Review: Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman

Amazon Description

All It Takes Is One Night to Plunge the World into Darkness

Life in Abney, Texas, is predictable and safe—until the night a massive solar flare wipes out all modern technology.

Shelby Sparks, novelist and single mom, had one goal: to provide for her diabetic son. In the wake of this global disaster, her mission hasn't changed. Only now, medication is a priceless commodity and the future resembles an apocalyptic nightmare.

Max Berkman and Shelby were once sweethearts, but he lost his chance at claiming her love years ago. When the abrupt loss of power ushers him into a leadership role, he rises to the occasion. But his highest priority—to keep Shelby and her son safe—could prove to be the biggest challenge of all.

As the brilliant northern lights give way to deep shadows, Max and Shelby's faith will be tested like never before. Only one rule remains: Find a way to survive.

My Review

There is probably something wrong with me, but I’ve always had a fascination with this kind of end-of-the-world fiction. I suspect it started with authors like John Christopher and Jack Wyndham, not to mention the dystopian novels I can’t even remember the titles of.

In the late 1990’s I came across a modern Christian version set in the English town of Ampthill—After the Fire by John Lockley. Most of the population had been killed off by some plague, and the village had enough old technology that the survivors adapted without too much difficulty (England. It’s full of old technology).

Although the survivors had banded together to beat the odds, natural human selfishness eventually shone through and the end was somewhat bleak. The lasting theme seemed to be that the more things change, the more they stay the same and that our only hope was eternal (yes, it had an excellent Christian theme running through it).

Several years later, I started reading Terri Blackstock’s Restoration series, set in the USA. I couldn’t get past the first book. My basic problem was that the novel didn’t seem realistic. People were nice (except for one stupid woman, who I thought/hoped was going to be killed off and then realized she was the central character. Oops). No one got sick. No one died. And there was plenty to eat and drink, which seemed ridiculous considering they were living in a built-up area with no produce available (in contrast to Lockley’s characters, who almost starved while waiting for the wheat harvest to ripen).

So I was a nervous combination of anticipatory and apprehensive when I started Deep Shadows. Which way was it going to go? Thankfully, it veered more towards the Lockley version, although it’s set in Texas which means everyone is armed to the teeth and not afraid to defend themselves. Which is a pretty scary thought.

The plot was excellent—the idea of a solar flare knocking out all the electricity is scarily likely, as Chapman explains in the back of the book. (I confess: I did get distracted, wondering how long it would take our local power company to take the electrical grid off the modern computers and back to however they did it when our first local hydroelectric power station opened in 1915. I refuse to ponder what a diet of kiwifruit—our biggest local crop—would do to us).

The characters were also excellent, especially Shelby and her insulin-dependent teenage son. Deep Shadows didn’t have as much Christian content as I’d perhaps expected based on her previous novels, but it was still good—and this is the beginning of a series, so the focus was more on setting up the story, and initial character development. The writing was certainly everything I expect from a Vannetta Chapman novel, although the genre is a departure from her more typical Amish romance and mysteries.

Overall, a great novel that kept me reading well past bedtime. I’ll definitely be looking out for the next book in the series—I’ll just make a point of starting it in the morning.

Thanks to Harvest House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can read the opening below, and you can find out more about Vannetta Chapman at her website, http://vannettachapman.com/.

Review: Anomoly by Krista McGee

Seventeen-year-old Thalli has been scheduled for annihilation. She is the Musician for her pod, her group of peers, and she feels emotions, something the post-apocalyptic society she lives in has attempted to remove through genetic engineering. Berk, her childhood friend, is now a Scientist and persuades his colleagues to save her for study. She is given a reprieve, but as the experiments start, she soon starts to wonder what is real and what is not. 

Krista McGee’s last three books were contemporary YA chick-lit romances, stories of young women finding God and finding love in the hot-house of reality television (so perhaps they were actually fantasy?). Anomaly is YA Christian sci-fi, which is both a dramatic departure from her earlier books, and a small but growing niche in Christian fiction. That was a surprise: not only that an author with a following in YA romance would move into such a different genre, but that she’d do it so well. This is good. Really good. Read-in-one-sitting good.

Anomaly has similarities to many other sci-fi classics I read as a teenager or as an adult (most of which I can’t remember the names of but The Giver, TV shows such as Jeramiah, and movies like Logan's Run do spring to mind). Anomaly paid homage to some of these classics with its post-apocalyptic emotionless society living deep in the mountains of Colorado, a society that assigns children into roles at birth and terminates those who don’t fit in. It has a definite Christian take on that future society, from John as the remnant to the concept of a Designer.

It wasn’t perfect: I do have some questions, like why a small science-driven society that genetically engineers people to serve a specific purpose saw the need for a Musician, and how John’s son has such different values and beliefs to those of his parents. But these are small niggles. The sequel (Luminary) is due out in January 2014, and I’ll be looking forward to it.

Recommended for those who enjoyed books like The Giver and The Hunger Games. Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Krista McGee at her website.

Review: Sneak by Evan Angler

Sneak follows Logan Langley in his search for his sister, Lily, after she disappeared during her Pledge five years ago. In Swipe, the first book in this series, Logan is coming up to the age where he must Pledge and receive the Mark. But he is drawn into the world of the Markless and the Dust and, with the help of Erin, manages to escape his own Pledge. Now he is on the run from DOME (the Department of Marked Emergencies) as he attempts to find his way to Beacon City, where he believes Lily is being held.

