All Things Now Living By Rondi Bauer Olson 12/1

All Things Now Living
by Rondi Bauer Olson
Publisher: Written World Communications
ISBN: 978-1938679100

Having not read any books by this author before, and having my interest piqued about the idea of reading a Christian dystopian novel, I jumped at the chance to do a review of All Things Now Living thanks to Litfuse.

Summary:

Her whole life Amy has been taught the people of New Lithisle deserve to die, but when she falls for Daniel, she determines to save him.

Sixteen-year-old Amy doesn't like anything to die, she won't even eat the goats or chickens her mama has butchered every fall, but she can't let herself pity the inhabitants of New Lithisle. In a few short months the dome they built to isolate themselves from the deadly pandemic is predicted to collapse, but her whole life Amy has been taught it's God's will they die. They traded their souls for immunity to the swine flu virus, brought God's curse upon themselves by adding pig genes to their own.

Then, while on a scavenging trip with her father, Amy is accidentally trapped in New Lithisle. At first her only goal is to escape, but when she meets Daniel, a New Lithisle boy, she begins to question how less-than-human the people of New Lithisle are.

Amy's feelings grow even more conflicted when she learns she didn't end up in New Lithisle by mistake. Her father is secretly a sympathizer, and was trying to prevent the coming destruction.

Now time is running short and Amy has to decide if she will bring the computer program her father wrote to his contact or save herself. Installing the program could prevent the dome's collapse, but if Amy doesn't find her father's contact in time, she'll die, along with everyone else. 

My Review:

I knew that All Things Now Living would be different than most books I read these days. That being said, I used to read this type of novel as a young teen. I also like reading books that my kids and I can talk about as well as enjoy together. I like the idea of different genres of novels weaving in a Christian message.

For me, I really never got into the book. I was confused at a number of spots at the writing really isn't a style I like. Moreover I wasn't a fan of the main character, Amy basically falling for Daniel within about 3 seconds. It really rubbed me the wrong way with how fast they trusted and became reliant on each other. I liked the premise of the book, I just couldn't get into it.

That being said, I thought, "Well, let me ask my 14 yr old son to read it." the book is written for a young adult crowd and I figured, he's just as judgy as I am so if he doesn't like it either, then at least I've been validated by my 14 yr old. lol

He basically read it in a day and liked it. I kept pestering him because I figured he'd get to a point where, if I asked him at least one more time he'd finally say, "You know mom, I just don't like it." He never said that. Every time I asked him, "So, what do you think of the book?" he'd reply, "It's good." When he finished it I asked him one more time and his opinion hadn't changed. We did chat a little about how parts of it were confusing and he agreed that he was confused at times as well. He also liked the author's style of writing.

Looks like we found a book we don't quite agree on, but since I'm not the author's target audience and he is, I'm going to go with his opinion of the book. Therefore, if you have a teen my son would totally recommend this novel!

About the Author:

Rondi Bauer Olson is a reader and writer from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where she lives on a hobby farm with her husband, Kurt. She has four grown children, works as a nurse, and also owns a gift shop within view of beautiful Lake Superior.

Find out more about Rondi at http://rondibauerolson.weebly.com.