Elder Race (4.14 : 12,718)
In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe. Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself).
The Road to Roswell (3.91 : 1005)
When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.
Light Bringer / Red Rising #6 (4.59 : 510)
- author: Pierce Brown
- narrator: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- goodreads
- audible
The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains. But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend. The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow. Because after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.
Implacable / Outlands #3 (4.51 : 388)
- author: Jack Campbell
- narrator: Christian Rummel
- goodreads
- audible
As far from explored space as any human has ever been, Geary and the Alliance fleet are on their own, protecting a diplomatic mission in territory belonging to an alien species with still-unknown motives. His already complex and dangerous mission is further imperiled by deadly challenges from other human factions seeking to harm or exploit the aliens. When another alien species whose technology is far more advanced than humanity’s arrives, the stakes are raised to the highest possible level.
Space Raideres / Space Raiders #1 (4.33 : 344)
- author: Ken Lozito
- narrator: Macleod Andrews
- goodreads
- audible
After years of searching, Nathan Briggs is finally on the verge of making an incredible discovery. Unfortunately, the aliens have other plans. When Nathan stops a brutal attack on an unsuspecting victim, he gets more than he bargained for and sets into motion events that will change his life forever. They told him he should’ve run away, and maybe they were right. Nathan is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. Aliens are real. He has something they need, and they’re not the only ones hunting for it.
I promise the teen angst evaporates quickly! I honestly believe it was meant to dissipate as the main character’s perspective gets rocked to the realities of life. And by book 2, it’s as somber and grim as anything GRR Martin would write!