Anomaly by Kristen McGee

First of all, I was super excited when I saw this book was available for review! Science Fiction is definitely my favorite type of book, even if it is young adult fiction! This book reminds me so much of the Hunger Games trilogy yet it is still so different at the same time.

"Anomaly" is set in the future after the surface of the earth was destroyed by nuclear war. There were 10 remaining scientists alive at that time, who made a new world under the surface of the Earth and called it "The State". But the Scientists thought that our old ways of life were primitive. They learned they could create "humans" on their own and genetically alter their DNA so that the Scientists alone determined their strengths and weaknesses. They completely eliminated love, anger, and many other feelings and emotions that they deemed unnecessary. That is, until Thalli was created. Now the Scientists are dealing with an anomaly. She shouldn't be able to feel love, and to feel emotions but she does. Thalli has been hiding these "anomalies" for so long, it's just a matter of time before she is found out. But what will happen when she is exposed? Her dear friend, Asta was taken away for just a slight anomaly and was annihilated for something so unimportant.

Suddenly, Thalli finds herself in the midst of dozens of tests performed by one of the great ten, Dr. Loudin. Dr. Loudin's soul purpose for performing the tests however, is only to test new theories and to learn enough to create humans without anomalies. Thalli is scheduled for annihilation at the conclusion of these tests. But then Thalli learns that she has a friend on her side. Berk, who has grown up alongside Thalli, is training to become one of the great ten and therefore has access to Dr. Loudin. He tries to convince the scientists that Thalli is worth saving...that she is valuable to them as a group. But will it be enough to save her?

During all of this, Thalli meets John, who is the father of one of the great ten scientists and who survived the nuclear war. John is a Christian and opens Thalli's mind to the idea that she was created for a purpose, even if she may not know what that is. Throughout the rest of the book, we see Thalli's faith grow more and more.

I found that the beginning of this book was a little hard for me to get into, but after 3 or 4 chapters, it began to get more exciting. After awhile, I found it hard to put it down, eager to find out what was going to happen next! I think it would be great for a book discussion because of all of the different elements throughout the book. I loved that there was a distinct Christian message played throughout the story despite the fact that none of the characters were created to know God.

I rate this book as 5 stars and can't wait to read the second book in this series! Luminary will be available July 2014.

I received this book for free through Litfuse to give my honest unbiased opinion.