Anomaly - by Krista McGee

Within the State, productivity is paramount.  To this end, emotions, curiosity, and relationships are not only frowned upon, but they have been mostly eradicated through DNA manipulation of the generations.  However, Thalli is considered an Anomaly; created to be her pod's musician, she pours all of her illicit emotions into her music.  The creators of the State, the Ten Scientists, watch Thalli closely, and when it becomes obvious through her reactions to an ancient piece of music that she cannot function within the confines of the State's rules, they schedule her for annihilation.  Removed from her Pod, with only her childhood friend Berk, now a promising Scientist, fighting for her survival, Thalli meets John who speaks to her about the Designer.  What is Thalli to believe now?  Is there more to life than the Scientists allow?  Is there a purpose to her "malformation"? Is there any hope for her to escape death?  Does she even want to, or is death really only the beginning?

I was very excited to get this book for review - I really enjoyed Krista McGee's first trilogy, First Date, Starring Me, and Right Where I Belong.  This book did not disappoint.  Although a departure from the author's initial genre, delving into dystopia, her characters are just as well developed, and her fictionally generated world draws the reader in, making it easy to imagine living in a world where the earth's surface has been eradicated and the only remaining civilization is contained underground.  Eerily possible, too, is a world where the Scientists controlling such a world have erased any emotion or connection to God.  Yet, even there, there is a remnant of God's faithful, a sole believer who has survived to teach others of His existence.  This portion of the story really drew me in - as Thalli not only had to learn of a God she never heard of, but also concepts like love and marriage that were foreign to her.

Although the levels of manipulation within the story toed the line of implausible, the story was still well done, and I enjoyed it very much.  I was excited to see that it's the first in a trilogy, but heavily disappointed to see that #2 isn't due out until next summer!

I give this book 4 stars, and I can't wait to see where Ms. McGee takes this story!

You can find Anomaly HERE.
You can find Krista McGee's blog HERE. (She's even doing an iPad Mini Giveaway right NOW!)

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishers, as part of their BookSneeze program, in exchange for my honest review.