The faith is fervent, but the story is just a mess.
The final installment in the evangelical-dystopian Anomaly trilogy keeps the tension cranked up to 11.
Thalli finds herself transported back to the State, still under control of the evil Scientist Dr. Loudin. Thalli will discover numerous, ever changing evil schemes that Loudin advances and abandons as she constantly seeks escape and alternates between despair at her abandonment by the Designer (her usual name for God) and heartfelt belief that the Designer will conquer all. She still loves longtime heartthrob Berk, but she also feels friendship and loyalty to Alex. Even as she struggles with these conflicting feelings, Thalli and her friends try to battle the cartoonishly evil Loudin. The representation of faith comes across as completely sincere and believable. However, McGee appears not to have planned out her plotline, leaving it with a moment-by-moment feel. Loudin needs Alex’s abilities, but later, it turns out that he really doesn’t. He wants to control all the surviving cities in the world but later decides to nuke them. Thalli fights off “weak” Loudin “as easily as if he were a child,” but two pages later, Loudin overcomes a strong young man. The impression left is that the point is simply to pitch Thalli against Loudin in numerous different scenarios until it’s time to end the book.
The faith is fervent, but the story is just a mess. (Dystopian romance. 12-18)Pub Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4016-8876-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
A thrilling alien-invasion novel based on a chillingly nefarious premise.
When a worldwide rain results in alien plant life taking over the Earth, three Canadian teens are the only ones strong enough to resist the invasion.
Anaya, Seth, and Petra have always felt different from their peers on their British Columbia island. Anaya has severe allergies that give her acne and perpetual congestion. Seth is a foster child with scars running up and down his arms. Although pretty and popular, Petra is allergic to water. None of the teens think much about the others until strange black plants begin sprouting all over town after a day of heavy rain—that somehow doesn’t trigger Petra’s water allergy. When the plants turn carnivorous, Petra, Anaya, and Seth are the only ones able to withstand their strange perfumes and their acidic interiors, and they realize they must have something more in common. And then Anaya’s botanist father reveals that the plants came from another planet—and they are in the process of colonizing the Earth. In this fast-paced thriller, Oppel spins a richly drawn, incredibly fascinating world. Beginning with the brilliantly unique premise of a botanical alien invasion, the plot unravels satisfyingly, building readers’ curiosity by creating 10 new questions for every answer given. The book’s one significant weakness is its lack of diversity. Other than Anaya, whose name implies she might be South Asian, the other characters present white.
A thrilling alien-invasion novel based on a chillingly nefarious premise. (Science fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7300-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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