Anomaly

The State contains the only survivors after the Nuclear War destroyed the earth. Scientists, called The Ten, keep the State running smoothly. They create humans, removing their emotions and instilling them with specific qualities.But Thalli is different... Will her difference save her or destroy her?She has kept her secret for seventeen years, but one sheet of music alters her future. She is an anomaly, and anomalies must be annihilated.Berk, her childhood friend and scientist-in-training, postpones her fate. He runs multiple tests and Thalli begins to wonder if she can trust him. He works for the State...Can anyone be trusted?Warning: book ends on a cliffhanger!Anomaly is a masterpiece! The twists and turns kept me guessing and the plot was perfectly orchestrated. I recommend this book to all YA lovers! I noticed most reviews claim that this book preaches too much. I am a christian and I thought this book had the perfect balance of God and suspense.If you aren't a christian, read this book with the audience in mind. It wasn't written to preach but to speak to us who believe. Keep writing Krista McGee! I loved it!

As my review summary says, the book started out excellent, then it went to great, and finally ended with a status of good. Before I explain why, let me first say that I believe the author did a good job mixing science and religion into a fiction novel, and I appreciate Christian authors, which is why I devoted myself to such a long review and detailed score.Now with that said, the book started out excellently. It caught my attention and I read about a third of the book in one sitting, very quick. I still imagine parts of the book as scenes in a movie, especially, the introduction of Rhen's sickness (just brilliantly done!) It was an excellent read.However, as I reached the mid point of the book things changed. I don't know if the author was becoming frustrated with how fixed the story line was weaved or if she just ran out of ideas, but I found myself becoming disinterested (a very bad thing as a reader). Let me explain why. First, the surrounding scene does not change very much. The reader is literally left with no new room to imagine new scenery. If you like reading books about a prisoner in a cell or a fisherman abandoned on a boat then you will probably like this book (that might be an exaggeration, but it is very accurate to the scenes one will find in this book). Thus, I found myself dying for a change of scenery. Second, the author uses the same feature in her story over and over. For example, in describing the inner character traits of Thali she allows the story line to go in circles four times in a row to express the point. While the story line does progress, it does so ever so slow. I wonder if it could not have been achieved differently? This is perhaps what disconnected me to the story line the most as the story essentially came to a halt. Third, the author uses a simple story structure that led me to guess the ending of the story by the mid point of the book, and I was mostly correct. I honestly believe most readers guessed the ending by this point to because the author guided us in that direction by restricting the surrounding events to just two outcomes (slightly boring).While the book started out excellent and went to great, by the end I found the book to be okay or just good. The main reason for this is due to Thali, the main character. At about by page 200 (which is two-thirds of the book) I found myself becoming so annoyed with Thali that I actually put down the book for a week! I felt that the author used the same character traits in Thali too often to the point that I started really hating her. She became way to predictable and too fake to actually like. Also, I believe the author pushed the "anomaly" issue on Thali a little too much in the book. Although, there was other factors involved for putting down the book, I do believe that the book's lack of story structure and character interest caused it.I eventually did finish the book and was partially correct in my guessing the ending. However, perhaps the ending is the another issue that reviewers need to address. I will not try to give any spoilers, but the author relies to heavily on Science and smartness to drive her story. In addition, I believe this causes an imbalance between the level of science (setting) and the problem of conflict that drives the story. It really leaves the reader stressing the logic behind it with one sarcastic word, "Right......."Overall, I had to give it 4 out of 5, although, I wanted to give it a three. The reason it gets four stars is that I do like the book and the story behind it. It is hard to drive Christian theology in a fiction story. The author did a great job with mixing both. She also did a great job with the twists in the story (but some were guessable). I believe if you are a female reader you will thoroughly enjoy this book better than I did (I am recommending it to my sister). I also believe that this book is more oriented for teens than young adults. I do look forward to her next book, because I believe we will have more room to know better the other characters like John and Rhen (in fact I was dying for more character interaction!) Thus, if you like novels about totalitarian governments and the suspense that comes with them then you will like this novel. But men beware: you need to be dedicated to reading it through!

There was a nuclear war. The Scientists were the only people who survived it. They were sure emotions were the reason for it, so they carefully constructed their new world to be emotionless. Just productive.But Thalli is an anomaly. She FEELS. And if her secret is revealed she will be annihilated...I loved Anomaly! Krista McGee is a brilliant author. The story world was well constructed, the plot twists in this book completely unpredictable (and numerous).That made the story so exciting. I just get used to one reality and then Thalli's world is turned inside out again. Both Thalli and Berk are characters I loved getting to know.Generally, I don't read futuristic books, but Anomaly proves that they can be great. I recommend this to all Christian teens and adults who want something that's out of this world, but still Christ-based.

I enjoyed reading this, it did not require much thinking and was a good bedtime read after a hard day.

i enjoyed reading this, and although the Christian message felt a little clunky and Thallium believed it, just like that, it didn't detract from the plot. What did spoil it (and I feel for the author here because I'm guessing it's house style and she didn't write it this way) was the robotic dialogue because everywhere that a person would naturally say 'I'm' was lengthened to 'I am'. It made Thallium seem two dimensional. But if you can overlook that, it's a decent read