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The Feral Sentence Arc 1 #4
The Feral Sentence, part 4
While the number of enemies continues to rise during their search for missing friends, there is a threat far more dangerous than lurking predators—Mother Nature.
With resources becoming scarce, the remaining women must make a decision that will ultimately determine their survival: work together toward rebuilding a new civilization, or hold onto the primitive ideology that only the fittest survive.
With resources becoming scarce, the remaining women must make a decision that will ultimately determine their survival: work together toward rebuilding a new civilization, or hold onto the primitive ideology that only the fittest survive.
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First published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 13, 2021
An engrossing read....hope to find out what happens next in the next book.
November 30, 2017
NOTE: The author graciously gave me a copy of the compilation volume containing this individual book and asked me to write a review.
In large part, the continent of Australia was originally a giant prison colony, populated by the riff raff from various jails in England. That bit of history, brought forward to the present day, forms the basis for G.C. Julien’s YA adventure saga, The Feral Sentence, an entertaining speculation that reads somewhat like a cross between The Hunger Games and a distaff Lord of the Flies.
Much like other YA sagas such as the aforementioned Hunger Games and Divergent, author Julien is writing the entire story of The Feral Sentence as a multi-volume work. However, unlike the authors of those other works, she has further subdivided this novel (the first volume in the series), into four smaller sections, each of which is for sale separately on Amazon. Thus, the current work, a novella about 70 pages long, represents the fourth and final part of the first book. Readers can either buy the four sections individually or all together in a compilation volume.
In Julien’s world of the near future, female criminals are not incarcerated in a standard prison but literally dropped out of a helicopter off the coast of a remote jungle island where they must swim to shore and then serve out their sentences. One of these prisoners is the narrator of The Feral Sentence, Brone, an 18-year-old sentenced to Kormace Island for killing her mother’s abusive boyfriend. In earlier volumes of this series, Brone was taken in by a group of women who had formed a fairly well-organized tribe. However, that backstory isn’t all that important to the last section of the book, because, as the story begins, one of the other tribes on the island launches a massive sneak attack on Brone’s tribe, killing many of them and forcing Brone and a few others to flee. On their own, they have to battle the elements (a massive fire and a storm) as well as hostile warriors from the warring faction.
Because the present volume essentially serves as a reboot for The Feral Sentence as a whole, it is far more self-contained and easy to follow than the previous two volumes that picked up in the middle of the story were. Many of the characters Brone met earlier are not here, presumably having been killed in the attack, and various subplots and storylines from earlier parts of the book are dropped. Instead, the book focuses on Brone and a couple of her friends trying to gather and rally the survivors of the sneak attack and build morale and their social order up from scratch. This volume is lean and tightly written, with an emphasis on action, and the various confrontations that do occur then do arise and get settled rather quickly.
Although I read The Feral Sentence as an entire book, I went back and tried to reevaluate each segment separately for the purposes of review. In this regard, this concluding segment of the book reads almost like a standalone piece. Readers will fairly easily pick up the rather minimal amounts of backstory needed to provide the background, and, although there are a number of questions about the mysterious tribe that attacked Brone’s group, that air of mystery actually enhances the book. With the notable exception of this segment’s ending, it stands well on its own as an action novella with an unusual and intriguing premise.
Readers should be aware, however, that The Feral Sentence, even when taken as a whole, serves as a prelude to another book that presumably will continue the adventures of Brone and her friends. There’s no cliffhanger ending per se, but the book does end somewhat arbitrarily and, more important, without any sense of dramatic conclusion, either on a small or large scale. Those who want a book to have a definitive, dramatically satisfying ending will be quite disappointed here, especially those who have stuck through reading all four volumes of “The Feral Sentence.”
Those who don’t care for this type of book might want to look elsewhere. I would also strongly recommend that anyone interested in The Feral Sentence read it in its entirety from the beginning rather than jump in at this point in order to get the full picture of the society the author has created. As for this fourth section, it reads like a short, suspenseful adventure tale of a group of women in various types of peril, and I can recommend it on that basis.
In large part, the continent of Australia was originally a giant prison colony, populated by the riff raff from various jails in England. That bit of history, brought forward to the present day, forms the basis for G.C. Julien’s YA adventure saga, The Feral Sentence, an entertaining speculation that reads somewhat like a cross between The Hunger Games and a distaff Lord of the Flies.
