Kiera by Kate Willis Review

 

Spoiler warning. If you don't want spoilers, you will want to avoid my review. I tried to be vague about some things, but I wasn't sure how to write the review without mentioning some details. 

Okay, so, I really wanted to love Kiera by Kate Willis. I learned about it when I was looking at books for the Sanctitiy of Human Life month. So, it being pro-life and talking about rallies and embryo adoption was a huge plus. I loved that homeschooling and headcovering were also included in the book. Usually I don't read about women wearing a covering unless the book is Amish or Mennonite. And the book was introduced as being dystopian, which is a favorite genre of mine. 

The problem is, I couldn't even really tell WHY the world was supposed to be dystopian. There was talk of war and a draft and radiation. But none of this is really explained. Yes, the draft is important enough in that Kiera avoiding it is what leads to her marriage of convenience; however, it is never really explained WHY she wants to avoid the draft. Is it religious beliefs like the Mennonites being conscientious objectors or is it just fear of dying? 

The war was never explained. Like who was fighting who? Also, why was there radiation? But also, why did it only seem to be an issue occasionally and what other precautions were being taken besides moving the garden under a tarp (or whatever it was) and staying inside, but not always? 

It appeared that the setting is in the future with such inventions as self-driving cars, yet so many things seemed like they take place in current times. And I don't know why exactly it bothered me, but the author called the electonic devices the characters had "devices." Every time, it was the "device." Yet it seemed to be no different that my cell phone. 

And there were just some things that were never really explained and some things seemed to me to contradict other things. 

And it really bothered me that Kiera's brother Thorne, who was the pastor of their congregation, has some awful things happen to him because of his stands, his beliefs. Yet these things seem to come out of nowhere and things are mentioned that just bring up more questions instead of answers. 

I'm not saying the book was all bad, please don't get me wrong. It's just those things I mentioned above just really got to me. 

I loved that faith was a huge part of the main characters lives, and that they were living out their lives for Christ. Even though there were people in the congregation who thought that wasn't needed. This was a time when in America the government had become more like that of other totalitariam governments and seemed to be monitoring religion and what was allowed to be said. So, I definitely appreciated that in the face of adversity these people were standing firm in Christ. 

I loved the relationship between Kiera and Jade, the adorable, toddler daughter of Brennan, the man she married to avoid the draft. She had babysat Jade and they were good friends, so their relationship was able to develop, though it did seem a bit weird that she just started calling herself "mommy" when talking to Jade. And it was never really said how Brennan felt about that. Yet their marriage relationship was hardly developed. Even though they were friends prior to getting married. I understand they probably felt awkward. However, instead of trying to work on the relationship that would be for life, they seemed to keep themselves apart, saying things didn't have to change between them. 

So, yeah, if you choose to read this because you are looking for a dystopian book, this is really different that any dystopian I have ever read. If you are looking for a book where the characters have a strong faith and live out that faith, a book where characters stand strong in Christ in the face of adverstity, a clean book that focuses on the relationships of family, then you will probably enjoy this book. 

I would like to know if a sequel had been planned, because there is still so much about the war and the fate of the true church in America, and the story of these people living through this that remained unresolved.