susanvoss18

The story drops us right down into the middle of things and that’s the way I like it. Rhyan is a likable character and it’s easy to grasp what’s going on. Aliens have wrecked Earth, tearing down nearly all human civilization. Now Rhyan and a handful of other survivors live day by day, scavenging for food, killing a few Vela aliens, and sleeping in a cavern at night. Things soon go wrong and Rhyan is on her own again, searching for safety and the basics. Luckily, she comes upon an abandoned horse, Lucky, who is more than happy to get out of his pasture and join her.

It’s not an easy road, but eventually Rhyan comes across a real human town that has electricity (solar & hydro power), apartment buildings, and even a hospital. Yet even then, danger is just around the corner. Rhyan never finds true safety because the aliens aren’t leaving and the remaining humans have conflicting agendas. I loved this aspect of the story. There was never a dull moment.

I did have trouble picturing the aliens. They’re bigger than humans, have claws, and bleed blue blood. But beyond that I’m not really sure. How many eyes? Number of arms? Armor? Hair? Perhaps there was one big long on description near the beginning and I missed all the details since I was gathering up the details of the story. I would have liked details about the aliens spaced throughout the story.

The humans were an interesting mixed bag. John stands out because he was so sure about the possibility of communicating with the aliens. Kalisha was my favorite side character. I can see her and Rhyan being a kickass team throughout the series. Valerie (I think that’s her name) was a panicked, wishy washy lady who just couldn’t fully trust Rhyan. I also liked Rhyan’s legless neighbor (Clarissa?) who watches TV too loudly in the early morning hours.

I did find it a bit odd that the aliens, with all their technology and military strength, have left this city of skyscrapers alone for the moment. Some people inside the city walls have wondered this too, so I hope the sequel gives us a good reason for it.

Even though this is silly, I’m going to say it anyway – the title keeps throwing me off. Until I heard the audiobook, I didn’t know if Girl Vs meant the V was her last name, a designation, etc. It turns out it’s Girl Versus – and I’m guessing that means Rhyan versus the aliens…. Still, I don’t like the title because it doesn’t tell me anything about the book. Despite that small criticism, I still enjoyed the tale. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Tonia Blake did a pretty good job with this narration. She had distinct voices for all the characters and her male voices were believable. I did notice that sometimes two or more character voices would blur into each other when more than 1 character was in a scene. Pacing was perfect and she did well with the emotions of all the characters. There were no technical issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Xela Culletto. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.