Back of Book: 

Gabe Fuentes is in for the ride of his life when he becomes Earth's ambassador to the galaxy in this alien sci-fi adventure from the National Book Award winning author of Goblin Secrets . Gabe Fuentes is reading under the covers one summer night when he is interrupted by a creature who looks like a purple sock puppet. The sock puppet introduces himself as the Envoy and asks if Gabe wants to be Earth's ambassador to the galaxy. What sane eleven-year-old could refuse? Some ingenious tinkering with the washing machine sends Gabe's ""tangled"" self out to the center of the galaxy. There he finds that Earth is in the path of a destructive alien force-and Gabe himself is the target of an assassination plot. Exactly who wants him out of the way? And why? Back home, Gabe discovers that his undocumented immigrant parents are in danger of being deported.

Book Number: One 

Genre: Middle Grade | Science Fiction 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟

A really fun middle grade read that expertly ties science fiction and everyday life together in a balanced blend that is exciting to read!

"Ambassador" follows eleven-year-old Gabe as and his Mexican American family. It's a normal summer day for Gabe when all of a sudden a mysterious alien creature called the Envoy disturbs his everyday life. He learns that Earth is in need of an ambassador to negotiate peace with adjacent planets and neighboring lifeforms. But some of his alien neighbors are less than friendly. After only a few days as Terra's ambassador, Gabe finds himself on the dangerous end of an assassination plot, which puts his negotiation skills to the test.

I had my ups and downs when reading this book, but it is relatively short, making it a fun read the whole way through. One of the best parts of this story for me was the parallels between aliens from other planets and illegal aliens to the United States. Much of this story focuses around Gabe's family's status as citizens and I feel the parallels between Gabe's family life and his ambassador life are well balanced. Also, this book plain out shocked me a couple times with things I was not expecting at all, which was a nice surprise. Another thing that I want to point out is that "Ambassador" takes place in my home state of Minnesota, which made me feel that much more connected to the story. Finally, I love how much Gabe mention Zorro! Every time that I think back to the old black and white show featuring Zorro, I can't help but crack up. The fact that Gabe kept bringing him up kept me smiling the whole book through.

My biggest critique on this one has to be the ending. The book doesn't exactly end off on a cliffhanger it just kind of. . . ends. It ends with a statement and when I read it I was like, "Oh, I guess it's over." I have the sequel, so it's not that big of a deal, it just had one of the most sudden endings I've ever read.

Overall, "Ambassador" was a short read that I enjoyed quite a bit. If you like stories about aliens, then Gabe's tale is sure to show you a fresh take on the alien invasion trope!

Back of Book: 

When we last left Earth’s Ambassador, Gabe Fuentes, he was stranded on the moon. And when he’s rescued by Kaen, another Ambassador, things don’t get It turns out that the Outlast—a race of aliens that has been systematically wiping out all other creatures—are coming. And they’ve set their sights on Earth.

Enter Nadia. She was Earth’s Ambassador before Gabe, but left her post in order to stop the Outlast. Nadia has discovered that the Outlast can conquer worlds by travelling fast through lanes created by the mysterious Machinae. No one has communicated with the Machinae in centuries, but Nadia is determined to try, and Gabe and Kaen want to help her. But the three Ambassadors don’t know that the Outlast have discovered what they are doing, and have sent assassins to track them down.

As Nadia heads deeper into space to find the Machinae, Gabe and Kaen return to Earth, where Gabe is trying to find another type of alien—his father, who was deported to Mexico, and who Gabe is desperate to bring home. From a detention center in the center of the Arizona desert to the Embassy in the center of the galaxy, the three Ambassadors race against time to save their worlds in this exciting, funny, mind-bending adventure.

Book Number: Two (Last Book) 

Genre: Middle Grade | Science Fiction 

Review: 🌟🌟

I was so disconnected from this book, which is why I cannot bring myself to give it a higher rating. I felt myself drifting away as Gabe learned about other alien lifeforms and began to fully embrace his role as an ambassador. The alternating perspectives in this book kept pulling me out of the narrative as soon as I found a connection back to Gabe's character again.

I must admit, this book did have some interesting world building and unique alien creatures. Learning more about the Outlasts was cool, but the minimal amount that the reader gets to know about them does not keep the story afloat.

This book almost entirely focuses on Gabe and his dealing with the alien lifeforms called the Kaens. If one loves space adventures, I could see one enjoying this one more than the first, but personally I enjoyed book one more due to the character development and family drama.

The ending also came really fast and wrapped a complicated story plot into a nice, neat bow, which seemed rather unrealistic.

Despite the issues I had with this book, I could see many young readers who enjoy space adventures and science fiction as a whole eating this series up. Unfortunately, there were too many issues that I couldn't bring myself to really enjoy it.