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The Separation
In a world where procreation is a chore and addiction is killing the population, Franny Murphy is forced from the only home she's ever known upon her youngest daughter's eighteenth birthday. The Separation, whereby those bearing and raising children are sequestered from the rest of the population, is the Law.
She becomes addicted to quench, a deadly and readily available depression medication, and then fights to recover. It takes years to build a life for herself and her lover, Matt. Rooted on Earth Satellite One, she struggles with a jilted lover and her estranged older offspring, who'd chosen child-free lives.
The High Council President grooms her as his successor, yet seeks another successor among her children and her jilted lover. She takes a one-way trip to the Moon Colony hospice, to care for Matt, who'd only pretended addiction recovery. Granted all-access as a resident, she broadcasts her plea for change as Athena, the voice of the Resistance.
She becomes addicted to quench, a deadly and readily available depression medication, and then fights to recover. It takes years to build a life for herself and her lover, Matt. Rooted on Earth Satellite One, she struggles with a jilted lover and her estranged older offspring, who'd chosen child-free lives.
The High Council President grooms her as his successor, yet seeks another successor among her children and her jilted lover. She takes a one-way trip to the Moon Colony hospice, to care for Matt, who'd only pretended addiction recovery. Granted all-access as a resident, she broadcasts her plea for change as Athena, the voice of the Resistance.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2023
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September 4, 2024
Top-notch SF world building
This is a wonderfully realized SF novel with over a dozen central well-developed characters spanning generations. Like the best of SF, this novel has much to say about our current society, dealing with addiction and opposing attitudes over the nurturing of children. The writing is near-flawless with great dialogue and descriptions. Most impressive is the careful world-building. It doesn’t overwhelm the reader by piling on the details too early, letting them seep into the consciousness over the course of the book. The only drawback I can come up with is that there are so many interesting characters with complex relationships, I wish that some of them had longer or more frequent appearances, but perhaps they may be featured more in The Resistance, the second book of this series. In any case, I enjoyed this book tremendously. There is some humor, but overall there are several tragic and heartbreaking moments involving both children and adults that are handled with great skill and beauty.
This book and author need to be better known!
This is a wonderfully realized SF novel with over a dozen central well-developed characters spanning generations. Like the best of SF, this novel has much to say about our current society, dealing with addiction and opposing attitudes over the nurturing of children. The writing is near-flawless with great dialogue and descriptions. Most impressive is the careful world-building. It doesn’t overwhelm the reader by piling on the details too early, letting them seep into the consciousness over the course of the book. The only drawback I can come up with is that there are so many interesting characters with complex relationships, I wish that some of them had longer or more frequent appearances, but perhaps they may be featured more in The Resistance, the second book of this series. In any case, I enjoyed this book tremendously. There is some humor, but overall there are several tragic and heartbreaking moments involving both children and adults that are handled with great skill and beauty.
This book and author need to be better known!
Displaying 1 of 1 review