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kammbia1

World of Kammbia

I'm an avid reader and book review blogger that loves fiction: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Literary, and Christian. Here's my favorite quote about reading: “Every good book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment….is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide that, we may be excused from inquiry into its higher qualities.” (C.S. Lewis)

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Oracle Night - Paul Auster

Paul Auster is one of the most interesting authors we have in contemporary fiction.  I have read Leviathan and the groundbreaking New York Trilogy over the years.  When I saw Oracle Night at the used bookstore recently, I decided to read and review it.

 

Oracle Night is the story of novelist, Sidney Orr, who has recently recovered from illness.  He enters a stationery store on September 18,1982 and buys a blue notebook. Over the next nine days, Orr will become entranced by the blue notebook and begin to live out events that happens as a result of his purchase.

 

Moreover, those events will make Orr question everything he knows about his life: marriage, friendship, and writing. Where does fiction ends and reality begins?  That seems to be question Paul Auster is trying to answer in Oracle Night. Coincidences and Serendipity(common elements in an Auster novel) are used to find those answers. I thought those elements revealed a believable conclusion to Orr’s dilemma.

 

Auster is the one of our best storytellers and most readable novelists we have in contemporary fiction. Oracle Night is one of my favorite reads of 2015 and highly recommended.

Book Review 59: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel - Michel Faber

Can a marriage be saved even if you are doing God’s will and serving him to the best of your ability?

 

That is the main question I took from reading The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber.  It’s an interesting question that the novel tries to answer.  I’m glad this was my choice for the first read and review of the new year.  After reading this novel, I can already write that it will be one of the novels I will reflect on and think about often in 2015.

The Book of Strange New Things centers around Peter Leigh, an evangelical pastor from England and his wife, Beatrice whom he calls Bea.  Peter has been recruited by USIC, a NASA-like organziation, to join a space colony where his primary mission is to be a minister to the Oasans, an alien race that lives on the same colony.

Beatrice is left behind in England and Peter vows to stay in contact with her throughout his entire time on the space colony.  He is able read and write letters electronically with his wife and those letters are the heart of the novel.  Those letters go from excitement to despair throughout the book and brought the aforementioned question at the beginning of the review to mind.

I’m married and Christian and while reading The Book of Strange New Things made me think about those believers who go on missionary trips from the States to Africa or Asia or even South America and have to leave behind their spouses.  Can doing God’s work create division in a marriage and even tear it apart?

I will be pondering that question for the rest of 2015 and years to come.  The Book of Strange New Things shows the power of fiction being able to raise the important questions without being preachy or coming to a one-size-fits all conclusion. This novel while having a science-fiction exterior actually has an interior of faith, love, and marriage.

I highly recommend this thought-provoking, spiritual, and metaphysical novel and believe it should be the choice of book clubs for years to come.

Discoverability by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Discoverability (WMG Writer's Guide) (Volume 7) - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Indie Publishing movement of the past half-dozen years has changed the course of the publishing industry. Publishing books have become a lot easier thanks to eBooks, Amazon, and other Print-on-Demand (POD) publishers.  Would-be-novelists (like myself) that have tried to break into Traditional publishing have finally found an avenue to get their works out to readers that had not existed before.

 

As a result, there are quite a few guides on how to become a successful Indie Published Author. Of course, most writers are looking for the book or books that has the magic formula on how we can get lots of readers each time we publish a book and become rich as well.

 

Discoverability: Help Readers Find You In Today’s World Of Publishing by Kristine Kathryn Rusch will not give you the magic formula that writers want for a broad readership and enormous wealth.  However, Rusch’s four decades of a being writer (Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, and Romance), editor, and publisher dispenses sage advice on how an author can actually make a living in the Indie Publishing Industry.

 

This book began as a series of blog posts from the Business Rusch column on her website. Rusch decided to expand these blog posts into book format and updated some material that reflects the constant changes in the ever-evolving Indie Publishing movement.  She covered a wide range of topics that ranged from how things were done (and are still done) in traditional publishing, how to gain trust with readers, and how to have a business mindset as an author.  Rusch included her own experiences over the years that gave Discoverability a much-needed perspective amongst all the other how-to guides out there.

