Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book 1

*****Spoilers*****I really liked this one, it's engaging and I couldn't put it down. Sienna is a 17 year old recluse whose only human interaction over 12 years of her life is with her mother. Her mother had certain rules that she enforced with Sienna to ensure her compliance, the punishment if Sienna didn't was a trip to a dark box in the basement, burned hands, and other physical abuse. The only view of the world Sienna got was from watching TV. She was so sheltered and kept in her house so long that she didn't know what her house looked like from the outside. The purpose for the isolation is for Sienna's own good and safety but we don't learn in this first book the why Sienna is so important or dangerous or different or whatever. In a world where metas, or super humans exist, Sienna is one of three succubi known which we and she find out towards the end of the book. Rare as she is, I doubt there's much information about what abilities she has so my guess is that future books will involve a lot of figuring it out as she goes.The first thought I had was there's no way the woman Sienna thinks is her mother truly is. The abuse and keeping Sienna isolated even while mommy dearest goes out into the world to work and socialize aside, if her mom is a succubus too, I'd think Sienna's mom would have been teaching Sienna about and how to use her powers but nope. Speaking of her powers, Sienna won't fully come into all of them until she's 18 which isn't far off in this book, less than a month I believe.In the meantime, Sienna is chased from her home when two men break in and finds herself on the radar of Wolfe. A homicidal were creature whose screws have fallen to the wayside. On two encounters with him, Sienna uses the skills her mom taught her and fights as well as manages to bleed Wolfe which pushes Wolfe over the edge into psychotic stalker territory. Wolfe and Sienna clash a couple of times before she sucks his soul with her succubus powers but it's an accidental soul capture since she didn't know what she was doing. Now Sienna is living with the Directorate since her mother disappeared, an organization of cloudy morals but with a good guy ideology which is to take down rogue metas.A couple of things that kept this book from being a five for me. Too many questions left unanswered, the length as it was too short, and inconsistency when it comes to Sienna. Where is her mom? What and who belongs to the M-Squad? How does Reed play into everything? What happens now that Wolfe is in her mind? How can she get him out? And more. Sienna for not having interaction with anyone besides her mom is much more confident and socially sound than I would have thought she'd be with her background. She's also supposed to be super smart but I couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't using her brain much to consider ways to take out Wolfe, a thousands and thousands year old meta who is heads and tails above other metas on strength and adaptability. So much so that he's able to run through a ton of lives with little effort and even less time. In 10 seconds he took out a human swat team and finished off all of the police officers in 12 cars. Unstoppable so the wisdom points to run first and always when he comes around. Wolfe had two brothers too, so not sure how future retribution will look.

This was interesting and well done for a science fiction novel. I enjoyed it and can’t wait to readThe rest

The following review aired in the May 6, 2014, Sci-Guys podcast, episode #155:I’ve never really enjoyed comic books. I don’t know why. In fact, it wasn’t until a friend recommended “Y: The Last Man” to me that I found the graphic form really compelling. So maybe this bias was why I never got into the whole superhero thing when I was young. It really wasn’t until the X-Men films and most recent Batman reboot that I took an interest in comic characters at all. But I did – in my 30s...better late than never – and just in time to admire Robert Crane’s indie-published fantasy series, “The Girl in the Box.”Right up front, I’ll say this: If you like the X-Men, you’ll like this series. It’s about a 17-year-old girl named Sienna, and it begins with her waking up, having been alone in her house for a week. Two men have broken in. In a wicked display of innocent, almost detached efficiency, Sienna dispatches them, thanks to a lifetime of intense physical training from her missing mother. Hardly a moment after she sets foot outside of her house for the first time in many years, Sienna meets two more men. One of them she feels very drawn toward. The other is a massive, ancient, immensely powerful monster who soon becomes bent on her destruction.I don’t want to give away too much, other than to say that Sienna has some very special powers, and she ends up at a sort of school for gifted people such as herself. If this sounds suspiciously like X-Men, well...I asked Robert Crane for an explanation.“I'm a huge fan of comic books and even the X-Men,” he said. “The fact is that any story dealing with superpowered humans that aren't of the traditional urban fantasy myth types (vampires, werewolves, that kind of fun stuff) are bound to get some comparisons to X-Men. I can't say I was playing to that audience, exactly, because what I had in mind when I started the story was a much, much more aloof mentor than Professor X ever was, and a harsher, more damaged protagonist in Sienna. I wanted to write a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque story. I think you'll find if you stick with the books that there's a widening gulf between where we start and where we end up in terms of the tone.”This was true. By the end of the 182-page first book, titled “Alone,” you were very much inside of Sienna’s head, exploring her past and the foundations of her fears. Crane makes her a much deeper, more engaging character than the usual X-Men fare, in part because he keeps her in the spotlight rather than spreading his attention around a large group. By the end of this brief novel, you’re completely caught up in Sienna’s struggle and racing for the end, and this feels much more like an original work than an X-Men knock-off.The end of “Alone,” of course, is only the beginning. The ninth book in the Girl in the Box series arrived just over a month ago (March 2014). Crane gives away the first three ebook volumes as a boxed set for free, and the subsequent titles run $4.99 each. That, my friends, is a hell of a deal. Crane’s books are fast-paced but not superficial. And if you hate cliffhangers at the end of your books, well...get over it. The Girl in the Box may be indie-published, but it feels completely professional. If you’re one of these people who still sneers at indie titles, ask yourself what matters more: whether the book was published in New York or whether you enjoyed it and the author keeps on delivering more of what you love.I asked Crane about why people should read indie, and he said, “I'm pretty picky about my reading. I remember being a kid – and an adult – with limited funds and buying a book because the cover and description seemed really cool. Then I started reading it and put it down after a chapter, never to pick it up again because it was blah. Well, if I'm reading a new traditionally published book, that's somewhere between $10 and $16 I'm never going to get back. With a lot of indie-pubbed books, you can pick up the first book free or for 99 cents, and if it doesn't hold you, well, you can put down at least nine more like it before you start getting close to what you wasted on one $10 book.”That said, I doubt you’ll be putting down the first three installments of The Girl in the Box. They’re free, but they’re awesome. If you dig smart, emotional superhero fantasy, you *won’t* put this down.