Sneak is apocalyptic Christian fiction. As Christians, we can recognise that the Mark is the Mark of the Beast spoken about in Revelation, and that prophesied the one world government is about to be formed. But this is a world where religion has been outlawed, and owning a Bible—especially as a Markless person—is grounds for a prison sentence.

Although the author gives a brief reminder of what happened in Swipe, the early part of Sneak is still a little confusing due to the number of characters. But I quickly remembered who was who and settled into the story. It’s written in omniscient viewpoint, which can sometimes feel distant, but the author has a real talent for bringing the reader right into the story.

It’s fast-paced and well written, with both a clear closure of this story and a clear lead-in to the next instalment (which is very good, because I really don’t like cliffhanger endings). Sneak doesn’t have any supernatural elements, rather it is a solid adventure story based on an imagining of the events predicted in Revelation. It’s written for ages 9 and up, but is a good read for any age. Recommended.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Booksneeze® for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Evan Angler at his website.

Review: Evan Burl and the Falling by Justin Blaney

Evan Burl, age fifteen, is the oldest of a group of orphans who live and work in the isolated castle of Dǣmanhur under the brutal supervision of Uncle Mązol and his goons, Ballard and Yesler. The orphans are always hungry, are punished severely for breaking the rules, and are forced to work from sunup to sundown. A mysterious message in the Book predicts that Evan will become an evil sapient when he turns sixteen, and that he cannot be turned from his destiny.

Each chapter of Evan Burl and the Falling begins with a header specifying how long until the mysterious 'Falling'. This is important to note, as the story moves back and forward in time. I think this was meant to be a literary device to enhance suspense. Personally, I found it irritating. One flashback is one thing, but this felt more like telling a story in two timelines at once.

One of the skills in writing a novel in a sci fi, fantasy or speculative genre is to ensure that the reader is provided with the information they need to understand the plot at the right time. Sometimes Evan Burl managed this; sometimes it did not. And the fantasy world has to present a consistent illusion of reality to the reader. Including items like French doors broke this illusion, because they are part of our world, and Evan is not.

The other thing I found annoying was the spelling. Many of the names had little curlicues (e.g. Peąrl, sąpience, which I hope display properly on your screen). On the Kindle, the strange letters are merely annoying. But reading the epub version of the book on my Kobo was impossible, because the file conversion process had changed all the strange letters to boxes, rendering it almost unreadable.

It takes a while for the story to really gain its stride--at first, it seems as though it is trying too hard, with the melodramatic evil uncle, the punishments and the affected spelling of character's names. But once it settle in and gains pace, it improves… only to finish with a ‘to be continued’ cliffhanger ending, with no resolution to any of the questions raised. What are the orphans manufacturing? What is the ‘falling’? Where did the orphans come from? Is Evan really evil?

Evan Burl and the Falling could be the start of something good. But it finished too soon and left too many unanswered questions for my liking. I personally prefer each book in a series to have a partial resolution that gives more clues about the final climax, which completes the overall story arc.

Thanks to Inklis Marketing for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Swipe by Evan Angler

Swipeis set in a technologically advanced near-future dystopia, in which all those over the age of thirteen Pledge their allegiance to the unified world government and receive the Mark, which enables them to vote, purchase goods, hold a job and a range of other ‘privileges’. The Markless, those who have chosen not to Pledge, are forced to survive on the edges of society.

Logan Langley will soon turn thirteen and take his Pledge. Most kids his age are excited, but he is nervous – his older sister, Lily, never returned from her Pledge, and he has had the feeling he is being watched ever since. As a result, he feels increasingly isolated at school, although the new girl, Erin, catches his interest. Although she is already Marked, she resents her new home, a result of her father’s promotion. He does Government work – for the Department of Marked Emergencies (DOME), who control the Mark programme and associated problems. Little do Logan and Erin know that their combined problems are about to bring them together…

As dystopian fiction, Swipeplays homage to authors such as John Wyndham. John Christopher and Lois Lowry, as well as the more obvious similarities to the Left Behind series based on their common base in the Mark of the Beast prophesied in St. John’s Revelation. Swipe’s futuristic world is well-imagined, with a combination of the new, the familiar and the adapted (e.g. the children playing rock-tablet-laser instead of rock-scissor-paper). I found that the early development of the world of the Marked detracts from the development of the characters and the plot, but the book improved and picked up pace as the story progressed.

Swipehas been described as “the Christian alternative to The Hunger Games.”

It isn’t.

Although I have purchased The Hunger Games trilogy, I have yet to read it (long story). But I know it is clearly aimed at a teenage (Young Adult) audience, both in terms of the themes and the age of the main characters. Logan, the central character in Swipe, is just twelve, which suggests its target audience is younger (Middle Grade). My view is that the level of peril is just too low to attract the typical teenager, although future books may well ‘grow’ with the reader, as the Harry Potter books did.

Overall, Swipeis a good read, set in a world where there is no war, no conflict and no religion. It’s a sound debut novel in a popular genre. Readable, interesting even, but not original or memorable like the dystopian fiction I read as a teen.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.