Book Review: Anomaly by Krista McGee

Image (c) Thomas Nelson Publishers

Anomaly (Anomaly #1) by Krista McGee
Release Date: July 9th 2013
Book Format: Library Book
Rating: Three Stars

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?

I am not a religious person. At all. Many people have their reasons as to why they aren't but mine just happened to be because of one of my former friendships that ended a while back. They used to push Christianity down my throat. A lot. I don't even know why that friendship lasted as long as it did with that in mind alone. It was very discouraging, to say the least, when it came to exploring my religious side and going to church didn't help me at all. If anything, it made me feel like more of an outcast. Enough about me, though.

I've skimmed through a couple of reviews for this book and it seems like there are some who commented on how they didn't like the religious aspect of this book. With the above in mind, you would think that I would feel the same way: irritated over feeling like religion has been pushed towards me over and over again. But, for some reason, I didn't here.

There. I said it. Maybe because my former friendship and their push with religion proved to be worser than how this book portrayed religion, I don't know. The point is, I wasn't bothered. At least, not as much as I thought I would.

Thalli lives underground with others who are just like her. Well, sort of- according to the doctors, at least, everyone doesn't have emotions anymore. When they realized that emotions could potentially be the cause of all of the disasters, they decided to get rid of it and build a better community underground. Thalli is different, though- she is an Anomaly. She can feel. She can love. But it's this that, she knows, will be the end of her. But even when her close friend, Berk (a scientist in-training), saves her and uses her as an experiment, she knows it's just a distraction. Her annihilation will be soon and there's nothing she can do to stop it.

I hope that the backstory to why everyone was forced underground will be answered since, as far as this story goes, there wasn't really much to go on other than there was nuclear destruction which was hinted at when we're told that the above ground is no longer habitable. But as for everything else, we don't know much else. Her history lesson is brief and even less descriptive. I'm assuming this is so that no one would start getting ideas. The second book is coming out sometime this year, so I guess I'll see then.

How they know that someone is sick is even more questionable when it comes to forcing them into annihilation. One girl was found with her nose running and, in return, she was taken away to never be seen again. Maybe she was experience overwhelming sadness but there would have been more to her emotions I would assume. That has been left as a question mark in my mind since the beginning.

Back to the religious section of this review. I would like to add that, as far as I know (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), I have yet to see a dystopian novel with religious aspects in its story and for that reason itself I think it's pretty cool. John may have preached Jesus' word, but at least it wasn't forced and I think, in this case, it was used well to help Thalli and Berk to relax a little. I think, in time of need, sometimes it's good to look up and believe that you are part of something bigger. I liked it, okay. I'm probably one of the few, but I liked it. I didn't like how it made it seemed as if the scientists are the bad guys (because, hey, they're only human) and some may think it's a book comparing between religion and science. I still liked it, though. It's not my favorite book, but it's still good.

Either way, Berk is a scientist in training. He helped Thalli. I doubt being a scientist = being a horrible person.

Overall, if you're not a religious person and you absolutely hate being bombarded with religious tones in your story, don't pick this up. But I'd hate to see this story go to waste. Hopefully there will be more improvements when it comes to the backstory of how the world ended in the second story though. It's a hit or miss story, so it's really up to the reader in the end.

 Originally posted and shared on January 14th, 2014