This story is not heartwarming in anyway. If you like mystery, gore, sci-fi, hero’s that are really anti heros, then you will like this. I have never been a fan of this trope. I want to at least like the MC, but there isn’t a whole lot about her to like. She’s rude, sarcastic, disrespectful- you name it. I will read the next one just for my curiosity but I can’t say that I liked this novel.

I read this at one go, so glad it was not like the usual written way like most books are written now, girl broken, beaten, mental, physical and all that just to be saved by a man.. she did it herself that is what I have been looking for in my reading so tired of reading the same ones over just a different name

If what you want is a horrifying book with endless blood and death, then this is a book you’ll want to read. If you want anything that offers any light, joy, possibility, or kindness, this is not a book for you and I would look elsewhere for your reading.

I really enjoyed how the author created the foundation and built up the story. I'm looking forward to reading book 2!

I really liked this book. The heroin has never known loved not even from her mother who never allowed her to go outside fall for good reason it turns out. The heroin is suddenly thrown into a world where a very evil man is intent to kill her and takes many bodies with his desire for the heroine. She finally fights back and learns a horrible truth about herself. It has a surprise ending that will leave you thinking about it alot.

Despite the fact that the plot is unsettling, the book is very gripping, fascinating, and spellbinding. Anyone who enjoys paranormal adventures will be captivated by it.

I enjoyed the quick read. It stayed moving throughout the entire story. There are hints of greater stories to come!

Brilliant, enthralling mind blowing read; could not put the books down; have read books 1 - 8 and cannot wait for books 9 and 10.Can not recommend this series highly enough - you have to read for yourself to appreciate Robert's genius at writing.Bring on the next one - please x

Alone features a young girl, named Sienna Nealon, who has been deprived of whatever life exists outside of her home for as long as she can remember. Though she has never fully understood why, her mother has kept her blanketed from the outside world entirely, to such an extreme that she has not laid foot outside of her home EVER before. The only life she knows is home studies, intense martial arts, and strict guidelines all ultimately forced on her, conducted and implemented by her mother. That is until her home is invaded in the middle of the night, and suddenly the only life and world she knows comes to an abrupt end and she finds herself having to grow up real fast and discover a whole new life she never even knew existed.To begin with, it took some time to stay motivated to read this. Once I devoted my undivided attention to the book, it was definitely worth it. The adrenaline rush right at the beginning of the book was awesome!! Throughout the series, I'm finding (only on book 5 at the moment) all the information that Crane stacks in about who this is and what they're doing can be a little overwhelming. However, you learn to balance your thoughts as you continue reading. Sienna is an absolute fireball of anger, and acts like such a typical teenager that it's so hard not to relate to and like her! This book is really quite slow, but the build up is great and I read the first 3 books within a couple days because I just could not put it down.Definitely a great read, and easily becoming one of my favorite series! I certainly think you will enjoy this book if you enjoy adventurous characters and full-on action. This is full of it! I will loosely compare it to Divergent, as they are both completely different, but the adrenaline rush is phenomenal! Crane does a fantastic job of really accentuating each part of every little fight so you feel like you're right there watching it all unfold.

It's one of this Booms that you won't put down. It grips you and you keep going "just a few moments" more.