Saturday, July 25, 2009

"The Enclave" Book Review


This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

The Enclave

Bethany House (August 1, 2009)

by

Karen Hancock




MY REVIEW:

This is such a hard book to review. I love fantasy / speculative fiction and I love a good mystery, suspense as well. Put the two together and I am usually in 7th heaven! This time I ended the book just a little confused. It will be hard to explain without giving anything away, but I'll try.

In the first two chapters we are introduced to Lacey and Cameron. Cameron is a genius scientist with an emphasis in genetics and Lacey is the new intern at this amazing science facility Kendall-Jakes where the owner, Parker Swain, is trying to change the world. Everything is present day and starts getting edgy when a very odd stranger breaks into the facility and attempts to assault Lacey. Cameron helps her but then mysteriously the next day, Lacey is being told that what she thinks happened is just her delusions and she stands back as everything that happened is covered up.

In the next two chapters we are thrust forward as we enter "New Eden" and find a community of people that are living in a post-apocalyptic world underground. Here they are not allowed to go above ground because of the toxins and the Enforcers are given a third eye (literally). Zowan, Terra and Parthos are trying to make sense of life below the surface.

We switch back and forth between the two scenes every couple chapters and the whole time I'm trying to figure out what they are both doing in the same book. Cameron starts having flashbacks to his military days involving ancient things. He is hearing voices and Parker Swain is looking suspicious.

Karen ties it all together beautifully and really weaves an amazing story. It just went a little over the top for me with the ancient stuff (which I can't name), without that the story would've been great. That of course is just my opinion, but that is why I review for you :-)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Karen Hancock has won Christy Awards for each of her first four novels--Arena and the first three books in the Legends of the Guardian-King series, The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, and Shadow over Kiriath. She graduated from the University of Arizona with bachelor's degrees in biology and wildlife biology. Along with writing, she is a semi-professional watercolorist and has exhibited her work in a number of national juried shows. She and her family reside in Arizona.


ABOUT THE BOOK

When Lacey McHenry accepts a prestigious research fellowship at the world-renowned Kendell-Jakes Longevity Institute, she sees it as a new start on life. But a disturbing late-night encounter with an intruder leads to an unexpected cover-up by Institute authorities, and she soon realizes there's more going on than she ever imagined.

She finds a supporter in genetics researcher Cameron Reinhardt. However, Reinhardt is a favorite of the Institute's director, and she can't help wondering if he, too, is in on the cover-up. The brilliant but absentminded researcher turns out to have his own secrets, some of them dark and deadly. The Enclave is characterized by adventure, intrigue, spiritual analogy, and romance, all set in an unusual but fully realized world--one that may have its foundations on earth but which, the more one learns of it, doesn't seem much like the earth we know at all.

If you'd like to read the first chapter of The Enclave, go HERE

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