Book Review: Flight of Shadows

I just finished reading Sigmund Brouwer's Flight of Shadows, a speculative fiction novel that looks at the United States after the Water Wars (a thinly veiled analogy to oil wars) and the creation of a class structure that has those with money and power living in walled cities to keep out the working class (who are allowed in under strict guidelines for day work) and the truly poor who have a gang-based power structure of their own, though they live completely outside the cities. It tells the story of Caitlyn, the product of genetic experimentation and an escapee from the religious city-state of Applachia as she tries to find friends from home who have also escaped while evading the government and a bounty hunter who are chasing her.

The story is challenging to follow as it flits from one group to another - it was only about half way through that I finally had a good handle on the various characters. But even at the very end, I don't feel that I had any kind of handle on who they were - none of them were particularly likable - nor was I really sure who I was meant to see as the protagonist of the story. At points, the story line dragged, at other points the pages couldn't turn fast enough. Still, when all was said and done, I was ok with the ending - not satisfied, really, but it had been an enjoyable time in that world, regardless of the relative disgust I had for all the characters.

This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Publishers.