 

The biggest takeways I got from Discoverability were the importance of the good story/good cover/good blurb trifecta as fundamentals in trying to establish a career as an indie writer. Also, that most of Rusch’s advice is not for writers who have published only one or two books.  However, for those writers (like myself) who are at this stage of their writing career will want to re-read Discoverability as you put more product into the marketplace. Lastly, this nugget of wisdom summed it up:

 

“Readers and writers have the exact the same goal. We want to lose ourselves in a story that allowed them to leave their life for a while. Writers do too.”

 

Rusch reminded me in that quote why I became an avid-reader and now a published writer.  That quote was worth the price of the book.

 

Discoverability gets my highest recommendation and a must read for writers who want to develop a career and make a living in the Indie Publishing industry.

Readers and Writers

"Readers and Writers have the exact same goal. We want to lose ourselves in a story for a few hours. Readers like to share the story that allowed them to leave their life for awhile.  Writers do too."

 

(Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

Book Review of Paloma by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Paloma - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

How well do you know someone?

 

If you find out some damaging information about someone you admired and respected would that change your view of that person?

 

Is justice a zero-sum game?

 

These questions get answered in a surprising fashion from Paloma: Book 5 of the Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I have decided to read and review the entire series here on the website and I must write it has been an absolute pleasure following the adventures of Miles Flint, the Retrieval Artist and various characters that make up this series.

 

This novel opens up with a murder. Flint discovers the dead person is his mentor, Paloma.  Paloma taught him everything he needed to know in order to become a Retrieval Artist. Obviously, he takes her brutal death hard.

 

Moreover, Flint receives an inheritance from Paloma of some valuable items that include a ship and information about her past.  He reluctantly decides to dig into the information he received from the inheritance and learns that Paloma might not have been the woman he believed her to be.

 

Paloma’s family, led by her son, Justinian, wants the information Flint inherited and will do anything to get it.  The Retrieval Artist gets caught in the cross-hairs of Justinian’s determination to get his mother’s inheritance and the police’s investigation into her death. Flint finds out how blind justice can actually be now that he is on the other side of the law.

 

Paloma is my favorite book of the Retrieval Artist Series so far.  Rusch does another excellent job (as she has done on the previous books in the series) of combining a detective story within a science-fiction setting. The world building of this series has captivated me and fans of both the mystery and science fiction genres should add these books on their to-be-read list.

Consequences by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Consequences - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Miles Flint, a Retrieval Artist, was hired by a prominent couple on the moon colony of Armstrong to find their daughter who has become a Disappeared because of her political activities on several planets.

 

Flint retrieved the daughter and reunited her with the parents.  However, the reunion was not a happy one and short-lived.  They were murdered by an assassin that might be linked to the daughter’s political activities from her past.

 

Also, Flint has been implicated in the murders because of his contact with the family before their deaths.  Noelle DeRicci, his former partner on the Armstrong Police Force, has been investigating the murders and tries to come to grips with Flint’s involvement.

 

I can not give away anymore of the plot.  However, there are several twists and turns in this hybrid science fiction thriller that will keep you guessing as you turn the pages.  Consequences is book three of the Retrieval Artist Series and I will admit in this review, I’m hooked.

 

Rusch has created some wonderful characters in Miles Flint and Noelle DeRicci.  I have been drawn into their relationship since The Disappeared (Book 1) and into Extremes (Book 2).   Flint has grown into a top Retrieval Artist and learns that being a successful one means that your integrity and morality will always be tested. Meanwhile, DeRicci has grown as a detective and learns that the politics in her position can challenge her morality as well.

 

Moreover, the setting for the human and alien cultures are well-detailed, believable, and original.  Consequences will be one of my favorite reads of 2014 and I highly recommend reading it.  The good thing is the each book in the Retrieval Artist Series can be read as a standalone.  I would suggest that you start with The Disappeared to get the full history and background of the characters and the world created in the series.

Pentecost by J.F. Penn

Pentecost - J.F. Penn

What happens you read a novel that combines an Indiana Jones style of adventure with a well-detailed and chronicled history of early Christianity and mixed with a female protagonist that is a combination of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and Black Widow from the Avengers?

 

You get Pentecost by J.F. Penn!

 

J.F. Penn is a well-known public speaker and indie author of both fiction and non-fiction. I have been listening to her Creative Penn Podcasts quite a bit (which I highly recommend for self-published/indie authors) and decided I would try out one of her novels.

 

Pentecost is the first book in the Arkane Thriller series featuring Morgan Sierra, an academic in theology and psychology at Oxford University. She gets drawn into a plot where stones that where supposedly left by the twelve apostles of Jesus after their deaths are wanted by a madman named Joseph Everett.

