book review: 3004 by natasha murray
3004 by Natasha Murray: what an exciting book. Its excitement is not based on fast-paced action, though the story has a steady stream of action. The source of the excitement and entertainment has to do with the way the different personalities of the two main characters coupled with the author's ability to immerse readers in a dsytopian 3004 holds your attention from start to finish. Despite my initial alarm, I thought the ending was especially brilliant. The story blends among other doctrines Christianity and the Metaphysical; not in any true religion sense and not in any offense manner. Rather, you're called upon to enter the sphere of "what if" or "I think I read a teaching similar to that." But intrusions of these doctrines are a small part of this adventure filled with its own unique creatures and unique friends and enemies. In addition, this fiction is driven by an unlimited wealth of human emotions and behavior while avoiding stereotypes. The characters are pitted against their environments in ways that generate endless twists and turns so that you can't be sure how any given situation is going to turn out. Our two main protagonists are thrown together in a wilderness where they must depend upon one another to survive, despite their opposing natures. However, they too become part of the bigger story taking place while their POVs give readers the much-needed someones about whom to care. I read through this story twice. With its seventeen-year-old leads, 3004 is a YA sci-fi. But it's a story that anyone interested in facing the challenges of a disrupted society accompanied by the right amount of fantasy can get caught up in.