant and frequent in this book. It seems like there were some weak stabs at attempting to offer a deeper look at the problems that come with teenage sex and pregnancy but the topic were skirted over and presented almost as a parody. In fact the entire book feels like a parody.I didn't dislike this story though. It was different and that intrigued me. Elvie and the other pregnant girls were portrayed fairly one dimensional but they were still fun to read about. I didn't like reading about all those pregnant teens being drowned and torn apart however. These parts of the book made it almost go from a parody to a black comedy. Maybe that is the real problem with "Mothership". Maybe the authors themselves didn't really know what kind of book this was meant to be. I am undecided about whether or not I would read a follow up. I still think I enjoyed this one more than the last pregnant teenager novel I read, "Bumped".
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It has been a while since I have read a young adult book with a pregnant main character and I have never read one as unusual as this. It is 2074 and Elvie who has been raised by her father to be ready for any sort of emergency finds herself attracted to the boyfriend of her biggest high school rival. Despite her daily pill to prevent pregnancy and STDs, after just one encounter with Cole she finds herself pregnant. Her father decides to send her to the orbiting ship that has become the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers where, unfortunately, she is attending school with her biggest rival again. Britta McVickers is two weeks more pregnant than she is and by the same father.Things are going along just fine when the school is invaded by armed soldiers and her teachers start trying to drown the girls in the Yoga swimming pool rather than surrendering them to the invaders. The troopers save the girls and kill all the teachers but not without taking some casualties themselves. Elvie is very much surprised to find out that Cole is one of the armed invaders. And she is even more surprised to find out that her teachers were aliens who wanted the babies to continue their species.It seems that there are two groups of aliens who are battling for Earth. The Almiri have been here thousands of years and have provided some of Earth's greatest men. The rival Jin'Kai have only been on Earth for the last fifty years. Both groups need human women to have their babies as all Almiri and all Jin'Kai are males. The only problem is that once a woman has one of these alien babies, she can no longer have children of her own. Cole never mentioned that when he and Elvie had their relationship!I like Elvie's voice in this one. She is snarky. She is also smart and an intrepid heroine. I like that she has goals and a very level head. I also like Elvie's best friend Ducky who is a major nerd and a very supportive friend. I like Elvie's dad too. Besides teaching Elvie to always be prepared no matter what the situation, he is also very supportive. I have sort of mixed feeling about Cole. I don't like that he abandoned Elvie as soon as he learned she was pregnant. And, while he is undeniably handsome, he just isn't very bright. We don't really get to know many of the other pregnant young girls very well but what we do see illuminates each one in a few phrases. Many of them are quite quirky. Like Heather who corrects everyone's grammar in the most inappropriate situations and Natty who tends to go off into artistic daydreams in those same inappropriate situations.The book has a lot of adventure as Elvie has to make her way through the school ship avoiding damaged areas and hostile aliens. There is actually quite a bit of violence in the story. Some of the language would also make this one more suitable for the older young adults I work with. Or, as Heather would say, "with whom I work." The shocker at the end is going to keep me reading the rest of this trilogy and I think it will make a number of my students want to do the same thing.

Book preview

Mothership - Martin Leicht

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