 

Everett wants all the stones to help restore his mentally ill brother’s life. He has kidnapped Morgan Sierra’s sister, Faye and niece, Gemma as ransom in order to get the academic’s cooperation. Also, there are two religious organizations that also wants the stones and Morgan is caught in the middle of their machinations.

 

I will not give away anymore of the plot. However, I found Pentecost to be an enjoyable, action-filled page turning novel with some well researched history of early Christianity intertwined. Penn, who has a master’s degree in theology, knows her subject well and it came off quite believable in the novel.

 

Pentecost will be compared to books of Dan Brown because of the subjects that both authors are covering and written in the same genre. However, I hope there is a Morgan Sierra movie in the future to show how different she is from Robert Langdon.

 

J.F. Penn has written a solid, debut novel and I will be looking to reading the rest of the books in the Arkane series.

What Is The Book By A Popular Author That Surprised You In A Good Way?

I just posted this question on my blog and I want to share here.

Here's my answer:

I have a question: What is the book by a popular or well-known author that surprised you in a good way?

Bag of Bones by Stephen King is my answer to this question. For years, I had refused to read Stephen King. I don’t have a good reason why. I was a bookseller for several years in my 20′s and every time a new King novel was released I had decided in my mind not to read it.

A couple of years ago, I asked my readers to choose a novel for me to read and review in order to get me out of my comfort zone. You guessed it….Bag of Bones by Stephen King got the most votes.

Well, I had to hold up my end of the bargain and finally read a Stephen King novel. I must admit it was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised at King’s gifts as a storyteller and creating excellent characters.

Here's my review of Bag of Bones: http://marion-hill.com/book-review-22-stephen-kings-bag-of-bones/

What I have learned from this reading experience is to never prejudge a popular author until I have exactly read their work and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone helps to create a broader reader experience. And that’s what being a life-long reader is all about.

What is that book for you?

Marion

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin

Sometimes you just know a book is going to be good after reading the first few pages.

 

It is kind of like you know after an interview that you are going to get that job.  Or if you are dating someone for the first time and you know that there is potential for a relationship or even marriage. The initial impression can determine how things are going to be further down the road.

 

Well, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, passes the initial impression test with an “A.” The novel revolves around A.J. Fikry, a gruff, irascible bookstore owner of Island Books on Alice Island. It is the only bookstore on the island and business is not doing well.  Furthermore, Mr. Fikry’s wife just died recently.

 

Mr. Fikry sees a mysterious package in the bookstore one evening before closing. He opens the package to see a baby girl inside and decides he will take care of it. The relationship between the two is the main thrust of the novel.  But, there are some other characters like Amelia, the sales rep of Knightley Press and Lambaise, the police chief of Alice Island, that adds a lot of color to this delightful story.

 

Zevin does an excellent job of placing quotes from various books and grasping of how a mom-and-pop bookstore operates. Being a former bookseller myself, the novel brought back quite a few memories for me.

 

I enjoyed reading this wonderful, gentle novel of a bookstore owner’s transformation and a love letter to books and bookstores. The sign on the front door of the bookstore in the story, “No Man Is An Island, Every Book Is A World.” gives it a fitting tribute to the importance of books and bookstores to a community.

 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is one of my favorite reads of 2014 and will get my highest recommendation as a must read.  Bravo to Gabrielle Zevin for reminding us how the power of stories can truly shape one’s life.

Numb by John W. Otte

Numb - John W. Otte

What if you are numb to pain and feelings for a good portion of your life?  And all of sudden you begin to feel again and are not numb anymore?

 

Those two questions were answered in Numb by John W. Otte. Numb is the story of Crusader, an assassin trained by the Ministrix to kill heretics and others who come against the church and Isolda Westin, a woman whom the Ministrix wants dead.

 

It was considered an easy job for Crusader to hunt down Isolda and fulfill his duty for the church.  However, when he saw her face-to-face for the first time everything changed.  I will not give away anymore than that. I liked how the author developed these two characters and stayed away from becoming too sentimental and stereotypical in a science-fiction thriller like this one.

 

The author did a soild job in showing the uneasy truce between the two societies that are a part of the world of the novel.  The aforementioned Ministrix and the atheist society of the Praesidium both were vying for power in order to get the people of this world under control.  Otte gave an honest portrayal of how religion and ideology can corrupt both societies whether you believed in a higher power or not.

