Anomaly
by Krista McGee
The opening of
Anomaly grips you from the very beginning. Thalli has just over fifteen minutes left to live. Her whole life she has spent as an anomaly because she has feelings and curiosity. Thalli can't follow the rules, not because she intends to break them but because she isn't the same, she's malformed.
In a world where sameness is necessary to a productive, efficient society that is struggling to survive in post nuclear war Thalli is a threat! And threats must be annihilated for the good of the State.
But Thalli has a friend - Berk. But this is a forbidden friendship because friendships are based on emotions and emotions are what destroyed the world above. Can Berk and Thalli hide their friendship as Berk works to convince the Ten to spare her life and instead study her?
As Thalli struggles to understand her feelings she is confronted with different truths than she has been taught all her life. But whose truth should she believe? The strange man who speaks of the Designer? Berk? The scientists who saved their world?
Anomaly is a thought provoking look at a world where feelings have been removed from humanity for the betterment of humanity. But can lack of feelings truly make for a better world? Yes hatred and fear can drive some to the brink of war, but love and fear can also hold us back.
I think the saddest aspect of this book is the lack of family. Children of the State, created by and for the State. Children whose very existence is at the State's arbitrary will.
But where other YA titles have a similar theme most don't offer hope of something more. As Thalli says at the end of the prologue
Death is only the beginning, and
Anomaly will take you on a journey of discovery with Thalli as she discovers what this beginning is.
This title is perfect for teens who want a dystopian book that is clean reading.
The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review.
Book Description
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.
Decades before Thalli’s birth, the world ended in a nuclear war. But life went on deep underground, thanks to a handful of scientists known as The Ten. Since then, they have genetically engineered humans to be free from emotions in the hopes that war won’t threaten their lives again.
But Thalli was born with the ability to feel emotions and a sense of curiosity she can barely contain. She has survived so far thanks to her ability to hide those differences. But Thalli’s secret is discovered when she is overwhelmed by the emotion in an ancient piece of music.
She is quickly scheduled for annihilation, but her childhood friend, Berk, convinces The Ten to postpone her death and study her instead. While in the scientists’ Pod, Thalli and Berk form a dangerous alliance, one strictly forbidden by the constant surveillance in the pods.
As her life ticks away, she hears rumors of someone called the Designer—someone even more powerful than The Ten. What’s more, the parts of her that have always been an anomaly could in fact be part of a much larger plan. And the parts of her that she has always guarded could be the answer she’s been looking for all along.
Thalli must sort out what to believe and who she can trust, before her time runs out…
