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The Correct Order
With women in control, life is better, but not for everyone.
After the defeat of a repressive regime, women under the Correct Order enjoy safer and better lives. The AI entity BELLA dispenses harsh penalties to those breaking the rules. Men found guilty of crimes against women are sent to the Resort, where they undergo demasculation—a surgical penalty.
Seventeen-year-old Emily, daughter of a high-ranking Order leader, is about to embark on her dream career as a surgeon. But doubts creep in as BELLA’s judgments hit close to home. As Emily learns the truth about the Resort, she questions her career choice and everything she believed about the Correct Order.
Please The Correct Order was previously published as a Kindle Vella serialized story.
Includes descriptions of traumatic experiences.
After the defeat of a repressive regime, women under the Correct Order enjoy safer and better lives. The AI entity BELLA dispenses harsh penalties to those breaking the rules. Men found guilty of crimes against women are sent to the Resort, where they undergo demasculation—a surgical penalty.
Seventeen-year-old Emily, daughter of a high-ranking Order leader, is about to embark on her dream career as a surgeon. But doubts creep in as BELLA’s judgments hit close to home. As Emily learns the truth about the Resort, she questions her career choice and everything she believed about the Correct Order.
Please The Correct Order was previously published as a Kindle Vella serialized story.
Includes descriptions of traumatic experiences.
186 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2024
About the author
Trish Taylor
13 books18 followersTrish Taylor was born and lived in England for most of her life. A week after her 40th birthday a dance with an American soldier led her to leave everything she knew to start a new life in the US.
She has had a varied career including successfully working as a jazz singer and over 25 years of experience in the fields of:
Career guidance and counselling
Mindset coaching
She is a Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Advanced Tapping Therapy Techniques - Thought Field Therapy.
Check out her videos and audio techniques at www.Youtube.com/trishtaylorcoaching
Connect with her at her website www.trishtaylorauthor.com
She has had a varied career including successfully working as a jazz singer and over 25 years of experience in the fields of:
Career guidance and counselling
Mindset coaching
She is a Trainer and Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Advanced Tapping Therapy Techniques - Thought Field Therapy.
Check out her videos and audio techniques at www.Youtube.com/trishtaylorcoaching
Connect with her at her website www.trishtaylorauthor.com
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 16, 2024
There's a book I just spent twenty minutes trying to Google that I read a really long time ago with equal parts amusement and horror that reminds me of "The Correct Order." A bit.
They're not that much alike, it's more the conceit is a little similar: a few brave people standing up against the fascist future Earth society that's defined by gender ideology. In that book, everyone was gay and the "brave" people were straight; in this one, women rule the world, and men are strictly controlled and "feminized" if they fall out of line. I've read other reviews say that Taylor is subtle--if your definition of being subtle involves anvils falling from the sky, then sure, this is *subtle.*
My definition does not think this book is subtle. Indeed, I read every page with widening eyes and a shaking head, going, "wow, this is not subtle."
I'm giving this four stars because I did rip through it. The narrative is competent. But I did not like this book, except for the way it made me ponder some deep questions, like, what do we do with heavily didactic fiction? Is it more or less annoying when a narrative is designed to express opinions we disagree with than when it echo chambers points we think are obvious?
Being a contrarian, I almost enjoyed how much I disliked this book, and how much I disagreed with its heavy-handed takes. Make of that what you will.
The story's roots come from that kind of old-fashioned 70s dystopian scifi tradition (maybe the book I was thinking of is "Make Room! Make Room!"), where the worst extremes are realized, and everything in the book is focused on explaining how bad things are. The Handmaid's Tale falls into this genre too, although it's exceptionally well done, with a great narrative voice and characterization that goes beyond cardboard with its heroes and villains.
This book, an anti-Handmaid's Tale, has a competent narrative voice, not an extraordinary one. Although the two pov characters are likeable enough, it's kind of a shallow, heavy-handed toe Taylor is dipping into complicated problems. In her world, gender is a zero sum game and all the gains women have made in the not getting killed and not dying in childbirth have come thanks to an feminine AI who runs a series of resorts where men are "feminized" if they step out of line. Although her characters initially accept this reality as correct, what happens in the book causes them to question their beliefs, and, rather unsurprisingly work to overthrow the status quo in the end, and hopefully find a more just society.
That's actually where this book breaks with its 70s roots. Instead of giving the grim dystopia its grim ending, (like the Omega Man), we're given one that's positively fluffy, and, narratively, doesn't feel earned... although I think in keeping with the times, perhaps its readers wouldn't have understood the grim ending... I mean going by other reviews, they thought this was subtle.
