A resounding MEH. This is a mish mash of SF and fantasy. There are alien critters invading the earth. But the only way to fight them is with magical books of power that can only be read by kids which all appeared the same day as the alien critters. Our hero is uniquely angry at the critters for grabbing his father before they disappeared. Anyway, there's a school for kids with nascent magical powers where our hero winds up. Then it turns out the aliens gave us magic back in the day and then took it back because we weren't docile enough. Confusing story, borrows from every formerly successful children's fantasy or SF you can think of, and the world building is not great either. But what I really didn't like about it is...no character development. Everyone remains the same cardboard cut-out figures they were at the beginning: smirking bullies, badass warrior chicks, angry, self-righteous heroes, etc.