A short review of We Will Destroy Your Planet: An Alien's Guide to Conquering The Earth

I remember this book I had when I was a kid (or at least I mostly remember it, because I can't remember the name of it!) that told you all about how to be a spy. I loved it, because it was full of "secrets" like dead-letterboxes and how to write in code and how to suss out if anyone had messed around in your stuff. Of course, it was also secretly teaching me bits and pieces about math, science, languages and keeping my room tidy without me realising it! We Will Destroy Your Planet: An Alien's Guide To Conquering The Earth reminds me a lot of this book.

The book is told, obviously, from the aliens' point of view and details exactly the environmental and militaristic challenges they'll be facing in their planned takeover of our planet. In the process, it points out that many of the previous (fictional) invaders have had rather harebrained schemes when it comes to destroying the planet and reminds our new prospective overlords that their troubles won't be over when the last bomb (or manually-aided meteor strike) has fallen - they'll still have their work cut out for them maintaining the place.

While it's clearly a letter of love to any and all sci-fi incarnations of alien invasions, it throws in a little potted military history and more than a dash of physics and astronomy for a book that older kids and  young teenagers will probably love. It's fun to play match-that-alien-invasion from casual mentions dropped liberally into the text and learn a little along the way, but although I enjoyed the book, it was a little on the long side for a comedic look at an extraterrestrial attempt on the Earth and was also a bit repetitive in places, making it feel more like a book for a younger audience (or at least one that has less experience of science and science fiction).