 

It seemed that the author wanted to highlight the theme of grace in the novel. While reading Numb, I thought of these words by Paul:  “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”  {1 Corinthians 15:10}  This first sentence of that verse of scripture from 1 Corinthians in the New Testament was something that both Crusader and Isolda would have to face in the story.

 

Do you give grace to those who have hurt you? Do you give grace to those who have gained power and manipulated those underneath them?  The author answered those questions in Numb and revealed the need for grace in our lives.

 

Numb is a Christian Science Fiction novel and it doesn’t shy away from that worldview in the story.  However, I would recommend it to science fiction fans who wants to read a solid, page-turning novel.

New Standards of Fiction List (Must Read Books For The Last 20 Years)

 

I posted a blog post about doing a New Standards of Fiction list.  I wanted this list to represent every genre for works published in the last 20 years.

I received quite a few responses and thanks to everyone who gave me their recommendations.

Here is the list {in alphabetical order}:

1) Black Echo by Michael Connelly: The first novel in the acclaimed Harry Bosch series.  This book is one that started it all and Michael Connelly is one of the best crime novelists writing today.

2) The Opposite of Art by Athol Dickson: This novel about a great artist’s spiritual conversion is one of the best books I’ve read in 2012. Dickson wrote an excellent novel about murder, love, relationships, and the collision of art and faith.

3) The Testament by John Grisham: This is one of the surprises on the list. Grisham’s novel about redemption, belief, and the consequences of wealth on a family is considered one of his best.  I agree.

4) A Soldier Of The Great War by Mark Helprin: Mark Helprin is one of our very best writers in modern fiction.  This novel about Alessandro Giuliani’s life is wonderfully told, beautifully written, and is vintage Helprin.

5) Bag of Bones by Stephen King: This is another surprise on the list. Many considered this novel as King’s most literary with his usual mixture of thrills and chills.

6) Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz: Well, if I have Stephen King on this list….I guess could not leave Dean Koontz off of it.  Odd Thomas is considered one of Koontz’s best characters is recent years and this book begins the Odd Series.

7) The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthyThis trilogy of All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities Of The Plain brought Cormac McCarthy out of obscurity and catapulted him into being considered one of American’s modern literary masters. The coming of age stories of two teenage ranchers from West Texas is unlike anything you have read.

8) White Butterfly by Walter Mosley: This is the third book in the Easy Rawlins mystery series set in 1950′s Los Angeles and takes readers into a world where most mystery novelists haven’t gone.  Mosley has created one of the most original characters in the mystery genre and the series explores race and crime in an honest and unique way.

9) Trophy Chase Trilogy by George Bryan Polivka: Polivka’s excellent trilogy{Legend of The FireFish, The Hand That Bears The Sword, & Battle For The Vast Dominion} about pirates, adventure, and faith given a freshness and originality to Christian Fantasy and Fantasy literature as a whole.

10) Night Watch by Terry Pratchett: The author of the voluminous Discworld novels has written what many have called his best book of the series yet.  Also, this novel is a good entry point for those of us who are new to Discworld.

11) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson:  A touching novel about fathers and sons told by a minister deals with spirituality and human nature in a profound way. This highly acclaimed novel is truly unforgettable.

12) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: Another surprise novel on this list. The story of future Jesuits being the first “missionaries” to make contact with the first sentient alien species discovered is intriguing to say the least. Russell has taken the “first contact” theme and added an original twist to it.

13) Lying Awake by Mark Salzman: This is a delightful but powerful little novel that reaches the depths of a woman’s soul, and in so doing raises important questions about the power of God and faith.

14) To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie WillisThis novel combines comedy, mystery, science-fiction, romance and time-travel into one delectable story.

15) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak:  This YA novel has been one of the most well-received novels in the last few years.  The story of a girl growing up in Nazi Germany and stealing books in order to learn how to read and survive has been a major hit with readers: adult and young adult.

 

 

Book Review of Extremes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Extremes - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

What happens when a rogue scientist decides she wants to kill an entire moon city with a virus in order to create her own version of a superhuman race? That question is the basic plot of Extremes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.  Extremes is the second novel in the multi-genre Retrieval Artist Series.

Miles Flint has become a retrieval artist after quitting the police force in the first book of the series, The DisappearedRetrieval Artists are basically intergalactic bounty hunters that track down people who have disappeared in order to escape punishment from the human-alien societies created in this series. Most retrieval artists usually work outside of the law. But, Flint’s background as a detective and his strong moral compass has caused him to be conflicted as he works on his first assignment as a retrieval artist.

