Aisle Nine
Ian X. Cho
HarperCollins
Published September 24, 2024
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About Aisle Nine
“It’s Black Friday—and the apocalypse is on sale!
Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be.
Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here For You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least here he can be near the girl he’s crushing on—Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard—who seems to hate Jasper for reasons he can’t remember or understand.
But when Jasper and Kyle learn they both share a frightening vision of the impending apocalypse, they’re forced to team up and uncover the uncomfortable truth about the hell portals and the demons that haunt the world. Because the true monsters are not always what they seem, the past is not always what we wish, and like it or not, on Black Friday, all hell will break loose in aisle nine.
Perfect for fans of Grasshopper Jungle or The Last of Us comes Aisle Nine, the debut young adult novel from rising YA star lan X. Cho.
My Review
Reading a book about the apocalypse that’s weird and funny was a lot of fun. This isn’t the kind of book I’d normally find myself drawn to. The balance of humor and high-stakes drama of the apocalypse definitely had me intrigued.
Jasper’s amnesia made him an interesting character in that he continued to look for clues about his previous life. His nightmares about the portals, his relationship with Lara, the cat-who-is-not-a-cat, and his awkward connection to Kyle offer a lot of threads for him to unravel as the story progresses.
While some of the moments of tension resolve quickly, the story rockets Jasper into one dangerous situation after another. I found it easy to keep reading from one chapter to another. The book is also on the shorter side of young adult fantasy, at 260 pages.
I think readers who enjoy apocalyptic stories paired with humor, especially in the cast of goofy characters, will love this one. It reminds me of the end-of-the-world movies from the 90s.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Representation
Kyle’s parents are from Taiwan.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some f-bombs and profanity used fairly frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.
Spiritual Content
Portals from the abyss have opened up at various points worldwide. These are often referred to as portals from hell, and the monsters that emerge are referred to as demons. Four powerful beings are referred to as the horsemen (a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse from the Bible.) Beyond the use of those names, there’s no real connection to Christian theology.
Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some scenes include graphic violence as monsters attack people and soldiers fight back. The monsters sometimes have an almost comical appearance. At other times, they more closely resemble nightmare material.
Drug Content
In one scene, a mercenary reports that soldiers are often required to take medication meant to combat narcolepsy when they work long shifts. Someone else takes it to stay awake while they work.
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