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Title: Anomaly (Anomaly, #1)
Author: Krista McGee
Published By: Thomas Nelson (2013)
Synopsis: Thalli has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds left to live. The toxic gas that will complete her annihilation is invading her bloodstream. But she is not afraid.
Thalli is different than others in The State. She feels things. She asks questions. And in the State, this is not tolerated. The Ten scientists who survived the nuclear war that destroyed the world above believe that emotion was at the core of what went wrong—and they have genetically removed it from the citizens they have since created. Thalli has kept her malformation secret from those who have monitored her for most of her life, but when she receives an ancient piece of music to record as her community’s assigned musician, she can no longer keep her emotions secreted away.
Seen as a threat to the harmony of her Pod, Thalli is taken to the Scientists for immediate annihilation. But before that can happen, Berk—her former Pod mate who is being groomed as a Scientist—steps in and persuades the Scientists to keep Thalli alive as a test subject.
The more time she spends in the Scientist’s Pod, the clearer it becomes that things are not as simple as she was programmed to believe. She hears stories of a Designer—stories that fill her mind with more questions: Who can she trust? What is this emotion called love? And what if she isn’t just an anomaly, but part of a greater design? (Taken from Goodreads)
Review:
A great addition to the dystopian genre, Krista McGee’s Anomaly was a great read, full of action, adventure, yet with a strong Christian themes written in cleverly, adding to the plot without taking over. The themes and messages sent were very strong and I loved it.
The storyline was creepily realistic and extremely capitivating. It tells the story of a futuristic world, after the dry land has been completely demolished through a Nuclear War, sending the last 10 survivors (The Ten) into an underground society they founded themselves. They create every human present, mixing DNA to create each one to have a specific talent to make for a productive life as possible. This element was done very well.
The characters were easy to like. I was drawn in immediately to their stories. Though at first it seemed like another cliche where the main character is the one “different” one (and there were some cliche-y elements), overall this aspect really felt much more true to the story and much more real. Thalli was a belieavable character, with her own flaws and strengths and yet real enough to feel like a friend. Berk was a strong male lead. Rhen was simply wonderful and done so well. John was just—wow. His character, as one who saw the land and lived before the War, was done just so well. The way he interacted with Thalli and the others was amazing.
The Christian message was there in this book, too, presented in a simple way but with a natural feel. It didn’t feel preachy, but rather like a part of the story. I enjoyed watching Thalli’s transformation; I couldn’t help cheering for her.
On the downside, this book was very confusing in some parts. While the plotline never lacked action and answers were always given, the way the story went about this was very confusing. It all paid off in the end, but there were some very flustering sections where I had no real idea why they were doing what they were doing. The majority of my confusion was the lack of description in the changing of settings. I couldn’t figure out where they were or how it lined up with the rest. It was a little too abstract.
Another thing was the writing wasn’t the best quality. The sentences were short and easy to comprehend, with no real challenges. While this is good for some people, I felt since this book was targeted for the teenage audience, a little more should be expected, and in the case of Anomaly, unfortunately, it fell flat.
Overall:
All in all, this was a great read. Though it lacked a lot in some areas, the rest of the book was very enjoyable. I sped through this book in two days, it was so hard to put down! Greatly looking forward to reading the next book, Luminary.
Negative Content:
None.
Rating: 4.0
Recommended to: All teens!