Wednesday, August 14, 2013

CAPTIVES CSFF Blog Tour - Day 3


Captives
The Safe Lands Series - Book One by Jill Williamson
Captives Blog Tour - Day Three

Hay-O! We've all got issues!

click image for Amazon link or click link below)
Captives - available from:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Captives-Safe-Lands-Jill-Williamson/dp/0310724228/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376160014&sr=1-5
CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/captives-jill-williamson/9780310724223/pd/724223?item_code=WW&netp_id=1022035&event=ESRCG&view=details
Author's Web site: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/
Author's Blog: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/jill-williamsons-blog/

I received a review copy of Captives by Jill Williamson from the nice folks at Zondervon
in conjunction with the August CSFF Blog Tour 


 
         One of the things I enjoyed about the characters in Captives was the variety and believability; especially as the story progressed. I wasn't too sure whether I liked the characters in the first couple of chapters, but as the story progressed it seemed like their individuality shone through. Early on, Levi seemed like a bossy older brother who lorded it over his two siblings. Omar was the youngest, and an artist. In a society where hunters are prized, there was little time, or regard for artists. Omar dealt with his treatment in life by running away to find the greener grass on the next hill. Mason was in a similar strait as Omar. He was a scholar who wanted to become a healer like his mother. Healers were more highly valued by the village than artists, but not by much. Mason was the one always looking for answers, and new knowledge. he never stopped asking questions.
            Inside the city walls, the three brothers outlook on life seemed to change little. Levi still struck out at problems, trying to use his strength and size to overcome obstacles. Omar still looked for the next big thing, and jumped at anyone or anything that brought recognition or temporary pleasure. He still thought short term. Mason seemed to realize the only hope for their village lay in finding a solution to the virus that struck the city, leaving the occupants sterile and afflicted with skin lesions.
            It seemed to me Mason's focus was on others, I guess that's what made him a likable character. He even cared about his boss, who seemed a terrible person when they met. At first, Levi's seemed to focus on others, but it soon seemed like he was more concerned with taking care of 'his' village and recovering 'his' fiancée. Omar? Well, Omar was always about Omar. But by the end of the book, he seemed to realize his actions had brought pain, suffering, and even death to others.
            Something I wondered about were the digital masks and body paints worn by the Safe Landers. Were these digital cover-ups an allegory for the masks people wear today? People put on a good front with the masks they wear in public, but underneath they are hurting and need someone to fill the emptiness they cover inside. Do the digital arts worn by Safe Landers represent an impersonal society in which people will text or email, but won't do face to face because they can't enjoy the anonymity provided by online communication? Is a small part of our humanity taken from us as we conform to society's expectations, rather than what our Creator demands of us?
         Jill Williamson wrote Mason's reactions as a good example of Romans 12:2. He is 'in' the world of the Safe Landers, but not 'of' the world of the Safe Landers, though he has feelings for one of the city's inhabitants. The author uses this contrast of lifestyles between the villagers and the city dwellers throughout Captives to illustrate that choices have consequences. Bad choices may seem more fun at the time, but eventually they catch up with you. Right choices are harder to make and follow, but they too will catch up to you.
           In the end, Captives was about choices. And both the city dwellers and the villagers are Captives of choices made by them, or someone else for them.

 
 
Speed Painting of the Captives Book Cover

(One last time, in case you missed it earlier)
For a taste of life in the Safe Lands, visit the Safe Lands Webpage.
   

Thank you for stopping by Fantasythyme this week for the Captives Blog Tour. If you enjoyed Mrs. Williamson's earlier books, or enjoy dystopian stories with a Christian twist, be sure to check out Captives. It's a great read! 
 
*Participants’ links:
Julie Bihn Thomas Fletcher Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman Pauline Creeden Emma or Audrey Engel Victor Gentile Timothy Hicks Jason Joyner Carol Keen Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Asha Marie Pena Nathan Reimer Chawna Schroeder Jojo Sutis Jessica Thomas Steve Trower Phyllis Wheeler Rachel Wyant

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

CAPTIVES CSFF Blog Tour - Day 2


Captives
The Safe Lands Series - Book One by Jill Williamson
Captives Blog Tour - Day Two

Live for enjoyment and pleasure, consequences are for Shells!

click image for Amazon link or click link below)
Captives - available from:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Captives-Safe-Lands-Jill-Williamson/dp/0310724228/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376160014&sr=1-5
CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/captives-jill-williamson/9780310724223/pd/724223?item_code=WW&netp_id=1022035&event=ESRCG&view=details
Author's Web site: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/
Author's Blog: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/jill-williamsons-blog/

I received a review copy of Captives by Jill Williamson from the nice folks at Zondervon
in conjunction with the August CSFF Blog Tour 
 
Jill Williamson discusses her inspiration for Captives.
(From Youtube)

