Hey everyone! Welcome again to the CSFF Blog Tour. This month we are reviewing the book The God Hater by Bill Myers (you can find his facebook link here).
First let’s talk about Bill Myers. When I was a kid, I watched a video series called McGee and Me. For those unfamiliar with the series, imagine Lizzy McGuire only it’s about a boy and his cartoon counterpart with morale themes. I loved them! So imagine my surprise when I found out Bill also wrote books, specifically speculative books for adult audiences. Awesome! (Also, on a side note, I met Bill last year at a writing conference. He asked what college I was attending… Thanks Bill, you made my day :P)
Now for The God Hater.
I was blown away by everything! It has a cool plotline, a great main character (I loved Dr. Mackenzie the moment I met him), and the spiritual factor… wow! This is a three-day review you won’t want to miss!
So let’s start with the Cool Factor. This book revolves around the idea of a mega computer program built to simulate the growth and evolution of civilization. The only problem is the pseudo civilization always ends with the annihilation of every person. So the makers of this program bring in Dr. Mackenzie, leading philosopher and atheist, to figure out why this computerized civilization always dies out.
Dr. Mackenzie tries out every philosophical model out there, from Darwinism to Existentialism, but it the program ends the same every time: the wipe out of the computerized civilization. Dr. Mackenzie knows that this computer civilization is actually a model of the real world. And if he can’t find a way to keep the computer world from dying out, then what hope is there for his own world?
Stop in tomorrow for the Writing Factor and you definitely do not want to miss the Spiritual Factor on Wednesday. Click on the links below to see what other CSFF Bloggers are saying about The God Hater:
*In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Morgan L. Busse 
How fun that you have this history with Bill Myers. I know I was surprised when I found out he’d begun writing adult fiction too. I went to a conference years ago and heard him speak about writing for children.
Good post, as usual, Morgan. 😀
Becky
I had a very different experience with this book. I agree about the cool factor–the virtual reality was creative and interesting–but I never connected with the characters for a variety of reasons. Therefore the story never truly hooked me. Still, this is one of the things I like most about the CSFF tour, getting a wide range of responses on the same book! 🙂
Hey Becky! Hey Sarah!
I had the same thought Sara. We are all different and so its not surprising that we enjoy different things (or books). Just like chocolate and vanilla 🙂
WOW I remember the McGee and Me series too! SO long ago and I still wish it were on. This is such a great book and I loved the storyline behind it along with the parallel worlds, one reality and the other based in the world of the computer.
I can completely see something like this happening in our future, but thankfully we have a hope in something better, we know how the story turns out.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle of your guys’ responses. I didn’t particularly fall in love with any of the characters–even though they were likable enough. However, I did find the philosophical and theological arguments fascinating. Overall, this was an interesting book I would definitely recommend.