Chrysalids book review

The book that I am going to do review on is called The Chrysalids, a book that is used as a English Literature text for Secondary 3. The story is set many years after the nuclear war which left many scars upon the earth and up till now, many parts are still devastated by it. Genetic mutation rates were then high due to the radiation from the blasts, causing mutations of all kind, from plants to animals to humans. David Strom, the son of Joseph Strom, who was a father of harsh religous views, was a telepath living in a land called Waknuk with his half cousin Rosalind, who is also a telepath. Wuknuk was a place that the people who were not mutated lived and they classify any form of mutation as a sin to God, therefore eradicating them. When David was young, he met a girl called Sophie Wender who was considered a blasphemy as she has 12 toes instead of the usual 10. Sophie was soon caught by David's father and has been sent to the fringes, the place where blasphemies and deviations thrive.Months later, David's mom soon gave birth to a baby girl, petra, which david found out six years later, when petra was about to drown in a river, that she also has the telepathy skill. It was smooth sailing for David and the other telepaths until Anne, another telepath, got married to Allen, a normal being who was shot in the neck when he tried to expose the secrets of the chrysalids six months later.Anne was also found dead in her own home. David's relationship with Rosalind grew through the years, but news soon broke out that some of the chrysalids( the telepaths) have been captured and the two, together with petra decided to leave Waknuk at night. Petra was then able to communicate a girl form what was known as the sealand and decided to follow her instructions. The hunt for them was on and so they fled all the way into the fringes, where David meets his old friend, Sophie Wender. Sophie decides to help them and provided concealment until the search was off. There, they would have to wait for a few hours before the sealand woman arrives to rescue them. However a battle soon started when the people of Waknuk attcked the fringes in full force. David's father was killed in the battle with an arrow shot by his blasphemy brother Gordon. Gordon was also killed soon after by multiple arrows. Sophie, who tried to escape, was killed after arrows shot through her arm and neck. Fortunately, the sealand woman arrived in her aircraft in time to stop the battle with web-like substances which paralyzes the living creatures below. The sealand rescued David and the other two, while michael, another chrysalid, decides to save katerine from her imprisonment instead.

I like this story as it is has a very develop plot with characters that are easy to identify due to their different personalities. The part with I would consider it to be the best would be when David, Rosalind and Petra were being tracked down by the inspector who wanted to know more about the chrysalids. The way the tension was building up made me felt like reading it till the end as it incites people to want to know what would become of them.

Although the story was a nice to read, I would say that some of us may not like it as it the language may prove difficult for some readers and others may not be able to infer the meaning from the story. There was no part of the book which I particulaly detested but I seriously quite hated Joseph Strom, the father of David Strom as he was too engross about the eradication of all blasphemies and deviations that drove humans like Sophie and even his son and daughter to the fringes even though they only had minor or undetectable genetic mutations in their bodies.

I personally would like to recomend this book to all avid readers out there who like a good plot with detailed characters as this book is one which a book lover would not miss.