CSFF Blog Tour: The Enclave Day One

This month we're taking a look at The Enclave by Karen Hancock. I've loved Hancock's books in the past. The Legends of the Guardian King were fantastic and are high on my list of "books I gotta reread sometime soon." Problem is, new books keep hopping onto my "books I gotta read for the first time" list. Maybe sometime three years from now...

Anyway, on to the book at hand. The story revolved around Lacey McHenry, a new employee at the Kendall-Jakes Longevity Institute. She's the "frog girl," working in the labs caring for the experimental animals. But then she's attacked by a strange boy. She's saved by Dr. Cameron Reinhardt, one of the geneticists on staff. He patches her up and makes sure she stays safe.

But then the higher-ups at Kendall-Jakes cover up the attack. They suggest that Lacey's attack was really a psychological episode brought on by stress. All is not well for Cameron either. He's approached by someone from his past with a special mission for him. Soon Lacey and Cameron are trapped in the middle of a major conspiracy, one that revolves around ancient sarcophagi, strange enclaves, and the head of the labs, the egotistical Director Swain.

Hancock's writing is exciting and gripping. The first chapter grabs you and draws you into the story. There's plenty to enjoy as the tale unfolds.

But as much as I looked forward to reading this book, there was a lot that bothered me about this story as a whole. Two and a half big things in particular. I'll start with the half-a-thing today and cover the two other big things over the next two days.

The half-a-thing is this: predictability. One of the strange things about the story is that of the New Eden Enclave. After a few chapters, we seemingly jump into the future, to an ark-like building that contains survivors of some sort of apocalyptic disaster. That threw me off for a moment or two, but within a few pages, I had it figured out. So when the "big reveal" happened, my response was "Well, duh."

It's not a big thing. I still enjoyed the book for the most part, but like I said, there are two major things that bothered me about this story. I'll discuss them both in greater depth over the next two days.

But wait! I almost forgot (shame on me!). If you want to judge this book for yourself, I have a copy to give away! That's right, you too can check out this book and see what you think. All you have to do is leave a comment on any of this month's blog tour posts (today's, tomorrow's, and Wednesday's) with your e-mail address to enter the drawing. Disguise your e-mail address with spaces and words (like using [at] or [dot] or something like that) so spammers can't get you. On Thursday, I'll put all the entries in a hat and someone will draw out the winning name. Maybe my son. If I can get him to pick only one. So enter now, enter often. Post a comment once a day if you're interested.

While we wait for tomorrow, be sure to check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Canadianladybug
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Heather R. Hunt
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Mike Lynch
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Stephanie
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Elizabeth Williams