CHRYSALIDS THE

Wyndham was way ahead of his time writing about genetic mutations before modern genetic engineering, which in hindsight make this book all the more potent and disturbing. This is a great story about the world in the future where genetic mutations are classed as the devils work and are stamped out. It focuses on a group of children with unusual abilities who are only finding out about themselves before they are hunted down by those wishing to eradicate them. It is written in Wyndham's usual gripping style and keeps you turning the pages right until the end. It is a short book by today's standards, but every page is perfectly crafted and keeps you engaged with the characters and storyline. Well worth a read.

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John Wyndham's work is often under-appreciated because it is lumped into the science fiction category. Other books that present the "dis-topia" visions of the future such as "1984", "We", and "Brave New World" have avoided the label and are much better known. "The Chrysalids" is a much more complete novel than any of the mentioned classics. Exploring themes of tolerance, religion, and government, the book hints of influence from so many other great works.

After the cataclysmic event known as the "Tribulation", the territory known as "Labrador" is modeled in themes of fundamentalist Christianity. The challenge of the citizens is to uphold the image that God intended, which forbids any mutations. Humans not matching the strict laws of physical appearance are killed or banished to the fringes.

David, who serves as the narrator, is the son of the community's minister. David draws the ire of his father when he sympathizes with a mutant. Yet when David uncovers a shocking surprise, his father becomes more than angry.

The only disappointing aspect of the novel is the ending seems somewhat abrupt. While there is a sense of closure, I wanted the story to continue. The cliffhangers at the end of each chapter draw the reader in by the collar of his or her shirt. Without exaggeration, I can say this is among the best books I have ever read.

By complete chance, I came across this book, and was shocked by how well done it was. Being a language freak, I'm quite fussy about what I read. This was a pleasent surprise. Unlike such titles as Brave New World, this author actually had a story to back up his theories. I've seen novels that are focused on this subject before, but none quite like this one. The Chrysalids is for anyone who posesses even the slightest interest in the future, or even for those who simply wish to be entertained.

Alright, like many people here, I was told to read this book for language class. No, that doesn't mean I'm an immature little kid who hates reading everything except Goosebumps books. The reason I don't like this book much is that, as I meantioned in my title, it has lost potential.
But first things first, The idea: Nothing Original. The idea of Earth after some great disaster has been replayed in Science Fiction countless times. So has telepathy.
The writing: Some grammatical errors are present. Other than that the style would have been ok if the story could accomodate it.
The potential: to create a broad epic chronicling the life story of the main character and the information he finds about the other parts of the world he lives in.
The potential used: about 1/5 of that. Compared to what it could have been, this book is like an introduction. It gets right up to the point where it has the potential to become an epic, but unfortunatly the author broke into the temptation facing so many other authors and decided to put in a rush ending that is only worthy of a kids' book.
The lessons learned: Well, if you're not smart enough to see through the "lessons", it teaches you how cold-blooded murder can be justified (that's the final point made in the book).
The validity of the story: Not big. Somehow, it seems, this book seems to both promote Christianity and diss it at the same time. The details of this statement are difficult to explain, but that is what the book does. No Sci-fi book should do that in my opinion.
Final Word: Combine Sci-fi with 18th century and you get this book. If you like that combination, go ahead and buy it. You might also like it if you've never read anything beyond Teenager-classed books. If you've read Lord of the Rings, however, you'll find that this book is 1/20th of that trilogy.

I read this book for the first time in highschool years ago and re-read it again since.
What most impressed me was the author's ability to set up atmosphere in the novel. I still to this day, after years between readings remember images I formed while reading the novel. Grass between the toes, the nuclear wastes, the way the children formed telepathic images etc...
One thing that I remember clearly is how the novel was like a breath of fresh air, clean and smooth. There are no frilly edges and there is no attempt by the author to make the book flashy. This makes the book pure and adds to the impact of the story.
As an overview, there are a group of children who are living in Eastern Canada after some type of holocaust (this is never much of a point in the book... no one has memories of it). Their society is strongly anti-mutant with a very strict set of rules as to what is "normal" and what isn't. All of this children are normal looking but are telepathic and form a click of just a small number.
The book is their story of growing up and existing in this paranoid and highly dogmatic society without being discovered and banished or killed.
A definite classic in Science Fiction circles.