Much like other YA sagas such as the aforementioned Hunger Games and Divergent, author Julien is writing the entire story of The Feral Sentence as a multi-volume work. However, unlike the authors of those other works, she has further subdivided this novel (the first volume in the series), into four smaller sections, each of which is for sale separately on Amazon. Thus, the current work, a novella about 70 pages long, represents the fourth and final part of the first book. Readers can either buy the four sections individually or all together in a compilation volume.
In Julien’s world of the near future, female criminals are not incarcerated in a standard prison but literally dropped out of a helicopter off the coast of a remote jungle island where they must swim to shore and then serve out their sentences. One of these prisoners is the narrator of The Feral Sentence, Brone, an 18-year-old sentenced to Kormace Island for killing her mother’s abusive boyfriend. In earlier volumes of this series, Brone was taken in by a group of women who had formed a fairly well-organized tribe. However, that backstory isn’t all that important to the last section of the book, because, as the story begins, one of the other tribes on the island launches a massive sneak attack on Brone’s tribe, killing many of them and forcing Brone and a few others to flee. On their own, they have to battle the elements (a massive fire and a storm) as well as hostile warriors from the warring faction.
Because the present volume essentially serves as a reboot for The Feral Sentence as a whole, it is far more self-contained and easy to follow than the previous two volumes that picked up in the middle of the story were. Many of the characters Brone met earlier are not here, presumably having been killed in the attack, and various subplots and storylines from earlier parts of the book are dropped. Instead, the book focuses on Brone and a couple of her friends trying to gather and rally the survivors of the sneak attack and build morale and their social order up from scratch. This volume is lean and tightly written, with an emphasis on action, and the various confrontations that do occur then do arise and get settled rather quickly.
Although I read The Feral Sentence as an entire book, I went back and tried to reevaluate each segment separately for the purposes of review. In this regard, this concluding segment of the book reads almost like a standalone piece. Readers will fairly easily pick up the rather minimal amounts of backstory needed to provide the background, and, although there are a number of questions about the mysterious tribe that attacked Brone’s group, that air of mystery actually enhances the book. With the notable exception of this segment’s ending, it stands well on its own as an action novella with an unusual and intriguing premise.
Readers should be aware, however, that The Feral Sentence, even when taken as a whole, serves as a prelude to another book that presumably will continue the adventures of Brone and her friends. There’s no cliffhanger ending per se, but the book does end somewhat arbitrarily and, more important, without any sense of dramatic conclusion, either on a small or large scale. Those who want a book to have a definitive, dramatically satisfying ending will be quite disappointed here, especially those who have stuck through reading all four volumes of “The Feral Sentence.”
Those who don’t care for this type of book might want to look elsewhere. I would also strongly recommend that anyone interested in The Feral Sentence read it in its entirety from the beginning rather than jump in at this point in order to get the full picture of the society the author has created. As for this fourth section, it reads like a short, suspenseful adventure tale of a group of women in various types of peril, and I can recommend it on that basis.
August 28, 2017
Kindle Unlimited, and the 4 is based less on the story and more on the fact don't like thrillers that much so take the 4 with grain of salt thing.
Women convicted of murder are being sentenced to the wild.
This book is the compilation edition of The Feral Sentence serial and contains all four episodic parts / novellas found in Book 1.
PART FOUR In the wake of a merciless attack on the Village, Brone and her new clan of escapees set out in search of potential survivors across the island in the fourth and final installment of The Feral Sentence – Book 1.While the number of enemies continues to rise during their search for missing friends, there is a threat far more dangerous than lurking predators—Mother Nature. With resources becoming scarce, the remaining women must make a decision that will ultimately determine their survival: work together toward rebuilding a new civilization, or hold onto the primitive ideology that only the fittest survive.
Women convicted of murder are being sentenced to the wild.
This book is the compilation edition of The Feral Sentence serial and contains all four episodic parts / novellas found in Book 1.
PART FOUR In the wake of a merciless attack on the Village, Brone and her new clan of escapees set out in search of potential survivors across the island in the fourth and final installment of The Feral Sentence – Book 1.While the number of enemies continues to rise during their search for missing friends, there is a threat far more dangerous than lurking predators—Mother Nature. With resources becoming scarce, the remaining women must make a decision that will ultimately determine their survival: work together toward rebuilding a new civilization, or hold onto the primitive ideology that only the fittest survive.
December 9, 2017
Outstanding story, all four parts!
I wasn't sure I wanted to read about murderous women on an island prison, but about three pages in I couldn't put the book down! The women characters are all well developed,raw, and believable. The setting is amazing and feels wild and threatening while being beautiful and lifesaving. There's lots of action and plenty of inventive ideas from the stranded women. I say, try I, you'll like it! I surely did!
I wasn't sure I wanted to read about murderous women on an island prison, but about three pages in I couldn't put the book down! The women characters are all well developed,raw, and believable. The setting is amazing and feels wild and threatening while being beautiful and lifesaving. There's lots of action and plenty of inventive ideas from the stranded women. I say, try I, you'll like it! I surely did!
October 2, 2017
Love this series!
I just wish they were longer. Hope there isn't a terribly long wait for the next installment. It could be an awesome movie or t.v. series!
I just wish they were longer. Hope there isn't a terribly long wait for the next installment. It could be an awesome movie or t.v. series!
January 13, 2018
Great read!
This series... the survivors of an island prison.. is so wonderful that I cannot find ANY negative words. The women are so very real to me..scary..thrilling..
This series... the survivors of an island prison.. is so wonderful that I cannot find ANY negative words. The women are so very real to me..scary..thrilling..
May 15, 2018
Best ever
Will keep you on your seat very interesting reading would now like to read beasts of prey which said if i subscribe I could get free. Can't wait to read
Will keep you on your seat very interesting reading would now like to read beasts of prey which said if i subscribe I could get free. Can't wait to read
March 27, 2019
This is a serialized novel about an island that has been turned into a prison for women, but only those that have been convicted of murder. Each segment is about 70 to 80 pages in length. Four segments make a season of the series. You can buy the individual segments or buy collections for each season.
This is the fourth part of the first season. The first season focuses on Brone (the main character) arriving on the island and adapting to her life with the group of women that have formed a village on the southern part of the island.
Being a serialized novel has advantages and disadvantages. Even though each segment is relatively short, the entire story ends up being huge. This format allows the author to develop the story and the characters slowly. This slow development means you can get a lot of detail but can seem to be dragging if you read a lot of the segments together. There is also the matter of every episode ending with a cliffhanger. This isn't bad if you have more episodes waiting but can be annoying if you have to wait a long time for the next part. But if you do read a lot of segments back to back, the series can feel like it is dragging and start to get old. I feel it is best to take a break from the series every so often.
This ends the first season with what seems to be the promise that we are finally going to start learning more about the rest of the island.
This is the fourth part of the first season. The first season focuses on Brone (the main character) arriving on the island and adapting to her life with the group of women that have formed a village on the southern part of the island.
Being a serialized novel has advantages and disadvantages. Even though each segment is relatively short, the entire story ends up being huge. This format allows the author to develop the story and the characters slowly. This slow development means you can get a lot of detail but can seem to be dragging if you read a lot of the segments together. There is also the matter of every episode ending with a cliffhanger. This isn't bad if you have more episodes waiting but can be annoying if you have to wait a long time for the next part. But if you do read a lot of segments back to back, the series can feel like it is dragging and start to get old. I feel it is best to take a break from the series every so often.
This ends the first season with what seems to be the promise that we are finally going to start learning more about the rest of the island.
August 21, 2019
Ok, I'm done. Look, I'm not a right winger or a Trump supporter. This is supposed to by Young Adult fiction. The issues of lesbianism and the crack about Trump being president is just not appropriate for Young Adults. How can we expect our youth to grow into functioning adults able to make good decisions with this kind of indoctrination going on in these books. Sorry, not allowing any of my kids to read them.
February 27, 2019
Everything ends and begins anew
This episode really shows Bone growing into her position as less hunter. She finds out who tried to steal from her and discovers a traitor before fleeing for her life. Finding others and starting anew
This episode really shows Bone growing into her position as less hunter. She finds out who tried to steal from her and discovers a traitor before fleeing for her life. Finding others and starting anew
May 22, 2017
G.C. Julien's final installment of "The Feral Sentence IV" delivered the same action-packed story filled with interesting characters, easily visualized settings and authentic dialogue, as the first three installments had done. Once again, the novella was decently edited with very few noticable spelling, grammar or punctuation errors. And no cliff hanger ending here but rather an 'open' ending, in preparation for the next book. Unfortunately, it also left many, many unanswered questions that could have been included - or at least more details given - surrounding events that had happened up to this point.