He is chosen by a major law firm to investigate a former retrieval artist work on tracking this rogue scientist, Frieda Tey.  In the process, he comes across a murder at the moon marathon on the colony of Armstrong.  Flint finds out his work for the law firm and the murder are connected.  As a result, he meets up with his old partner, Noelle DeRicci, from the police force who is investigating the murder. The two work together to solve the case and begin to understand that there’s a new dynamic in their relationship now that Flint is a retrieval artist.

Extremes is another solid novel in the Retrieval Artist series that combines elements of traditional science-fiction and mystery into a genre gumbo I enjoyed reading.  Rusch is an old fashioned storyteller where characters and plot both work together to create a solid story.  No fancy or superfluous prose that distracts from the story.  This novel was refreshing to read and I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing Consequences, book three of the series.  Recommended.

 

Book Review of Cold Fire by Dean Koontz

Cold Fire - Dean Koontz

A little over a decade ago, I went on a Dean Koontz reading binge.  I read at least ten or eleven of his novels and I couldn’t get enough of them at that time.  However, my reading tastes has changed quite a bit over the years and I really didn’t have a desire to go back re-read any of his books.

Well, I looked on my bookshelf  a couple of weeks ago and saw I had a copy of Cold Fire. I must admit that Cold Fire is the one Koontz novel I have kept on my bookshelf since that reading binge. I don’t have a reason why I’ve kept that novel. But it was still there and I decided to give it a second reading.

Cold Fire is the story of Jim Ironheart, a mysterious man who has a supernatural ability to save random strangers from perilous life-altering events.  As a result, Jim has become an unlikely superhero.

One of his missions to Portland, Oregon, he has a chance encounter with Holly Thorne.  She’s a local reporter that was interviewing a teacher who recently published a book of poetry. Upon leaving the school, Holly sees Jim rescues a student from being hit by a truck. Jim treats the episode like a policeman or firefighter doing their job and Holly is taken by his modesty and self-effacing persona.

Afterwards, she decides to use her journalistic skills and track down this modern-day superhero.  Holly’s investigation into his background leads her to travel to Southern California and ends up becoming a part one of his missions.  By the end of that mission, Holly is convinced there is a lot more to discover about Ironheart.

Eventually, Holly persuades Jim to explore his past in order to find out about his supernatural ability and that’s where the painful memories of childhood, family abandonment, and the ability of books to create your own world comes into view.  By the end of novel, Jim faces up to those issues and learns where his gift actually came from.

Koontz’s strengths as a page-turning storyteller were on full display in Cold Fire.  He is a master at creating suspenseful scenes that makes you want to keep reading.  Also, Koontz has the ability to combine science fiction, fantasy, suspense/thriller, horror, and even aspects of spirituality into a genre gumbo of best-selling commercial fiction.  In this aspect, Koontz is similar to the musician, Sting.  Both men in their respective fields have taken various genres like a master chef would for a meal and use the right ingredients from each genre to create popular art that is uniquely their own.

After reading it for the second time, Cold Fire holds up surprisingly well. It will be the one Koontz novel that remains on my bookshelf.

Book Review of Gray Matters by Brett McCracken

Gray Matters - Brett McCracken

“Christians have a hard time with nuance, gray areas are not out strong suit.”

“Discernment is a tricky business, much more complicated than a checklist or matrix of black-and-white criteria. And it begins on the inside, with an awareness that while discernment is a virtue we should all aspire to, it doesn’t look exactly the same for all of us.”

“Legalism has tainted my generation so much that we don’t even want to go near rules or think in terms of “dos and dont’s.” In the process we’ve lost the idea that character and virtue matter.”

Those three quotes set the thematic scope for my latest book review, Gray Matters: Navigating The Space Between Legalism and Liberty by Brett McCracken. This is my first non-fiction book review for 2013 and I’m glad waited until now to review this important book.

McCracken makes the argument that we have gone from one side of the pendulum as legalists and separate ourselves from the culture to the other side of the pendulum as hedonists and accepting everything the culture has to offer. The author shows throughout the book that there is another route to take instead of those standby positions by having proper discernment and learning how navigate those nebulous areas in our lives.