I, like most other reviewers of this book, read this book for my grade ten English class. I did not dislike the book; it was very well written and once I started reading, I found that I could not stop. However, both the ending and the characterization left much to be desired. But my real criticism was not with the book, but with the way people interpret it. Many students in my class believed it said that religion, especially Christianity, was wrong. I could not disagree more. What the people of Waknuk practiced was not Christianity, but something that was almost a cult. When the Fringes man talks to David about the true image, I get the impression that Wyndham was aware of this as well. And on a lighter note: Is my class the only one that found the romance between David and Rosalind rather disgusting? Come on, they're COUSINS!!

Fascism is based on Darwinism, which proclaims the right of a species to exterminate another species if it is able to do so. Fascism, in particular, proclaims the right of the 'superior' individual to rule over the 'inferior' individual belonging to the same species. Fascism is NOT primarily non-democracy - that's what true fascists want us to believe as a smoke-screen for their activities.
This book start off non-fascist and ends Darwinistic/fascist. It is indeed a confused work and was it not for the end, it would be a splendid piece of work - what a shame!
Now, in order not to just throw words around, let me give a declaration for what is truly superior:
A truly superior human being does not kill if not attacked and he then keeps his killing to an absolute minimum. A truly superior human being does not take upon himself to exterminate - he doesn't have to. The truly inferior people will die by their own hands as a group (no mocking of individual suicides here!), just as the dinosaurs died by just developing size until they got so big that a natural catastrophe was too much for them to survive in their enormous demand for food.
The truly superior human being shows his or hers superiority by loving MORE and not LESS and especially loving the forsaken ones. To kill the forsaken ones is a sure sign of inferiority.
Those of us who happen to be superior will not stand in the limelight. They will be grey mice amongst humans and they will withdraw from the rest of the world, seeking out the most barren places in which they can be left alone to develop their superiority and leave this planet if they have to and leave the inferior ones to cut each others throats.
If Wyndham had only ended his book that way, because until the very end, it was a splendid book.

I've noticed a distinct number of students have given this book a low score due to, I have no doubt, having to read it for school and I understand that. I for one, refuse to watch Star Wars because I had to analyse every pan and zoom in the damn thing for English. But I digress from what I liked about this book. I am a lover of dystopian fiction and this is just a great book, while it is a little vague on some details and hard to place a country with a strange name "Newf" as it was called, I loved that the divergence of nuclear mutations create such a hostile environment for those that were different... from dreaming to idle talk of "needing a hand" causes righteous rage. This theocratic and tribal like society draws parallels to our own, including fear of nuclear war and intense xenophobia. While the ending was somewhat rushed, I loved the way that technology was described for people that had never seen it before. Anyway, to wrap this up, I bought this book originally as a paperback and have read it twice. If you're willing to take a mature stance, then read this book. If not, go back to high school, we don't care that your nasty ol' teacher assigned you a book you don't like; life is unfair.

In high school, young adults are made to read this book. If they ever learn to appreciate anything from those days, this should be one of them. The book is fantastically written, with great detail and thought. It gives us a look into something which could quite possibly happen to humanity in the not too distant future.
I feel that when the silly children who felt the need to "Submit their Review" grow up enough to understand this piece of writing artwork, they will certainly feel undoubtedly embarrassed of their nasty remarks, not to mention poor spelling and grammar.
It seems that the appreciation of the book must come with some semblance of intelligence.

The Chrysalids persuasively demonstrates the dangers of fundamentalist religion. Wyndham doesn't condemn all religion, however. He convincingly demonstrates that only fundamentalism based on hatred of any nonconformity presents a serious threat to humanity. In his portrayal of the potential dangers in religion, and specifically the danger of humans who grasp for such fundamentalism out of fear, Wyndham has written an interesting novel that still maintains its relevancy more than 50 years after publication. In addition, the majority of the book is a compelling page-turner.

I found that there were two major areas in which the novel faltered, however. First, the author's radical shift from skillfully demonstrating the vulnerability of certain groups is shattered in the final plot development when he attempts to justify his relativistic sense of human morality. This bombshell undoes the careful groundwork laid earlier in the novel when the senseless immorality of the dominant society is presented. His ultimate message appears to be that while violence is to be condemned in the hands of some, "merciful" violence in the hands of superior humans is not only acceptable, but fundamental to survival. Under this line of reasoning, the malice of the society he presents is perfectly justified. Under this logic, the Bush administration's policies on torture and warfare appear justified.

