Dnf. A little disturbing and I read about a third before I skipped to the end and read the last chapter and the conclusion.

I liked this book a lot. However, I do feel like too much is jammed into the story and it gets a little tough to follow at times. This book would need to be for an advanced elementary reader. I love the idea of this book and the machine though and I loved the quirky characters that show kids how awesome it is to have their own talents and be unique. ( )

Like most of speculative fiction out there today, you need a good idea. The Only Ones certainly has that. There is a good idea, a situation that baffles everyone, and signals that anything and everything is possible. Once this is set up, the rest can go down however the author wants. So what matters to me becomes the language, the dialog, the "believability" of the everyday interactions of the characters. Starmer's characters are well done, his dialog is stylized enough to keep the plot going but not too much to make you wonder how 10-year-olds are forming such elaborate sentences. The plot requires suspension of belief, of course, and in the end not everything is explained. I say that in a good way, because at some point I thought "Oh, man, he's going to have Martin sit down and explain EVERYthing and we're going to have one of those moments on TV detective shows where they have to explain every little obvious thing to the dumb audience." But he didn't. There's especially the question of "why us?" that was left unexplained, which the reader can, if s/he wishes, use the same logic Martin uses to determine why it might be the way it is. The Only Ones was a good, fast read with some thought-provoking moments. I will recommend it to young-adult and speculative fiction fans. ( )

This is a weird, amazing, amazingly weird book. The clearest analog I have is Lost. If you loved Lost (never mind the ending), you will probably love this. (full review at http://www.parenthetical.net/2011/11/24/review-the-only-ones-by-aaron-starmer/) ( )

Grades 5 and up
A thought-provoking read for the tween crowd, reminiscent of a slightly less violent "Lord of the Flies." Children find themselves alone one day when all of the adults disappear. They create their own community--Xibalba-- complete with trading system and societal rules, and try to create theories to explain what happened to all the adults. Martin has a different story, having been raised with a distant father who instructs him in the maintenance of a mysterious machine. When Martin reaches Xibalba, he finds himself an unwitting leader and bastion of hope for the lonely children. This is a fairly complex read, which inquires about belief systems and the selection of leaders. Several characters die, some at each other's hands. Still, it's within the reach of an upper elementary school student.