       Life as a Safe Lander centers around the external and the moment. Are you wearing the latest style clothes, hair, and skin-tone - yes people there change their skin color weekly, if not daily to match the latest fad worn on the Finley and Flynn Show. There are blue-skins, pink-skins, and even exotic animal design skins. These are accented in turn by digital tattoos. Digital artists design new looks and reprograms the digital skin grafts to change when your mood changes.
      The idea of constantly changing tattoos helped, I think, reinforce the idea of the transient lifestyle of all within the city. Nothing lasts. Nothing is permanent. Even children are a bump in life before they are taken away to be raised by the city state. Relationships never last more than a brief time; it's only until one or the other tires of the person they are with. Marriage is a thing of the past, it's only practiced by those out in the wilds beyond the city gates.
       Always in the back of their minds is the void inside they can never fill, so they deaden the pain with drinking, inhaling drugs of varying strengths, and casual sexual encounters. The author did a great job of explaining this empty feeling, and the reason; a viral infection that leaves the skin flaking and dying. Skin paints and digital makeup are all an attempt to cover the infection and diseased, flacking skin.
        When nothing can fill that God-sized hole, people now as then, will always try the newer, bigger thing. Problem is, nothing else can take the place of The Lord. The city tries to legislate and create replacements for God, but as the villagers find, the best the city has to offer is still a pale imitation which can never truly satisfy.


For a taste of life in the Safe Lands, visit the Safe Lands Webpage.
   

Day 3 Blog: Hay-O! We've all got issues! - The last day of the Captives Blog Tour. I'll discuss how Jill Williamson created believable, flawed characters. No one was completely good or bad. Some of the bad guys seemed likeable at first. And one character I thought bad tries to redeem a small part of himself.
 
*Participants’ links:
Julie Bihn Thomas Fletcher Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman Pauline Creeden Emma or Audrey Engel Victor Gentile Timothy Hicks Jason Joyner Carol Keen Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Asha Marie Pena Nathan Reimer Chawna Schroeder Jojo Sutis Jessica Thomas Steve Trower Phyllis Wheeler Rachel Wyant

Monday, August 12, 2013


Captives
The Safe Lands Series - Book One by Jill Williamson



Captives Blog Tour - Day One

THE SAFE LANDS, THE LEAST SAFE PLACE AROUND


click image for Amazon link or click link below)
Captives - available from:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Captives-Safe-Lands-Jill-Williamson/dp/0310724228/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376160014&sr=1-5
CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/captives-jill-williamson/9780310724223/pd/724223?item_code=WW&netp_id=1022035&event=ESRCG&view=details
Author's Web site: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/
Author's Blog: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/jill-williamsons-blog/



I received a review copy of Captives by Jill Williamson from the nice folks at Zondervon
in conjunction with the August CSFF Blog Tour 



        Angel wings was the first thing that came to mind when I saw Captives' book cover, then I realized they were tall buildings and wondered what they represented. I really enjoyed Mrs. Williamson's earlier fantasy series that began with, By Darkness Hid. So I had looked forward to reading a science-fiction series by the same author to see how she handled the change. I found out, with Jill Williamson, a story is a story no matter the genre, and outstanding.

        Captives begins inside the city, known as the Safe Lands because the high walls keep out the unsettled, dangerous world outside the city. But, the gates and regulations also keep the city dwellers inside where they have be come numb to the idea of consequences of their actions; choosing instead to live for the moment. Over time, the city dwellers have become sterile, and new, uninfected human-stock must be brought in to replenish the population.

     With ruthless disregard, the military captures or kills an entire village bringing all but missing eighteen-year-old Levi to the Safe Lands. Levi just announced his engagement to Jem, and when he returns to his village, he finds Jem and everyone else long gone. What happened? Why were some shot, and most taken, he wonders. Mason makes his way to the Safe Lands where he is arrested, thrown into jail, beaten, and marked with Xs on his cheek. In the Safe Lands, three strikes and you are truly out. The girls of the village fare little better, when the girls, including Levi's fiancée Jem, are moved into surrogate pregnancy homes to birth future citizens for the city. Things will go fine for the kidnapped group, as long as they don't rock the boat and follow orders. They soon find, rather than a safe haven, life in the Safe Lands is a gilded cage with dire punishments.


 

For a taste of life in the Safe Lands, visit the Safe Lands Webpage.
   

Day 2 Blog: Live for enjoyment and pleasure, consequences are for Shells! - Day Two I'll discuss why making pleasure the focus of their life, led to shallow, unhappy, unfulfilled existences in The Safe Lands. 
 
*Participants’ links:
Julie Bihn Thomas Fletcher Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman Pauline Creeden Emma or Audrey Engel Victor Gentile Timothy Hicks Jason Joyner Carol Keen Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Asha Marie Pena Nathan Reimer Chawna Schroeder Jojo Sutis Jessica Thomas Steve Trower Phyllis Wheeler Rachel Wyant