My other major disappointment also arrived at the end of the novel. A dystopian novel by its very nature presents a dark outlook of humanity and lends itself to intense self-reflection. Until the final plot development, Wyndham executes this very well. With the timely intervention of the deux ex machina (which goes handily with the moral relativism), the novel becomes sentimental and nonsensical, degenerating into a harmless and easily forgotten bedtime story.

Here we have the book that most likely influenced John Wagner to some degree with Judge Dredd's Cursed Earth.

In this society there is much genetic deviation, and the chance of getting a baseline human birth is low.

Mutant or different children are supposed to be killed at birth, but this of course is not always the case, humans being what they are.

A group of such mutant children have developed superhuman abilities, and decide to flee. Far from being deformed, these children, by evolution, are superior to the 'norms', as standard humanity comes to be seen.

I just finished the Chrysalids. I love the post nuclear war world that Wyndham creates and how he addressed the intolerance for mutants as well as anyone who deviates from the norm. The scariest thing about this book is that having massive mutants is a real possibility - from nuclear power plant accidents. The Ukraine already has hundreds of mutants from Chernobyl. Fukushima will also be seeing them. The Chrysalids(Obviously taken from Chrysalis - butterflies - also mutators) was an easy and engaging read, but also prophetic.

The Chrysalids has my vote for best novel by John Wyndham; I loved it as a teenager and still find it an excellent story, as fresh and evocative as ever. Set in the future after an apocalyptic war has ravaged the earth, this is about a group of unusual children, who find themselves dangerously at odds with the fundamentalist community into which they have been born. As well as being a tale of adventure and survival, The Chrysalids is also about difference, and what happens when society draws an arbitrary line between normal and deviant. Watch Thou for the Mutant!

Chilling
Enthralling
Utterly consuming
These are merely some of the words that I can use to describe this work of literary art.
Humanity is truly our own worst enemy and this novel reveals that in a manner that I cannot even adequately put words to.

Wyndham completely lost me at the end, in two ways. One, I have nothing but contempt for those who would harm others in the name of Progress, and Two, Action/Combat in novels bores me like nothing else. Until that point, the story was mildly suspenseful, and I could get behind what I took to be the "message" of anti-eugenics. About that. it's apparently okay to be a eugenicist if you really are better, not like those other eugenicists who come from inferior stock.

The middle-grade level of the writing doesn't do it for me, hence the rating. I'd never vote a novel down solely because I don't concur with the author's beliefs, although bad thinking and bad writing often do correlate.

In the post-apocalyptic world, after a nuclear war, there's no place for mutants or for who or what is different from "the plan of God". Religious bigotry and paranoia are taught from childhood in the little village in which the novel is aet, but David will find that i's wrong to cling at static norms, that "Life is change" and that diversity is a richness to be treasure. He and his friensa will flee the bigotry addle village to a land of liberty. a lesson for our times.

This book has fascinated me since I first read it as a teenager. Unlike some other reviewers, I loved the fact that Wyhdham left it to his readers to imagine what kind of disaster might have befallen a society to cause it to differentiate so thoroughly between what is "deviant" versus what is "the norm," that alliance to "the norm" becomes a fundamentalist religion. In one brilliant passage, a sailor describes a visit to a strange land overrun with "deviant" life. The passage includes just enough information about the environment to convey the discrepancy between the sailor's perspective, distorted by ignorance and indoctrination, and what the reader, from his knowledge of the world, knows to be true.

I've re-read the book several times, and for me it never loses its freshness, originality and relevancy. Recurrent themes in the book include truth versus knowledge, and culture's influence on what is acceptable and what is aberrant. Written in 1955, this book was way ahead of its time, and is as current today as it was 50 years ago. It is a true classic.

reading this book, one of the most boring book in the world. If you are thinking to buy it, you will be wasting your money. You can probably use this book instead of sleeping pills. It's about a stupid guy (David)who used to be a gay before writing this book. My english teacher thought it would be a good idea to read this book in class, so he brought 40 books from some where, We all started reading this book and at the end of the class he found out that half of the class was sleeping and more than 10 people went for the washroom and for water...
YOUR FRIEND M.W.R

