Haven't done a blog tour book review for a while but the synopsis for Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer seemed interesting so I hopped on board.
What the book is about:
Broken Angel takes place in the not so distant future. A group of Christian fundamentalists have created a large colony in the Appalachians to seperate themselves from the evils (genetic modifications, abortion, etc...) of the world. And they're really seperated, no outside contact, impenetrable fences and all. Like many seemly good ideas taken too far Appalachia is not a fantastic place to live, literacy is outlawed for the protection of the citizens and Bar Elohim, the groups culty creepy leader can watch everything anyone does. Good times.
The story follows Caitlyn as she tries to escape Appalachia using the plan her father set in place for her before he was captured. She has to escape because the differences in her genetic makeup are becoming more pronounced as she gets older.
What I liked: This book has a cool premise and is a fun read. I found myself very interested in the world Sigmund Brouwer created and the characters were interesting. Also it was different from any other Christian fiction I've read and a fresh point of view is always good to see.
What I didn't like so much: I felt the book was too short, it barely touched on a lot of parts (like Bar Elohim...who's kind of a behind the scenes boogeyman who you keep expecting to...I dunno do something crazy) and in a way read more like a novella than a full novel to me.
I wish the book wasn't called Broken Angel. Come on people. It's kind of a spoiler to what would have been a really dramatic climax.
I still don't get completely why Caitlyn's dad took her to Appalachia in the first place. He knew she couldn't stay, so why bother? It wasn't explained as well as I would have liked.
All in all: A fun read. I would recommend it to people who like near future thrillerness, whether you're into Christian Literature or not.
Also, the cover design is pretty decent. Not terribly interesting, but well done.
