Alis

A beautifully-written, memorable book about faith, rebellion, family (however it's defined), and what it means to grow-up. While reading, I was totally absorbed in the rich, believable world (reminiscent of Carol Lynch Williams' The Chosen One and the dystopian setting in Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth). I especially loved the way Rich dealt with her characters' fundamentalist beliefs, never insulting their intelligence, but questioning everything and not providing any simple answers. In the end, strength was found not in renouncing God, but in trusting God and the power of love.

Alis lives with her mother and father in the strict religious community of Freeborne. She spends her days helping her mother with household chores, tending the sick, and serving The Maker. At fourteen, she hasn’t given much thought to her future. She just assumes that one day she will get married, have children, and become a respected Elder of the community like her mother, but Alis gets a shocking surprise. Her parents announce she is to be married to the minister of Freeborne. A man she has grown up fearing and respecting a man who is over double her age.Alis immediately sets to making plans to escape her fate. Years ago, her brother, ran away to the City. Alis just needs to find a way to get there because it is much too far to show more walk.Her journey turns out to be both dangerous and enlightening. She meets people she never would have if she’d remained in Freeborne all her life. Alis even meets her true-love, but in a world of strict religious rules and corrupted men, it won’t be easy to hang on to the one she loves.Alis is so much more than a love story. It is a story of developing you own beliefs, questioning absolute authority, and finding out what is really important in life. show less

I liked this book very much. It is about a 15-year-old girl who lives in a very strict religious community. Their rules and beliefs are very old fashioned and harsh, but Alis tolerates it because she believes that it is the will of the Maker, that she obey these rules. She seems to be one of the few in the community that questions the authority of the Elders, even though one of them is her mother. When she is arranged to marry a 40 year old man in the community, she believes the only way out is to escape to the city, where the only way to survive is to become a thief. It's a great story about becoming your own person, and questioning absolute authority.

Alis's journey was interesting, I wondered at how she might escape or if she'd end up forced to follow the plans of others. A lot happened in the story and it could have been fleshed out more, but still seemed paced decently. The villain was a jerk you really wanted to see knocked down a peg or two. My only real problem with the story was the world that it took place in. At first I couldn't tell if it was a post-apocalyptic dystopia or if we were in some cult society closed away from the world (though I assumed dystopia). Even when you realize that its a dystopia the world is just not explained enough, no hints are given to what brought them to this point, why this city is so different from the villages or if we are even on earth. I show more thought that the story could have been a lot more interesting if the world itself were just explored a bit more. show less

Reviewed by Karin Librarian for TeensReadToo.com

Alis lives with her mother and father in the strict religious community of Freeborne. She spends her days helping her mother with household chores, tending the sick, and serving The Maker. At fourteen, she hasn't given much thought to her future. She just assumes that one day she will get married, have children, and become a respected Elder of the community like her mother.

But Alis gets a shocking surprise. Her parents announce she is to be married to the minister of Freeborne. A man she has grown up fearing and respecting, a man who is more than double her age.

Alis immediately sets to making plans to escape her fate. Years ago, her brother ran away to the City. Alis just needs to find a show more way to get there, because it is much too far to walk.

Her journey turns out to be both dangerous and enlightening. She meets people she never would have if she'd remained in Freeborne all her life. Alis even meets her true love, but in a world of strict religious rules and corrupted men, it won't be easy to hang on to the one she loves.

ALIS is so much more than a love story. It is a story of developing you own beliefs, questioning absolute authority, and finding out what is really important in life. show less

Missing essential details.

I enjoyed the basic story in this book but it was tainted for me by the fact that it took place somewhere in a nondescript country amongst the people of some nondescript cult. It could have been Mormon-esque, in America, but we were never told. This made it less of an historical fition novel and considerably detracted from my interest.

The central character is Alis. She is just fourteen when she is told that she will be marrying the 40-something Minister of her community. Having been raised to believe that she will have a say in her marriage and marry for love, she is horrified. She determines to follow her brother to the great city, many miles distant from her village home.
Her first step leads her to another show more community where extremism is bubbling up and her eyes are opened to violence and misery. She remains here for quite a while until she is able to finally make her way to the city.
Here again she experiences a side of life that she had never dreamed of, compared to which, life as wife to the Minister doesn't seem quite so awful.

It was a good read, if a little violent for younger readers.
For me it doesn't quite make the cross-over to adult fition due to the vague nature of the details. show less

Different from anything I've ever read. The book jacket says it is set in an unspecified past; that statement could not be more accurate. Very strange, but very likeable.