I read this book for my tenth grade Advanced Placement English class, and must say that it is so weird. The story itself brings controversy with our fascination with nuclear energy and weapons. The book tells a tale of what our societies could become if we don't watch it. However, I also found that the characterization wasn't very well done. I found David's personality to be quite unexplored, curious for a first-person point of view. Also, Rosalind is his COUSIN. Ew. That alone could cause a genetic mutation. Besides, being able to send thought-shapes - legally, in the "Repentances" definition of man, how is it possible that they are in violation?
But yes, the ending was awful too. Let's kill everyone and leave half of the people in the crappy land when we jet off to New Zealand in our fancy space-age flying machine. Mhm. Greaaaaat, Wyndham. Great.

Something that really intrigues me about this book is that no-one has written a sequel to it, whereas in fact, this is what the ending is crying out for. I remember reading that one reviewer notes that the Sealand Woman is superior-acting, and this is very much the case, but it is possible to read into this a certain amount of facetiousness, Wyndham puts words into her mouth, but he does not necessarily agree with her high-handedness. This does not eliminate the fact that there is a certain amount of 'Deus ex machina' about a woman ascending from the skies to rescue them. I think, in fact, if I were Davie, Rosalind and Petra I would have second thoughts about leaping aboard this helicopter to go off to an unknown land, but then, what choice do they have? Anyway, I've messed around with my own sequel to the Chrysalids, drawing on the fact that Michael is still alone in Waknuk, and the new experiences faced by Davie, Rosalind and Petra in Sealand, (presumably New Zealand). Anybody interested in doing some co-writing feel free to contact me.

I really loved this book. Unfortunately, I later found out that it is the follow up to a trilogy. It was still a good representative to the previous two. The story presumably takes place in Labrador, Canada as "Newf" is the island nearby. After the apocolypse comes as 'Tribulation' the scattered pockets of humans work hard to uphold God's own image. However, nobody knows what this image is. Consequently the government condones the destruction or banishment of deviations from God's own image. The moral is that stupidity breeds in high quantities and that those who fear new things lash out agains them. If you liked this book, I would also recomend The Giver by Lois Lowry. It is somewhat along the same line, but without the religious overtones.

I really do enjoy this book, I find myself thinking about all the questions raised about 'deviation' and 'the norm', I could see why a grade 9 student would hate it, the book itself is a little dull, but to an educated person, I think that they could really enjoy it. Kind of a social commentary book, but very thought-provoking nonetheless. If this is your first Wyndham book, I would try 'the midwhhich cuckoos' first, to get the feel for Wyndham's writing.

"So dumb I felt retarded after reading it" - me
"So boring I fell asleep thinking about it" - me
"So crappy I felt dirty from touching it" - me
"So awful a gave it to my nemesis for christmas!" - me
"If you are a masochist, read this book!" -some guy
Oh did I mention that I hated this book. All of these people giving it more than 1 or maybe stretching it to 2 stars obviously live holes or something where there are no good books! John Wynkham should really consider rewriting the ending and spend more that 3minutes thinking about a resolution. I mean killing people with a polymer that doesn't explode come on!

The Chrysalids is a great read, well written and absorbing, a true classic in science fiction, and probably in fiction in general. The message that "different" may as well mean "better than the common", and that bigotry and intolerence are ugly, is presented to the readers through a very original plot that gradually reveals the situation on Earth after a nuclear holocaust. A group of children and young adults struggle to survive by keeping secret their telepathic abilities, which, like all other "mutations", are considered a sacrilege by a rigidly pious, intolerent, and cruel society. The characters in the book are alive and human, the images vivid, the feelings compelling, and the end full of hope. A truly wonderful book which would make a great movie.

It appears people still do not understand what the author is trying to say in this novel. It is not a "mutant vs human" struggle but a questioning of the meaning of the word 'human'. Is it the physical form or how one thinks that defines what a human is? That said, this is excellently written and a very satisfying story.

I was introduced to the book by my English teacher. In the beginning I can admit that it was boring, but if you hang in there and continue to read it, the excitement starts to penetrate through...Sophie Wender is the most exciting character in the whole novel...I would suggest this novel to anyone who is up for a little excitement.