The ending does feel a bit rushed.
I have taken a lot more time to read books I liked a lot more. Since my taste is not everyone's, Dear Reader, if you are looking for a conservative 70's styled dystopian fiction to reinforce your own "anti-woke" beliefs, here you go! I think fans of Kurt Schlichter and Devon Erikson will be mesmerized by the narrative subtlety. MRA dudes? This one's for you!
And I suppose it's also a quick read for perverse creatures like myself, who like to read things we don't agree with so we can roll our eyes and yell at them in our heads. Ymmv.
Edited to add: I feel like there's some kneejerk harshness in this review I would like to counter with the reminder that it's a quick and easy read that holds together very well, and does what it is trying to do (I think) very well. I also appreciate the author's conclusion regarding coming back from extremism. In the end, in real life we all need to do that. While I may not agree with Taylor, I would read more of her fiction, in part because I am a huge fan of those 70s dystopian novels and she does one very well.
This book, like mine, is an entrant in the spsfc4 contest and this review is given with no expectation of reciprocity.
They're not that much alike, it's more the conceit is a little similar: a few brave people standing up against the fascist future Earth society that's defined by gender ideology. In that book, everyone was gay and the "brave" people were straight; in this one, women rule the world, and men are strictly controlled and "feminized" if they fall out of line. I've read other reviews say that Taylor is subtle--if your definition of being subtle involves anvils falling from the sky, then sure, this is *subtle.*
My definition does not think this book is subtle. Indeed, I read every page with widening eyes and a shaking head, going, "wow, this is not subtle."
I'm giving this four stars because I did rip through it. The narrative is competent. But I did not like this book, except for the way it made me ponder some deep questions, like, what do we do with heavily didactic fiction? Is it more or less annoying when a narrative is designed to express opinions we disagree with than when it echo chambers points we think are obvious?
Being a contrarian, I almost enjoyed how much I disliked this book, and how much I disagreed with its heavy-handed takes. Make of that what you will.
The story's roots come from that kind of old-fashioned 70s dystopian scifi tradition (maybe the book I was thinking of is "Make Room! Make Room!"), where the worst extremes are realized, and everything in the book is focused on explaining how bad things are. The Handmaid's Tale falls into this genre too, although it's exceptionally well done, with a great narrative voice and characterization that goes beyond cardboard with its heroes and villains.
This book, an anti-Handmaid's Tale, has a competent narrative voice, not an extraordinary one. Although the two pov characters are likeable enough, it's kind of a shallow, heavy-handed toe Taylor is dipping into complicated problems. In her world, gender is a zero sum game and all the gains women have made in the not getting killed and not dying in childbirth have come thanks to an feminine AI who runs a series of resorts where men are "feminized" if they step out of line. Although her characters initially accept this reality as correct, what happens in the book causes them to question their beliefs, and, rather unsurprisingly work to overthrow the status quo in the end, and hopefully find a more just society.
That's actually where this book breaks with its 70s roots. Instead of giving the grim dystopia its grim ending, (like the Omega Man), we're given one that's positively fluffy, and, narratively, doesn't feel earned... although I think in keeping with the times, perhaps its readers wouldn't have understood the grim ending... I mean going by other reviews, they thought this was subtle.
The ending does feel a bit rushed.
I have taken a lot more time to read books I liked a lot more. Since my taste is not everyone's, Dear Reader, if you are looking for a conservative 70's styled dystopian fiction to reinforce your own "anti-woke" beliefs, here you go! I think fans of Kurt Schlichter and Devon Erikson will be mesmerized by the narrative subtlety. MRA dudes? This one's for you!
And I suppose it's also a quick read for perverse creatures like myself, who like to read things we don't agree with so we can roll our eyes and yell at them in our heads. Ymmv.
Edited to add: I feel like there's some kneejerk harshness in this review I would like to counter with the reminder that it's a quick and easy read that holds together very well, and does what it is trying to do (I think) very well. I also appreciate the author's conclusion regarding coming back from extremism. In the end, in real life we all need to do that. While I may not agree with Taylor, I would read more of her fiction, in part because I am a huge fan of those 70s dystopian novels and she does one very well.
This book, like mine, is an entrant in the spsfc4 contest and this review is given with no expectation of reciprocity.
June 30, 2024
Thank you Trish Taylor, Netgalley, & Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this free ARC in exchange for a review.
This is a fairly entertaining novel, yet lacks characterization, descriptiveness, and finishes too quickly and easily.
This is a fairly entertaining novel, yet lacks characterization, descriptiveness, and finishes too quickly and easily.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews