leahegood's review
4.0
I'll start this review by saying that, while I enjoyed this book, I do not recommend it to everyone. More specifically, I DON'T recommend it to kids and younger teenagers. I DO recommend it for older teens. Keep reading for an explanation.
The themes presented in this book are excellent. The main characters are kidnapped into a society that pretty much embodies all the worldly selfishness currently destroying our country. I loved the moral courage shown by Levi, Mason and Shaylinn in standing up against the self-serving draw of the world they are thrust into. The book never even thinks about becoming preachy, yet the call to be set-apart from the world and follow God rather than ease is clearly expressed. It can be read simply for entertainment, but if you take the time to think about the implications of the characters actions, there are many lessons to be learned.
The reason I don't recommend it to younger readers is because of some of the subject material. The main characters--all citizens of Glenrock--are kidnapped into this culture--the Safe Lands--because the population is being killed off by an illness called the thinning disease (I think it's sort of like AIDS). Because the citizens of Glenrock don't have the disease, the Safe Landers are wanted to produce babies. Because this is central to the story, reproductive processes are at the forefront of many scenes. While the author handles the topic tastefully, that's why I recommend this book for older teens only.
If you are an older teen and are okay with that type of subject matter, this is a great, thought provoking, and entertaining story and I recommend it. I know I'll be buying book two when it comes out.
The themes presented in this book are excellent. The main characters are kidnapped into a society that pretty much embodies all the worldly selfishness currently destroying our country. I loved the moral courage shown by Levi, Mason and Shaylinn in standing up against the self-serving draw of the world they are thrust into. The book never even thinks about becoming preachy, yet the call to be set-apart from the world and follow God rather than ease is clearly expressed. It can be read simply for entertainment, but if you take the time to think about the implications of the characters actions, there are many lessons to be learned.
The reason I don't recommend it to younger readers is because of some of the subject material. The main characters--all citizens of Glenrock--are kidnapped into this culture--the Safe Lands--because the population is being killed off by an illness called the thinning disease (I think it's sort of like AIDS). Because the citizens of Glenrock don't have the disease, the Safe Landers are wanted to produce babies. Because this is central to the story, reproductive processes are at the forefront of many scenes. While the author handles the topic tastefully, that's why I recommend this book for older teens only.
If you are an older teen and are okay with that type of subject matter, this is a great, thought provoking, and entertaining story and I recommend it. I know I'll be buying book two when it comes out.
juliebihn's review
4.0
It took me around 50 pages to get into it, but once I was finally able to suspend my disbelief (which is still there; just hidden) it was an interesting and entertaining read.
Full review at http://kinynchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-captives-by-jill-williamson.html
Full review at http://kinynchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-captives-by-jill-williamson.html
kittlyn's review
4.0
It's a YA Dystopian (much to my delight), and it's definitely a new genre from Jill. Just let me start off by saying, it is absolutely AMAZING. The characters are delightful. And it's Christian! Perfect, right?
Okay, so it's based off of the book of Daniel (from the Bible, yes). There's a video about where she got the idea from. And it's incredible. I mean, to take inspiration from one of the most famous stories in the Bible, set it in a future world that's like a cross from Uglies (by Scott Westserfeld) and Hunger Games (If you don't know who wrote this series, shame on you) is pure genius!
For me, this story made me think. How would I react to being snatched from my very home, forced to live with and around people who treated me as nothing more than their golden ticket to healthy humanity? Would I be as calm as these characters were? Would I have enough trust in God and the one or two guys that weren't taken to save me and what was left of my friends and family? The truth is, probably not.
I mean, think about it. These are teens and young adults. They were just captured by people who hadn't bothered them before, but still treated them as if they were the ones who were sick. I'd be pulling a Naomi around those people. They call me shell and I pour sweet, acidy sarcasm all over their dried up corpses. "Well, excuse you. I'm not the one who looks like dry desert dirt painted to portray an Easter egg, thankyouverymuch."
I'd also most likely be killed.
But, hey, at least I'd have told them, right?
This is getting off topic. I have too many good things to say about this and I'm about to just tell y'all what happens if I don't shut up. So, moving on.
I didn't like that there was so much from Omar's point of view. I mean, I get that it's what was needed. She had to show us what it was like in the Safe Lands, and not just . . . I wonder if that counts as spoilers. Meh. I just didn't like that there was a pretty big gap of Mason. I had a bond with Mason before I even opened the book, and it's totally not because Bethany told me I would. I'm not sure why, because he's not the eldest (Levi is). But I'm not sure if he's the youngest or the middle child. I don't think it was ever specified. And if it was, I'll feel really stupid.
I felt bad for Omar, because he seemed to be really messed up in the head. But I didn't really care much for him. I just couldn't make myself like him much. I couldn't really like Levi much either. Or their father. He was emotionally abusive. I didn't feel bad at all when *Censored for spoilers*
So, yeah. It was great. There's even a bi-polar lady. Okay, so she's probably not bi-polar, but she acts like it sometimes. I ship her and Mason. *wink* I'm always shipping crazy people with sane people. It's a lot of fun.
Okay, this post is getting long. I've lost half of y'all, haven't I? I'M SORRY I RAMBLE.
Anywaaaaaaay . . .
I give this 4.5 stars. The only thing that really bothered me was the lack of more Mason. I'm going to end this here by saying you need to get it.
Okay, so it's based off of the book of Daniel (from the Bible, yes). There's a video about where she got the idea from. And it's incredible. I mean, to take inspiration from one of the most famous stories in the Bible, set it in a future world that's like a cross from Uglies (by Scott Westserfeld) and Hunger Games (If you don't know who wrote this series, shame on you) is pure genius!
For me, this story made me think. How would I react to being snatched from my very home, forced to live with and around people who treated me as nothing more than their golden ticket to healthy humanity? Would I be as calm as these characters were? Would I have enough trust in God and the one or two guys that weren't taken to save me and what was left of my friends and family? The truth is, probably not.
I mean, think about it. These are teens and young adults. They were just captured by people who hadn't bothered them before, but still treated them as if they were the ones who were sick. I'd be pulling a Naomi around those people. They call me shell and I pour sweet, acidy sarcasm all over their dried up corpses. "Well, excuse you. I'm not the one who looks like dry desert dirt painted to portray an Easter egg, thankyouverymuch."
I'd also most likely be killed.
But, hey, at least I'd have told them, right?
This is getting off topic. I have too many good things to say about this and I'm about to just tell y'all what happens if I don't shut up. So, moving on.
I didn't like that there was so much from Omar's point of view. I mean, I get that it's what was needed. She had to show us what it was like in the Safe Lands, and not just . . . I wonder if that counts as spoilers. Meh. I just didn't like that there was a pretty big gap of Mason. I had a bond with Mason before I even opened the book, and it's totally not because Bethany told me I would. I'm not sure why, because he's not the eldest (Levi is). But I'm not sure if he's the youngest or the middle child. I don't think it was ever specified. And if it was, I'll feel really stupid.
I felt bad for Omar, because he seemed to be really messed up in the head. But I didn't really care much for him. I just couldn't make myself like him much. I couldn't really like Levi much either. Or their father. He was emotionally abusive. I didn't feel bad at all when *Censored for spoilers*
So, yeah. It was great. There's even a bi-polar lady. Okay, so she's probably not bi-polar, but she acts like it sometimes. I ship her and Mason. *wink* I'm always shipping crazy people with sane people. It's a lot of fun.
Okay, this post is getting long. I've lost half of y'all, haven't I? I'M SORRY I RAMBLE.
Anywaaaaaaay . . .
I give this 4.5 stars. The only thing that really bothered me was the lack of more Mason. I'm going to end this here by saying you need to get it.
katemarie99's review
5.0
Good things:
-Omar
-openly discussing the issue of masculinity (when it's toxic, when guys are shamed for not being "man enough")
-um Omar
-worldbuilding and lingo done really well
-OMAR
-the clubs, the vibes
-Zane and Red
-still Omar tbh
-he is babey and he's doing his freaking best okay
-just,,, genuine and heartfelt and GRITTY AF tbh in its willingness to tackle issues with nuance and avoiding judgement (like the fact that Red and Zane are cool people even though they fundamentally disagree with people like Levi who judge them for their "loose morals" and the fact that Omar is still amazing even after doing drugs and having sex)
-Mason being confused 1000% of the time
-Ciddah has a CRUUUUUSH and it's so cute
Bad things:
-Levi
-Jordan gets funny later in the series but I hate him in this book
-Jemma is too sickly sweet to exist
-beginning is kinda slow every time
-why is everyone a jerk to Omar
-FREAKING LEVI
-abusive father gets a free pass (according to LEVI)
-everyone's gross loyalty to Levi
-Omar
-openly discussing the issue of masculinity (when it's toxic, when guys are shamed for not being "man enough")
-um Omar
-worldbuilding and lingo done really well
-OMAR
-the clubs, the vibes
-Zane and Red
-still Omar tbh
-he is babey and he's doing his freaking best okay
-just,,, genuine and heartfelt and GRITTY AF tbh in its willingness to tackle issues with nuance and avoiding judgement (like the fact that Red and Zane are cool people even though they fundamentally disagree with people like Levi who judge them for their "loose morals" and the fact that Omar is still amazing even after doing drugs and having sex)
-Mason being confused 1000% of the time
-Ciddah has a CRUUUUUSH and it's so cute
Bad things:
-Levi
-Jordan gets funny later in the series but I hate him in this book
-Jemma is too sickly sweet to exist
-beginning is kinda slow every time
-why is everyone a jerk to Omar
-FREAKING LEVI
-abusive father gets a free pass (according to LEVI)
-everyone's gross loyalty to Levi
lazygal's review
3.0
I know Zondervan publishes a lot of religious books, or perhaps "books with a certain slant" is a better way of phrasing that. So I was a little apprehensive starting this dystopian book that takes place in the west (what we formerly called Colorado). There are outlier communities held together by faith and hard work, and the Safe Lands where the population is addicted to stims and PVs and technology - we move between them for a while until, thanks to misfit Omar, the Safe Landers capture many of the members of his village and forcibly bring them to the Safe Lands.
The problem is the thin plague, which vaguely sounds like AIDS and has rendered the population not quite sterile, but not able to procreate either. The reason for the capture is that there is a need for non-infected people to help with this problem, either as donors (males) or surrogates (females). And that's where the Christian message comes in: people having sex without marriage, surrogacy, etc. are all part of the Safe Lands lives and are ethically, morally wrong (as the villager see it). While the message isn't overly heavy, it's not subtle either.
Had the world building been a little better, this might have been a better read, but because there's a Message here it probably was less important than bringing that Message to the forefront.
The problem is the thin plague, which vaguely sounds like AIDS and has rendered the population not quite sterile, but not able to procreate either. The reason for the capture is that there is a need for non-infected people to help with this problem, either as donors (males) or surrogates (females). And that's where the Christian message comes in: people having sex without marriage, surrogacy, etc. are all part of the Safe Lands lives and are ethically, morally wrong (as the villager see it). While the message isn't overly heavy, it's not subtle either.
Had the world building been a little better, this might have been a better read, but because there's a Message here it probably was less important than bringing that Message to the forefront.
faiththompson416's review
3.0
I enjoyed this one, really. I just never...quite...connected with all the characters as much as I was hoping, probably because there were so many of them. This is definitely the first in a series and I'd be interested to read the sequels, but I don't know when.
jessicadennett's review
3.0
Captives –
So from what I understand (and correct me if I’m completely wrong) this is a dystopian retelling of the book of Daniel from the bible. As I have not read the book of Daniel I will not be discussing it’s adaptation to dystopian and will only discuss this book as its own story. But I do feel like it’s a really great idea to get a bible story and the morals from the story into the hands of readers like myself who may have not read the bible.
So this story follows three brothers who have lived on the outside of the safe lands in a sort of village, the safe lands is a big city which is riddled with a plague and there hasn’t been a baby born in the safe lands in three years as all pregnant women are too sick to take their pregnancy to full term. The residents of the brother’s village however have not been effected by this plague and live happily and peacefully until they are kidnapped by the safe lands for the women to be used as surrogates and the men as donors.
I think the worst part (emotionally ) of this world was that once these women have been taken from their homes and forced to become pregnant with a man’s baby that they don’t love or care for or in some cases have even met. Their babies are immediately taken away from them as they are deemed babies of the safe lands not of the mothers. I found these scenes absolutely heartbreaking and so hard to read.
I did not enjoy some of the brother’s points of view as is switched from one to the others, as I loved Mason’s parts but he didn’t really get a lot of the book while his brother Omar got a lot of sections and I really didn’t like him at all.
Through the first half of this book I was so bored and annoyed because I wanted to love it but as soon as I got past page 200 and the action started happening it was really enjoyable, so if you’ve got the patience to last through to that far it does get better. I loved the romance between Levi and Jemma but I thought the other two’s romances weren’t very good. They both swept from girl to girl as one minute you think Mason might like Shaylieen then in the next few pages he’s over her and is gushing about someone else. The same thing happens with Omar who is 14 I think and so obsessed with finding a wife that it gets boring listening to it as I don’t understand why at 14 a wife would even be something you were worried about. So I have this book 3 stars and while it was a good read I’d definitely check out Jill Williamsons other book ; the new recruit before this one because I just enjoyed that one so much more!
So from what I understand (and correct me if I’m completely wrong) this is a dystopian retelling of the book of Daniel from the bible. As I have not read the book of Daniel I will not be discussing it’s adaptation to dystopian and will only discuss this book as its own story. But I do feel like it’s a really great idea to get a bible story and the morals from the story into the hands of readers like myself who may have not read the bible.
So this story follows three brothers who have lived on the outside of the safe lands in a sort of village, the safe lands is a big city which is riddled with a plague and there hasn’t been a baby born in the safe lands in three years as all pregnant women are too sick to take their pregnancy to full term. The residents of the brother’s village however have not been effected by this plague and live happily and peacefully until they are kidnapped by the safe lands for the women to be used as surrogates and the men as donors.
I think the worst part (emotionally ) of this world was that once these women have been taken from their homes and forced to become pregnant with a man’s baby that they don’t love or care for or in some cases have even met. Their babies are immediately taken away from them as they are deemed babies of the safe lands not of the mothers. I found these scenes absolutely heartbreaking and so hard to read.
I did not enjoy some of the brother’s points of view as is switched from one to the others, as I loved Mason’s parts but he didn’t really get a lot of the book while his brother Omar got a lot of sections and I really didn’t like him at all.
Through the first half of this book I was so bored and annoyed because I wanted to love it but as soon as I got past page 200 and the action started happening it was really enjoyable, so if you’ve got the patience to last through to that far it does get better. I loved the romance between Levi and Jemma but I thought the other two’s romances weren’t very good. They both swept from girl to girl as one minute you think Mason might like Shaylieen then in the next few pages he’s over her and is gushing about someone else. The same thing happens with Omar who is 14 I think and so obsessed with finding a wife that it gets boring listening to it as I don’t understand why at 14 a wife would even be something you were worried about. So I have this book 3 stars and while it was a good read I’d definitely check out Jill Williamsons other book ; the new recruit before this one because I just enjoyed that one so much more!
angelwolf45's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book.
This is about 3 brothers who live in a world that was decimated by this plague, that was air borne then went in to the water to infect people. There is a walled off city called the safe lands where people thought would protect them from the plague until it unfortunately got in the walls. The village that these brothers live is not affected by the plague. One brother decides that he is going to help the people inside the safe lands by bringing his village into the walls. There they see that the thin plague, as they call it, and learn what the people of the city are trying to heal from.
This book was so fun and entertaining to read. I liked how they were learning that the thin plague works and the one brother is trying to help in the medical building.
The characters were great and I liked seeing how they looked at the plague and trying to figure out different ways to find a cure or a way to re-populate with people being born that do not have the plague.
There was a lot of unique technology within this book and it was interesting how each were to be used. It was interesting to see that there were some that were not caring about life much because they feel like they were going to die so why care what happens to them. Those with the plague were dying a slow death so because they don't see a cure coming they would just rather do fun things because they won't live long.
I really liked this book and I wish I had the next ones in the series because I just want to know what happens after the first book.
This is about 3 brothers who live in a world that was decimated by this plague, that was air borne then went in to the water to infect people. There is a walled off city called the safe lands where people thought would protect them from the plague until it unfortunately got in the walls. The village that these brothers live is not affected by the plague. One brother decides that he is going to help the people inside the safe lands by bringing his village into the walls. There they see that the thin plague, as they call it, and learn what the people of the city are trying to heal from.
This book was so fun and entertaining to read. I liked how they were learning that the thin plague works and the one brother is trying to help in the medical building.
The characters were great and I liked seeing how they looked at the plague and trying to figure out different ways to find a cure or a way to re-populate with people being born that do not have the plague.
There was a lot of unique technology within this book and it was interesting how each were to be used. It was interesting to see that there were some that were not caring about life much because they feel like they were going to die so why care what happens to them. Those with the plague were dying a slow death so because they don't see a cure coming they would just rather do fun things because they won't live long.
I really liked this book and I wish I had the next ones in the series because I just want to know what happens after the first book.
nairam1173's review
Between a 3 and 4 on this one.
Started out a bit slow for me, but it had interesting concepts and characters that pulled me through it. A bit confused on what I guess is some of the worldbuilding? Mainly, why in a society where creating healthy babies is so important, the healthy people where let to live on such a long leash that would allowed them to become infected. It just seemed a bit odd to me. Similarly, why any number of Xs would actually get a healthy person killed.
The Christian element wavered between well-placed in the story to feeling a little obvious or added in. This was not a huge complaint of mine. I liked the fact that the towns outside the city had varying religions.
There's some obvious but mostly tasteful sexual references which makes me a bit unsure of the age category intended. It makes me guess later teens, while when I originally started the book I assumed teens in general.
I've purchased the next book because I'm interested in where the story is going. Withholding some of my other confusion on worldbuilding (like almost anything to do with Wyoming), since this is an obvious series. I did like this book better than Replication, and Mason is great.
Started out a bit slow for me, but it had interesting concepts and characters that pulled me through it. A bit confused on what I guess is some of the worldbuilding? Mainly, why in a society where creating healthy babies is so important, the healthy people where let to live on such a long leash that would allowed them to become infected. It just seemed a bit odd to me. Similarly, why any number of Xs would actually get a healthy person killed.
The Christian element wavered between well-placed in the story to feeling a little obvious or added in. This was not a huge complaint of mine. I liked the fact that the towns outside the city had varying religions.
There's some obvious but mostly tasteful sexual references which makes me a bit unsure of the age category intended. It makes me guess later teens, while when I originally started the book I assumed teens in general.
I've purchased the next book because I'm interested in where the story is going. Withholding some of my other confusion on worldbuilding (like almost anything to do with Wyoming), since this is an obvious series. I did like this book better than Replication, and Mason is great.
marhill31's review
4.0
Here's my review:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/book-review-39-captives-safe-lands-1-by-jill-williamson/
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/book-review-39-captives-safe-lands-1-by-jill-williamson/