John Wyndham was an author preoccupied with the effects of science in human life. He envisioned a dark future where human condition was a result of bad science, nevertheless, people were `happy', in a post-apocalyptic sort of way. Written in the mid 50's, his novel "The Chrysalids" is very close to George Orwell and Adous Huxley books. But. The writer didn't have as much charm and literary style as Orwell to make an everlasting work.

The biggest difference between Wyndham e Orwell is that the second was writing literature creating his own style, working on narrative, characters, plots and all these devices that make a novel good. The author of "The Chrysalids" was putting o paper his ideas --or warnings, if you prefer -- in novel form. This is not a bad thing, but books like these do not resist through time. However much one may thing that the ideas here are good or even timeless, it has to be admitted that as a narrative the book is weak.

The characters are as plain as a sheet of paper. Even the narrator, the most important person in this book, is supposed to go through some dramatic changes, but they are never convincing. In the end he seems to be as dull as he was in the first paragraph of the novel. The supporting characters seem to be very undercooked. One misses more insight information, making people that inhabit this world more palpable. The incidents are interesting as long as the reader can keep track of them. In the second half the book becomes a slight mess.

It is probable that "The Chrysalids" was more important when it was first published. Nowadays we have better fiction dealing with the same themes -- such as mutation, genetic manipulation, evolution and so on -- added the political factor, that is not very exploited in this novel. But just like most science fictions, this book is a warning about the dangers of men dealing with nature. In this sense, the book has something to say -- even tough we've heard it before.

This book was required reading in my high school one year, and I thought it was kinda cool then. I don't like Sci-Fi but in this book, Sci-Fi is not what it's about.. it's merely the vehicle that is used to tell the story. And this story is very thought-provoking, a message about tolerance and redemption and standing up for yourself. I've recently started collecting books, and this is one that is definitely gonna be added to my collection.

The Chrysalids is quite simply one of the finest sf novels (or any other sort of novels) ever written. In it, Wyndham manages to tell a taut, well-structured story while at the same time making cogent and often eloquent comments on the human condition, especially man's tendencies toward intolerance and hubris. This book alone would be enough to place the author among the most significant in the history of the genre.

For those readers who find the science fiction genre off-putting, this novel may convince them that some practioners are possessed with wit, charm and the human touch. The only great shame is that so many of his other books are unavailable to American readers. If you travel to England (or have friends there) be sure to read "Chocky" (a story of a little boy who has a woman who lives in his head), "Consider her ways and others" (novella that I believe Margaret Atwood owes more than a debt to in her futuristic novel) and "The Midwich Cuckoos" (bastardized in the film versions of "Village of the Damned".

The imagery is amazing, the characters are believable, the story is compelling, the underlying lessons about life are spelled out here: Life is cruel, religious people are secretive hypocritical folks that might be well meaning but are blinded by religious fervor which will cause them to kill people if they take their religion seriously, there is no God, evolution (things getting better with mutation, then carrying to the next generation) is real, radiation causes mass wastelands that will remain scarred and uninhabitable long after future generations have forgotten about our way of life.
These are very dangerous ideas that are imbedded into the story, especially when the story is so well written, the characters so human. This is not a story I would allow my son to read until perhaps 16 or so, only when or if someone is wise enough to discern the anti god hatred in this book and disregard it is it worth reading. However most books and movies nowadays carry the same type of worldview, this book can be a powerfull catalyst for turning against the true God simply because some people in real life carry some of the traits of the blind and dangerous characters in this book.
I First read this book around the age of 9, however, as a homeschooler, this book posed little danger to me as I was able to read the bible and other books that show how hollow the worldview in this book is.

As a child, David has learned the strict rules of his society: "Watch Thou for the Mutant," "The Norm is the Will of God," and "The Devil is the Father of Deviation." This all meant that any living things, plant, animal, or man, had to be sacrificed or banished as soon as it was discovered to be deviant. David's father, Joseph Strorm, was the leader in the vigilant lookout for deviations in the society.
Waknuk was fortunate, because it was in Labrador, far away from the center of the nuclear war, the Badlands, further to the south. Since God had sent Tribulation down upon the Old People, humans had been struggling to return to the level of civilization that the Old People were at. Now because the past generations of Waknuk had been very careful, the community was now almost free of deviations that were the result of Tribulation. Any that did appear were destroyed or, in the case of blasphemies, banished to the Fringes.
At the beginning of the story David meets Sophie Wender and discovers that she is a physical deviant with six toes on each foot. Both she and her family are forced to run away when they are discovered by Alan Ervin. They are captured and banished to the Fringes. This problem is intensified when he sees his aunt driven to suicide because she has given birth to her third deviated baby.
David is concerned for his own personal safety when he realizes that he and the group are also deviants, because of their ability to communicate with each other in thought patterns.
Although they manage to hide their deviation, the birth of David's little sister, Petra, causes numerous problems. This is because she is still an infant and is unable to control her powers. An incident occurs in which she, David and his cousin Rosalind, are found out. They are declared deviates and outlaws, and are forced to flee to the Fringes, where they are chased by the Waknuk posse, including David's own father. In the Fringes they are captured by the deviate inhabitants there.
All this time, Petra has kept, through her awesome telepathic powers, in touch with a distant civilization called Sealand. These people, who are all telepathic, give new hope to the troubled trio ...

(contains minor plot details)
I was assigned this book to read as part of my Grade 11 curriculum. Being interested in science fiction I was somewhat interested, but that was before I read it.
Although the book itself is well written, the actual plot was rather dry. It was extremely predictable, lacking in surprise. The entire book seemed to me as one long incident.
The Chrysalids is written in a first-person point of view, giving the reader a view of David Strorm, a seemingly normal kid in a world where 'mutants' are not tolerated. These mutants appear quite freqently in the breeding cycle and are characterized by extra digits, eyes, and other strange features.
There is no explanation as to why exactly the future is this way, except of course the 'Tribulation', which was brought upon by the 'Old People' (present day population). There are various moral and ethical messages throughout the book, and this one is meant to tell us that we will bring upon our own destruction.
The protagonist, David, gradually learns about other worlds where the governing doctrine is different than his own. The 'Fringes' is a geographical region where mutants are sent and has almost no government, where a few small groups provide for themselves.
He also learns that he is a 'mutant' himself, which gives him no pleasure to learn, especially with the ominous sign in his own house 'Beware of the Mutant' and his strict father. The kind of mutant like David is most feared because he is indistiguishable from the 'Norm', because he is telepathic.
What happens to David is really no surprise and the trek that he makes to get away from his home can be expected.
What would have made this novel better would be at least a few more details revealed throughout the book to keep me interested. The ending was an unneeded epilogue; nothing new was introduced. In fact the ending could be predicted much earlier on, and the doubt as to whether it would happen is eliminated based just on the general feeling of the book.
My lack of interest in this book was definitely compounded by the purpose of the book, since these ethical messages are nothing new to most people. The only thing that kept my focus on this text was the interesting writing-but writing alone does not make a good book.

I believe that The Chrysalids is an interesting book proposed to kids our age (14-16). It offers strong and complicating emotions; however many teens will not b able to completly understand this book. UNLESS YOU ARE A SCI-FI FAN DO NOT PURCHASE THIS BOOK !

This is a great book. I have just, this afternoon, finished readind it for school. And I can say this is one of a few great books that I have ever read. There are only two really. (Good Ones that is. Not ones that I have read.) If you are into science fiction, or even if you are not this is the book for you. No huge space battles, no complex things like what they mumble about on Star Trek nothing but a great read.
If You liked this I suggest you read: Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card as well as the sequals to Ender's game.

Our class had to do "The Chrysalids" for an English Assignment. It was very confusing, and should not be given to grade 9 students. I mean, he falls in love with his cousin, that's really sick. Anyways. if you're a teacher don't make your students read it.

i read many reviews saying this book is dumb, but i guess thats just how dumb people think. this book tells a very good story about "mutants" vs "humans" i loved this book, a very well written book by John Wyndham. I recommend this book for anyone in highschool or older. i felt disgusted reading those reviews saying this book was bad, obviously they dont really realize a good book when they read one. i says its "a must read book" if u were to choose a book during your lifetime to read.

Our class had to do "The Chrysalids" for an English Assignment. It was very confusing, and should not be given to grade 9 students. I mean, he falls in love with his cousin, that's really sick. Anyways. if you're a teacher don't make your students read it.

This book is great for the more advanced reader. I found the storyline got confusing sometimes but it was really an enchanting book. The chrysalids is a creative book with the idea of mind pictures. I could really imagine what the characters looked like and their personalities were clear. I would definatly reccomend this book to someone with a love for reading and being taken to another world to experience the story.