Gray Matters is divided into four sections (Food, Music, Movies, and Alcohol) that covers an area where Christians have taken one of the aforementioned standby positions.  McCracken begins each section with a historical and biblical perspective on how Christians have dealt with those issues.  Then he offers guidance on how to become more discerning with these gray areas.

The most controversial section of the book is the Alcohol section.   Should Christians drink alcohol?  The author walks a fine line……like a dental floss line in this area but I appreciate the fact he didn’t shy away from its dangers and tried to present an objective view on probably one of the most scrutinized gray areas we could have as a believers and followers of Christ.

McCracken has written a much-needed and courageous book in Gray Matters. As Christians, we claim to believe that Christ has the right to speak into every area of lives, then we need to be honest with ourselves and learn how to deal with the gray areas in our culture.  The author skillfully shows its not about retreating from the world and waiting for the second coming.  Also, its not about accepting everything the culture provides and trying to prove you are not one of those stereotypical fundamentalist Christians.   But, it is about having good judgment and faith in Christ that he can guide you through all types of situations in your life.

Gray Matters is one of my favorite reads of the year and will get a highly recommended must read for Christians and even non-Christians who want to learn some principles on having discernment in their daily lives as well.

Bravo to Brett McCracken for being courageous and may this book create authentic dialogue amongst believers in the faith.

Book Review of The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Disappeared - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Has anybody ever read a science fiction mystery?

 

I must admit I love when authors combine genres in their books.  Dean Koontz is one of the masters of genre combining and twisting in his works. The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is the first novel I’ve read that combines a standard science fiction setting with a traditional detective story theme.

Private detective Miles Flint and his partner, Noelle DeRicci, have been assigned to solve a couple of cases where  people have disappeared from their alien captors in order to escape punishment alien justice style.

Rusch creates a believable world of human-alien interaction and adroitly reveals how a misunderstanding of moral and legal issues can cause an intergalactic diplomatic crisis. The price paid for that misunderstanding is very costly and could even effect one’s own children.

Flint and DeRicci are caught in the middle of several of those misunderstandings where a couple of alien races, The Wygnin and The Rev, are demanding that children be returned into their custody because of the crimes committed by their human guardians.  Both detectives believe the aliens may have bypassed human laws and are determined to keep the children with their parents. Also, an outlaw is on the run because she helped her human client avoid a prison sentence from one of those alien races.

What I liked about The Disappeared that it was a good old-fashioned story.  The beginning grabbed my attention and stayed with me until the end.  Rusch resolved the multiple storylines nicely and I got solid characterizations of Flint, DeRicci, and the aliens.

This is the first book in the Retrieval Artist Series and one of my best reads for 2013.  I’m looking forward to reading and reviewing the rest of the series for the blog in 2014.  Recommended.

Book Review of The Captives (Safe Lands #1) by Jill Williamson

Captives - Jill Williamson

What is freedom?

 

That question is the one that kept coming to mind as I read The Captives (Safe Lands Book 1) by Jill Williamson. It is a YA Dystopian novel and not a genre usually read. (However, I did read and review the wonderful Book Thief by Marcus Zusak last year.) This novel was recommended to me by a blogger and reader I trust and I’m thankful for her recommendation.

The Captives is set in a futuristic Colorado and revolves around a family that lives off the land in a village named Glenrock.  The family believes in Christianity and follows its values. However, one of the sons decide he’s had enough of the old ways and beliefs of his family and is determined to make a name for himself in Denver City.  Denver City is a modern utopia and has everything one wants especially for a teenager.

The son devises a plan to get his family to leave Glenrock and join him in Denver City.  However, the plan doesn’t go as expected and there are some disastrous results because of his choice.

While in Denver City, the family learns how the people of the city lives and is in stark contrast to how they lived in Glenrock.  Pleasure and Entertainment is the main lifestyle for people of the city.  Women are used as baby factories for the state and being in a committed relationship or marriage is considered outdated by the citizens.  The city decides on where you will work or what career path you must take and there is a harsh punishment for those who try to buck the system.

However, the eldest son of the family was not around when the rest of his kinfolk were taken into Denver City.  He decides he must go into the city in order to rescue them.  But, he learns quickly that once you come to Denver City it’s not that easy to leave.

Since this is the first book of the series, the author finishes the novel with a few open-ended questions that needs to be answered in the subsequent books of the series. Williamson has written a solid, thought-provoking YA novel that put a smile on this middle-aged reader’s face.  This is the one of the best novels I’ve read so far in 2013 and would recommend it for readers 14 and up.