Remember two weeks ago when, after reading Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, I was surprised that a political novel would turn out to be such a trigger for me? Magnify that times ten and you’ll have a picture of my reaction to Christina Dalcher’s dystopian debut, Vox. There’s a new American president, one not suited for the job, but well propped up by the religious right. Within ... Read More...
Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah
Men’s physical appetites are huge, but their emotional appetites are without end. Set in Green City, the capital of South West Asia Before She Sleeps is a dystopic novel along the lines of The Handmaid’s Tale. The difference being that because the female population has been decimated by a version of the HPV virus they are treated with the utmost respect. Without ... Read More...
The Power by Naomi Alderman
It’s not too surprising that there is a flood of fiction hitting the market these days about women and their responses to generations of systemic subjugation and abuse. Maybe it's time for a new genre—vengeance fiction? Whatever the genre, The Power by Naomi Alderman is a fierce and provocative novel about what happens when evolution (possibly aided by manmade ... Read More...
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
From the very beginning reading Red Clocks is like looking through a very grimy window. Everything is tinged with dirt and difficult to see, much less see clearly. Four women, each speaking in alternating chapters and never revealing their names, only their most defining characteristic: the Biographer, the Mender, the Wife, the Daughter. In chapters not their own, ... Read More...
Gather the Daughters
Initially, it’s difficult to tell the time period in Jennie Melamed’s novel, Gather the Daughters. It is life on an island with little in the way of modern conveniences—no indoor plumbing, no electricity, no weapons beyond knives and a limited food supply of grains and small animals. Later, we learn about “wanderers”, the “wasteland”, defective babies that die at birth, ... Read More...
The Song Rising
Oh, happy day, Paige Mahoney is back in book three of the Bone Season saga! At the end of The Mime Order she had wrested control of the London clairvoyant syndicate from her boss and mentor, Jaxon, and was now the new Underground Queen. Unfortunately, she had not killed Jaxon in the process and when the novel ended she learned that he was working with their greatest ... Read More...
