Book Synopsis:
She was an anomaly with a death sentence. Now she's free.
Thalli was scheduled for annihilation. She was considered an anomaly--able to experience emotions that should have been eradicated by genetic modification. The Scientists running the State couldn't allow her to bring undue chaos to their peaceful, ordered world. But seconds before her death, she is rescued.
Now Thalli is above ground in a world she thought was destroyed. A world where not even the air is safe to breathe. She and her three friends must journey across this unknown land, their destination a hidden civilization. It's their only chance of survival.
Broken and exhausted after an arduous journey, they arrive in New Hope, a town that survived the nuclear holocaust. When Thalli meets the people there--people actually "born" to "families"--her small world is blown wide open.
Soon after their arrival to New Hope, the town comes under attack. She has escaped imminent death, but now Thalli is thrust into a new fight--a fight to save her new home. Does she know enough about this world of emotions, this world of chaos, to save not only herself, but the people she has come to love?
My Review:
3.5/5 stars. I read the first book in the Anomaly trilogy a while ago, so it isn't fresh in my memory, but I didn't like this one as much as the first one. The faith content and the theme of music were two of the best parts, and the story itself was interesting, but the writing style was the problem for me. The character dynamics and dialogue were also not great.
The entire novel was full of a lot of telling instead of showing. The prologue was an exposition dump and kind of followed the "as you know, Bob" trope of antagonist reminding each other of their plan just for the reader's sake. Then, all throughout, there were a lot of sentences such as "it is warm" and "it looks like this" instead of revealing those details through descriptions.
Another part of the writing style I didn't like was the dialogue. A lot of the dialogue felt very stilted and unnatural. Maybe it was supposed to be that way, because the people came from a society where emotions and personality were squashed, but even the characters who weren't from the State spoke in an unrealistic way. Good dialogue can reveal a lot about a character's personality, but that wasn't really the case in this book.
There was a love triangle in this book, or at least the start of one. I don't mind love triangles, especially if they're done well, but I thought the one in this book was annoying and unnecessary. It also was misleading at first. It seemed like the love triangle was going to be between Thalli, Berk, and Rhen, but then a new guy was introduced. It makes me wonder what the point of the jealousy at the beginning was if Rhen wasn't even going to be involved. In both situations, though, there was no reason for me to root for one person over the other because there wasn't enough banter or romantic interactions shown between anyone.
Now moving on to the things I liked. The villain was very horrible and annoying, which means he was well-written. I got super frustrated with how unfair he was toward Thalli and her friends. Some could say he was too over-the-top evil, but it worked in the context of the novel. He was written to be hated, and I definitely did hate him.
In the last book, music and how powerful it is was a major theme, as Thalli is a musician. That was less of an element in this one, since she had less access to music, but it was still there a bit and I loved it when it was included. My favorite line was toward the beginning and said, "I do know that music is powerful. Music pointed me to the Designer, spoke to me in was that logic never did."
That quote also ties in the faith content, which I loved. Thalli develops her relationship with The Designer (God) and relies on Him and prays when she's faced with tough situations. Psalm 23 is quoted a lot, as are Jesus' words about the truth setting you free. Those were some of my favorite parts of the story.
Content:
Language: None
Sexual Content: Hand kisses and thinking about what will happen once people are married
Violence/Gore: Violent deaths described but nothing gory or super detailed, someone is shot to death, torture is described
Drugs/Alcohol: Characters are drugged to feel happy and as a form of control
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