Annex

Good hard(ey) sci-fi with main characters being children (except for alien antagonists). That led author to depict multiple choices between lesser evils, quick but simple expansion of the world, lots of young adults-like prose with nonrealistic action scenes etc. But the book as a whole is really good — it's well-written both plot-wise and language-wise; it is rather modern (so closer to Gibson than to War of the Worlds).