Ruminations on "Faith Awakened" by Grace Bridges

There are some books I read and can immediately write a review. Others, I need to ruminate on a bit. Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges was the latter.

I haven't read a lot of sci-fi since high school. I'm really not sure why. I love sci-fi movies, and I'm still a Trekkie at heart. But as for books, I seemed to lose interest. When I picked up Faith Awakened, knowing it was a sci-fi, I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to get into it. Not that I didn't think I'd like the writing--I've read short stories by Grace in magazines like Digital Dragon and ResAliens, so I knew the girl can write. But, still I was unsure going in.

First, let me tell you this is not your typical sci-fi. You won't find laser guns or alien invasions. No super-computers bent on taking over the world. No space ships, hover craft, levitating skateboards, or time travel.

Well....maybe the time travel part is close.

But not quite.

This is a hard book to review without giving plot spoilers. It is the story of Mariah, who is one of the Awakened. She is a Believer. A world-wide epidemic hits because of a plant fertilizer formula gone awry. Food becomes the catalyst for the spread of a deadly disease. Mariah and a handful of others are the sole survivors, until...

It is also the story of Faith. A girl with a wonderful life. One that seems almost surreal at times. At other times, she feels as though she's missing something very important and memory loss plagues her now and then. Still, she continues on her search for a closer relationship with God.

Is it despite the empty feelings, or because of them?

It is the story of perseverance, of hope, of a search for meaning. A story of awakening faith in two women with very different lives. But how different are they?

Again, not your typical sci-fi. Written in a very literary style, there's a good amount of narrative. For other authors, that much narrative would have bogged the story down. Grace Bridges makes it work, and work well. The characterization was strong. And I felt a pull to get back to reading when I was forced to put the book down.

You can buy Faith Awakened through Amazon and Splashdown Books. You can learn more about Grace by visiting her website.