CSFF Blog Tour – The Enclave, Day 2

csffbuttonHave I mentioned recently how much I love CSFF blog tours? We really do have a wonderful group of bloggers writing about some of the newest and best Christian speculative literature. This month the tour is featuring The Enclave by Karen Hancock, and we’ve already had a good number of articles. (For a list, with links to specific articles, see CSFF Blog Tour–The Enclave by Karen Hancock.)

If you’d like to read an excellent summary/set up so you know what the book is about without having the ending spoiled, I suggest going to Valerie Comer’s first tour post. For a wonderful interview with Karen, visit Jason Joyner’s blog. By the way, Jason is one of perhaps a dozen participants (along with Rachel Starr Thomson, new CSFF member Dona Watson, Julie, Katie Hart and others) who are giving away a copy of The Enclave. Also, don’t miss Karen’s blog in which she is answering questions put to her by her publisher in preparation for the book release.

I’ve been thinking a lot about The Enclave these last few days, as you would expect. Of course I’ll write a review—that’s sort of a given—but what else? There’s so much here. The book touches on the issue of cloning, but with equal power, the issue of religious cults and idolizing a leader.

But this morning I was listening to an Alistair Begg sermon in which he said something I’d never heard before. Faith, rather than serving as a crutch, often puts a believer into hard circumstances a non-believer will never experience.

And that, I realized, was a critical element in The Enclave. You see, this novel is quite different from Karen’s others. Rather than having an other world setting, the story takes place here. Consequently, characters aren’t introduced to God allegorically or metaphorically, but they are or are not believers in Jesus Christ.

Since this is science fiction, the story takes place primarily in a scientific research center, where most of the scientists scoff at faith, even as they try to play god by manipulating the human genome.

The protagonists, however, are both Christians—one a committed believer, one drifting. Both have their faith tested. Both must make decisions about what they will or won’t do, and their faith, rather than simplifying their choices, muddies the water.

They can go with the majority, renounce their beliefs, equivocate, even lie, and gain status, honor, advancement. Or they can hold to their faith and be discredited, mocked, black-balled.

How like the real world. Some of the pressure the characters faced was “friendly fire.” They were charmed, flattered, and promised the things they longed for, by people of prominence.

Their faith? Far from being a crutch, it was in the way. If God is who He says He is, a clash with the way the world works is inevitable. And The Enclave didn’t shy away from showing this clash in a memorable way.

11 Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention, but small correction – I’m not hosting a book giveaway.

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  2. Definitely relate to what you said about this book having “so much” you could talk about — I was thinking the other day that I’d like to do the tour for a week, not just three days. So many directions I could go :).

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  3. You’re so insightful, Becky. I can see you loved this book as much as I did. It really does have so much going for it.

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  4. Just posted my review, with a focus on the characters as I threatened ;).

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  5. The Enclave sounds very current with the way scientists who question the status quo are ridiclued and blacklisted. It all comes down to a decison of which master you will serve – God or mammon.

    Timothy

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  6. I have heard that geneticists are overwhelmingly theists (they see the evidence of intelligent design on a daily basis), but they keep their opinions under wraps for career reasons.

    I don’t know how true it is.

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  7. You always have something unique to say!

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  8. […] Miller’s opening intro post from Monday and her Tuesday musings on on some of the elements of Enclave that got her […]

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  9. […] My writing is not nearly as good and interesting as some of my fellow posters. That is until I read Becky Miller’s Day 2 post. Becky discussed how the protagonists’ faith is really a block to getting the things they […]

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  10. Just posted my third one … letting you know because I know you’ve had trouble seeing me on search engines (this thing disturbs me greatly, but I’m not sure how to fix it). Looking forward to your final post as well!

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  11. Just my two cents…I finished this today for another blog tour…I think the black boxes represent the almighty television network!! What do you think? I didn’t put that in my review, but…hey! It’s possible! If everyone believes the lies of cloning, global warming and all of the communist health-care lies then anything’s possible!

    This reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984.

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