2008-06-30 More Park Year Six review of The Chrysalids

We think that Wyndham's book 'The Chrysalids' was an extraordinary book with amazing descriptions. This book would be suitable for people of 11 years and upwards. Some of the ideas are quite challenging, but we read it in class, and were able to have discussions about some of these elements, for example whether the Great Horses were a deviation or not.

The book starts with David's dream of a calm sea, and a shining city with flying fish shaped machines, but this is a world that the people of Waknuk have never seen. The introduction made us think initially that the book might be a little boring, but then we met Sophie. Sophie is a normal, fun loving girl...or is she...

'The Chrysalids' is great because it doesn't give us all of the information straight away, it is packed with elements of surprise, and we enjoyed looking for, and working out the clues as we went along.

We were all a little disappointed with the ending, as there were still a lot of unanswered questions, and we wish that Wyndham had written a sequel, so that it wasn't such an abrupt conclusion.

If you enjoy science fiction and adventure this is the book for you. Even if you don't there are plenty of plot lines, and situations which pose moral dilemas which made us sad and annoyed and is definately worth reading.