If an antagonist is intelligent enough to develop a devious plan such as the one Rainer concocted, why did she lack the intelligence or forethought of the devastation wrought during a drought? Giving readers the actual reason behind Rainer's hatred toward Murk, the leader of the Village where Brone lives, would have been nice - but not necessary if it didn't truly move the plot forward. However, revealing some of Rainer's personality traits and quirks, allowing readers a bit of a glimpse into this character, might have helped clue a reader into the why's and where for's of the attack. Also, in the months she has been living on Kormace, Brone has gone through an emotional roller coaster; readers have been given glimpses into her past life and have seen her character grow, typically following a pattern this reader noticed of two steps forward, one step back. That actually imitates life fairly nicely, so makes Brone a believable character that a reader can easily empathize with or for. However, even though involved in a horrific incident, Brone's character appeared to slip closer back to the self she was when first dropped at Kormace, in this final installment. She could easily attack one that had wronged her personally - her former selfish trait, but was 'wishy-washy' about fighting someone that intended to kill her and the small band of women she was with - her former indecisive and terror-filled self... it was Brone that had earlier chosen a 'kill or be killed' objective, and her attack on the one that had wronged her personally seemed to attest to that new attitude. Yet, she had to really talk herself into fighting back on the Norther woman that was lobbying arrows at her group, which contradicted what she had decided - and acted upon - earlier. This is not saying a choice to take a life should be an easy one for Brone, far from it. Rather, stepping forward and lobbying her own assualt of arrows, even if not aiming for a kill shot, would likely have better suited the new attitude she was growing into, while still allowing the believable growth in character.
Questions such as what happened to Murk or the Hunters Brone had come to call friends, could be left unanswered for the next installment as a strong incentive to continue reading the series, as they were. But there should be some resolutions found in the first book, in this reader's opinion. While this reader will not 'not' recommend Julien's work, she will state she was disappointed with this fourth installment of the book and likely will not continue with the series.
If an antagonist is intelligent enough to develop a devious plan such as the one Rainer concocted, why did she lack the intelligence or forethought of the devastation wrought during a drought? Giving readers the actual reason behind Rainer's hatred toward Murk, the leader of the Village where Brone lives, would have been nice - but not necessary if it didn't truly move the plot forward. However, revealing some of Rainer's personality traits and quirks, allowing readers a bit of a glimpse into this character, might have helped clue a reader into the why's and where for's of the attack. Also, in the months she has been living on Kormace, Brone has gone through an emotional roller coaster; readers have been given glimpses into her past life and have seen her character grow, typically following a pattern this reader noticed of two steps forward, one step back. That actually imitates life fairly nicely, so makes Brone a believable character that a reader can easily empathize with or for. However, even though involved in a horrific incident, Brone's character appeared to slip closer back to the self she was when first dropped at Kormace, in this final installment. She could easily attack one that had wronged her personally - her former selfish trait, but was 'wishy-washy' about fighting someone that intended to kill her and the small band of women she was with - her former indecisive and terror-filled self... it was Brone that had earlier chosen a 'kill or be killed' objective, and her attack on the one that had wronged her personally seemed to attest to that new attitude. Yet, she had to really talk herself into fighting back on the Norther woman that was lobbying arrows at her group, which contradicted what she had decided - and acted upon - earlier. This is not saying a choice to take a life should be an easy one for Brone, far from it. Rather, stepping forward and lobbying her own assualt of arrows, even if not aiming for a kill shot, would likely have better suited the new attitude she was growing into, while still allowing the believable growth in character.
Questions such as what happened to Murk or the Hunters Brone had come to call friends, could be left unanswered for the next installment as a strong incentive to continue reading the series, as they were. But there should be some resolutions found in the first book, in this reader's opinion. While this reader will not 'not' recommend Julien's work, she will state she was disappointed with this fourth installment of the book and likely will not continue with the series.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews