Family movie night? There's an app for that
Download our new mobile app on iOS and Android.
Thrive: The Overthrow, Book 3
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Nonstop action and mayhem in alien-invasion finale.
Add your rating
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this book.
Where to Read
Community Reviews
There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What's the Story?
In THRIVE: THE OVERTHROW, BOOK 3, Anaya, Petra, and Seth have a mission to communicate with their cryptogen counterparts. What they learn may help save all of humanity -- if the aliens can get over the fact that a human just shot down their ship. After a tense standoff and many assurances from Anaya on both sides that no one means any harm, the Canadian military moves the ship and the aliens into the biodome that houses the cryptogenic plants and animals for study. Now the aliens -- one runner, one swimmer, and one rebel flyer -- are on display while they fix their ship and explain to hybrids Anaya, Petra, and Seth through telepathic links unavailable to plain humans that they are the good guys. It was the flyers who enslaved them all and forced them to invade other planets, and they just want to go home. Hybrids like Anaya and her friends are the ones that hold the only weapon that can defeat the flyers' powerful weapon and save the earth.
Is It Any Good?
This alien-invasion series finale has a summer blockbuster feel with nonstop action, cool spaceships, and teens saving the day. Will the teens save the world? Of course -- not really a spoiler, is it? Will the ending truly satisfy? About as much as a summer blockbuster -- on more of a surface level that glosses over some tough realities, like what happens to the alien-human hybrid teens left behind when society still doesn't accept them?
If you can get past this fact, Thrive is a great ride. At one point, it's a ride in an alien pod from space down to earth for one unlucky teen hybrid. It's a scene so tense you won't have any fingernails left at the end of it. The three teen leads all go in separate, fascinating directions in the story: to space and back, to an enemy ship hovering ominously over British Columbia, to a stranded ship underwater filled with hungry alien sea creatures. Having the hybrids' perspective means readers get so much closer to the action. The hybrids talk to the aliens telepathically and visit their bizarre fleshy ships and do everything the aliens do – even fly with them -- instead of sitting there pressing buttons like some hapless leader watching Armageddon from a military base. It makes Thrive feel even more up-close exciting than your favorite action blockbuster, even without the screen.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the world's reacton to the aliens in Thrive. Why won't the Canadians contact the Americans right away, or the rest of the world? Which countries talk to the rebels like Anaya and friends, and which ones just try to kill them?
How would a cohesive plan around the world have saved more people? How have politics gotten in the way in responses to other world crises like climate change and pandemics? What steps are taken to come together in crises?
What do you think is next for the teen hybrids in this story? While it's a satisfying ending for the planet, is it for the teens?
Book Details
- Author: Kenneth Oppel
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Adventures , Friendship , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires , Ocean Creatures , Science and Nature , Space and Aliens
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: May 4, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 10 - 13
- Number of pages: 416
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: May 10, 2021
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
Where to Read
Our Editors Recommend
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate