Anomaly/Krista McGee I feel like I may have really enjoyed this book if it hadn't been so religious. However, the religious aspect was too simplistic and really ruined this book for me.
 
I love religion in that I love discussing it and how it makes people think. I love reading about people debating their faith and coming to terms with it. I love hearing different perspectives. In Anamoly, Thalli has religion introduced to her and decides to just blindly follow it. While a lot of religion is blindly following, it just felt so insincere and indoctrinating to me. I can see her forming her own version of faith, but going straight into believing specifically in God and Jesus and Christianity? I didn't buy it. Religion is very complex and McGee really dumbs it down.
 
The premise of this book was really interesting; however, we didn't see very much of it. I was really fascinated by how someone might act as a regular human being surrounded by people with no emotions. Instead, we just see Thalli being put through various scenarios, basically alone.
 
I loved the idea of how Thalli and Berk formed a connection, but I didn't feel it. She obviously has a desire for an emotional connection as shown by Stone but I don't think that this was particularly for Berk. I feel like Thalli could have been interested in anyone who walked her way.
 
The best chapter was the epilogue. That was an intriguing chapter. But I'm definitely not going to continue this series; I already can tell that the Designer will fix any problems that come.
 
Oh, and spoiler: she has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds to live at the END of the book. Which kind of ruined the premise, too.
 
If you're extremely Christian and religious, you might enjoy this; however, I had to skim the second half of the book to get through it. I was very disappointed. ( )

I, like some other readers, got this as a KDD. The premise was appealing and YA dystopian novels are among my favorites.

The first quarter of the book was ok. It was a bit rigid and the characters a bit lifeless, but nothing that could not be reasonably explained away by the context. I am a completionist though, and held out hope for the book... until it got extraordinarily and (for me) unexpectedly preachy. I am not religious myself, but I am sometimes ok with books with religious undertones or plot lines. This felt more like propaganda, and I found I could not push through it. Perhaps others may find this much more to their liking, but for me, Anomaly will remain on my "did not finish" shelf.

* Cross-posted to Amazon.com. ( )

There's a thing I think of as religious myopia. It means that a person can only see the world through certain lenses. Call them Bible glasses, if you like. This book was written for people wearing Bible glasses. It's just about possible to enjoy it if you don't suffer from religious myopia and wear Bible glasses, but only just.

And the thing is, it would have worked without the religious distortion and been much more enjoyable for a general audience. The writing was good, the world-building convincing and the story believable and intriguing, but the distortion caused by the Bible glasses made it difficult to take seriously. A pity. ( )

Anomaly ( )

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