Book "Flight of Shadows" by Sigmund Brouwer

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About the Book: Her genetic secret could change humanity forever. Her DNA grants her the ultimate power. But all she wants is to disappear.
Looming buildings rise into the sky of a near-future America, shadowing the desperate poverty of the soovie parks, death doctors, and fear bombs. In this world of walled cities, where status matters most, Caitlyn Brown is desperate to remain invisible, wrongly believing what she needs to hide is the deformity on her back. The powerful want her for so much more.
She’s forced to take flight again, relying on the help of Razor, a street-smart illusionist she can’t trust. Her only hope is to reach friends already tracked by government.
With a twisted bounty hunter in full pursuit, she and Razor begin to learn the unthinkable about her past and the unique gifts of her DNA. It leads Caitlyn to a choice between the two men who love her, and whether to keep her freedom or sacrifice herself to change human destiny.
In this lightning-fast chase through an all-too-plausible future, best-selling author Sigmund Brouwer is at his best. Flight of Shadows is a terrifying ride into the heart of compelling moral questions about science and society.

About the Author: Whether writing youth or adult fiction, Sigmund Brouwer is a best-selling author of more than 40 fast-paced novels. Some of his works encourage young reluctant readers into the world of books, and others provide adults with riveting tales. His youth series include Mars Diaries; Short Cuts Extreme Sports; Lightning on Ice; CyberQuest; The Winds of Light; Dr. Drabble: Genius Inventor; and The Accidental Detectives. His adult fiction titles include "Out of the Shadows," "Morning Star," "Thunder Voice," "Double Helix," and "Blood Ties."

Sigmund's diverse background surfaces in the characters of his books as he inspires kids to get excited about reading. He grew up in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and developed an early interest in sports like hockey, racquetball, and biking. His poor performance in high school English classes led him to receive a degree in commerce from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and not to pursue writing. When a professor in his undergraduate English course encouraged him to write, Sigmund did, and he eventually received a degree in journalism from Carleton College in Ottawa. After publishing several articles for U.S. and Canadian magazines, he turned to writing books for kids reluctant to read.

In 1993, he cofounded The Young Writers' Institute with home education expert and author Debra Bell and conducts writing camps and seminars for more than 10,000 children every year. His commitment to his faith is an integral part of his creative goals, and Sigmund cites C. S. Lewis as one of his greatest writing influences. Although there is no overt Christian agenda in his novels, the deliberate underpinning of morality and redemption make his books more than tools of escape. He quotes C. S. Lewis, "There is no Christian way to write, just as there is no Christian way to boil an egg."

Sigmund is married to Christian recording artist Cindy Morgan; the couple has two daughters. He writes five pages per day on his laptop, whether he is in an airport, hotel, or dividing his time between family homes in Red Deer and Nashville.

My Review: This is the first book I read from this author. I found it to be brilliant. A masterpiece in the genre of science-fiction. The author describes his characters with such passion and so rich in details that makes us feel suffering together with our heroes. His description of the environment is superb. The plot happens in a future after what he called the Water Wars. After a lot of effort, a genetic experiment produced some embryos, and one of the scientists thought that they have crossed some moral boundaries and destroy all data on the project, and all but three embryos. One of those developed to be his daughter, Caitlyn. She has some power and they have to flee to a place named Appalachia, where some religious extremists live in a closed community. The story develops and the action begins when the government starts to search for the girl, so they can resume the project, as she is the missing link of the original research and her blood contain information that could change the destiny of the human race. She goes outside of Appalachia and on her life as fugitive, she is helped by the most unusual character, Razor, and two friends that came with her, Billy and Theo. The scary part on this story is that it is composed by realistic situations that we see nowadays (in minor scale) and we can see it happening in the future exactly as it is so well described by the author.
I recommend this book not only for young-adults but also for any lover of science-fiction. And I place this book among the best three I read this year.

This book was written by Sigmund Brouwer and it was published in 2010 by  Water Brooke Press and they were kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing through their Blogging for Books Program. Thanks, Mr. Sigmund Brouwer, for such a delicious fiction!

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