Captives

 “I understand why you ask me to donate. But not why I should help. You killed my father, all the elders of my village. You claim to value life, yet you willingly destroyed it. And to clean up the mess you've made of your city, you ask me to reproduce with my friends and family. It's completely unacceptable.”

Book: Captives (The Safe Lands) by Jill Williamson, Zondervan Publishers, 2013

 

Genre: Futuristic/Science Fiction

Target Audience: Girls and Boys 18+

Subject: Euthanasia, Sex, Jealousy, Selective Genetics, Freedom, Forgiveness

Summary: Jealousy between brothers caused the first murder in the Garden of Eden and now it has caused the murder of many in the village of Glenrock. The people of the Safe Lands have a genetic fatal disease – every single person in the entire land has it. So for the people to survive, they need people without the disease. A jealous brother betrays his entire village in hopes of gaining power and popularity. So the elders are killed and the young are taken from their home to the Safe Lands. The men are asked to donate sperm to artificial insemination. In the meantime they can live the easy life, getting anything they want. The women are to become pregnant and live as queens, baby making machines that will never get to see and raise their children, but queens nonetheless. So should these prisoners accept their lot and join the Safe Lands community or should they seek the impossible and attempt an escape?

Notes:  This is the first in the Safe Lands series, a futuristic series on the issue of freedom – whether or not a person should deny themselves any desire and whether or not anyone has the right to force someone to help them. There is spiritual content in it, the characters do have a recognition of God, but it is a theistic view – they acknowledge God's existence and have religious ceremonies and such but don't look to Him for how to make decisions or for help in day to day struggles. Their engagement ceremony towards the beginning of the book and the wedding at the end both model a more involved God, just not the day to day life. Warning: This book is not appropriate for teenagers who have been sheltered at all. It deals with some very adult issues. Also, due to the issues dealt with in this book, it is not written as an enjoyable, entertaining reading, but rather than an intense, graphic look at a serious issue. If you would like more on this topic, check out The Center For Bioethics And Human Dignity, a Christian organization that helps people figure out how to respond to these sorts of subjects. 

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 2/5

Overall Quality Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Galatians 5:13 - You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Captives was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review as a part of the Team Novel Teen blog tour. Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about Captives by Jill Williamson by clicking on the links above, and click here for more information about Team Novel Teen.

 
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