What do you think?
Rate this book
Califia's Daughters
Set in the near future and inspired by the captivating myth of the warrior queen Califia, this brilliantly inventive novel tells the story of a small, peaceful community of women tucked away in a world gone mad.
Only the elders of the Valley remember life the way it used to be, when people traveled in automobiles and bought food others had grown. When the ratio of male to female was nearly the same. Before the bombs fell, and a deadly virus claimed the world's men.
Now, civilization's few surviving males are guarded by women warriors like Dian, the Valley's chief protector, as fierce and loyal as the guard dogs she trains. When an unexpected convoy of strangers rides into her village, it is
Dian who meets them, ready to do battle.
To her surprise, the visitors come in peace and bear a priceless gift, whose arrival is greeted with as much suspicion as delight. And indeed, the strangers want something in return, a request that could change the future of
the Valley into one of hope--or utter desolation.
It is up to Dian to discover their motive, in a journey that will cost her far more than she ever imagined, a journey from which she may never return.
Only the elders of the Valley remember life the way it used to be, when people traveled in automobiles and bought food others had grown. When the ratio of male to female was nearly the same. Before the bombs fell, and a deadly virus claimed the world's men.
Now, civilization's few surviving males are guarded by women warriors like Dian, the Valley's chief protector, as fierce and loyal as the guard dogs she trains. When an unexpected convoy of strangers rides into her village, it is
Dian who meets them, ready to do battle.
To her surprise, the visitors come in peace and bear a priceless gift, whose arrival is greeted with as much suspicion as delight. And indeed, the strangers want something in return, a request that could change the future of
the Valley into one of hope--or utter desolation.
It is up to Dian to discover their motive, in a journey that will cost her far more than she ever imagined, a journey from which she may never return.
489 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
126 people are currently reading
1276 people want to read
About the author
Leigh Richards
10 books12 followersA pseudonym of Laurie R. King
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
Read
December 2, 2008This was written by me under the indicated pseudonym.
April 16, 2019
Leigh Richards is a pen name of one of my favorite authors, Laurie R King. This, I suppose, is one of these instances where a writer produces something that's so different from the work she's known for that she (or her publisher) feels that a pen name is necessary. With the result that the author's fans may never know about the book in question unless the author draws their attention to it, which King did.
And I'm glad she did, but not because I loved the book. Like many readers, when I like an author I want to read everything she writes, and the whole pen name business can be pretty annoying unless the author is totally upfront with her readers about the pen name and then what's the point of the pen name? In the indie world, pen names have become a matter of marketing; in the age of algorithms and also-boughts, it's considered best practice to keep one set of readers distinct from the other to avoid a sort of marketing cross-contamination. Does that serve the interests of the readers? Does it really? I'm not at all sure. And I don't think King is either. She's written a number of very different books under her own name, including two radically different series and some standalones, and I'm sure I'm not the only fan who likes that wide range of interests.
All that aside, I wasn't terribly enamored of this dystopian even if I ended up wishing King could write more in the dystopian area because her matter-of-fact style and attention to detail lend themselves pretty well to this genre.
The premise is awesome: a nuclear conflict of some kind, many generations before, has had the inevitable result of setting civilization back several hundred years, with sparse technological remnants surviving here and there but mostly we're talking about subsistence farming, hunting, small isolated communities, etc. No, that's not the awesome bit--it's a staple of dystopian fiction. The awesome idea is that the war unleashed the contents of disease research centers and somehow a virus got out that has attached itself to the male half of the human species, so that few male children survive to adulthood. (It's probably been done; I only read one or two dystopians a year, so excuse my ignorance.)
The result is a primarily female civilization, with men and boy children kept as pampered, protected jewels with little to do except to serve more or less as sex workers and sperm banks. Women do all the work (insert ironic comment here), including the soldiering needed to protect their own communities and in particular their male resources. Without enough men to go round, marriage is a rarity and relationships seem pretty fluid altogether, even among the women--which kind of surprises me, given the fidelity I've observed within all-female relationships.
Dian, the protagonist, is one of those annoying characters who's looked up to by everyone and yet never manages to endear herself to me. Which, come to think of it, is a common thread running through King's books--I always prefer her sidekicks to her MCs, who generally have a slightly superhuman side to them. Dian's great attributes appear to be some kind of sixth sense that's never properly explained and her ability to control dogs, which is basically a matter of hard work and then I find myself wondering why she doesn't share her dog-training methods with more people.
The arrival of a new group of people sends Dian off on a journey with a slightly vague goal that she never actually seems to achieve; it mostly seems like an excuse for the journey, which brings her into contact with two new communities that have a radically different way of handling the realities of post-apocalyptic life (again, a typical dystopian theme). Events lead her to grapple with what I suppose you could describe as her central conflict, There's an ongoing threat that never actually materializes; I waited for that conflict all through the book and felt very peeved when I realized it, too, was mostly probably an excuse to have something happen at the opportune time. This novel definitely needed a bit more thought put into its plotting.
I'm glad I read this novel, as another connection with the mind of a writer whose work tends to be a tangle of subtleties and halftones, glimpses and allusions. A very literary writer for a genre writer, in fact. But it was too lax and wandering to make a good story, and I found it quite hard to keep going through its almost 500 pages. I feel that it was a developmental step in the writer's career; interesting, but not interesting enough.
And I'm glad she did, but not because I loved the book. Like many readers, when I like an author I want to read everything she writes, and the whole pen name business can be pretty annoying unless the author is totally upfront with her readers about the pen name and then what's the point of the pen name? In the indie world, pen names have become a matter of marketing; in the age of algorithms and also-boughts, it's considered best practice to keep one set of readers distinct from the other to avoid a sort of marketing cross-contamination. Does that serve the interests of the readers? Does it really? I'm not at all sure. And I don't think King is either. She's written a number of very different books under her own name, including two radically different series and some standalones, and I'm sure I'm not the only fan who likes that wide range of interests.
All that aside, I wasn't terribly enamored of this dystopian even if I ended up wishing King could write more in the dystopian area because her matter-of-fact style and attention to detail lend themselves pretty well to this genre.
The premise is awesome: a nuclear conflict of some kind, many generations before, has had the inevitable result of setting civilization back several hundred years, with sparse technological remnants surviving here and there but mostly we're talking about subsistence farming, hunting, small isolated communities, etc. No, that's not the awesome bit--it's a staple of dystopian fiction. The awesome idea is that the war unleashed the contents of disease research centers and somehow a virus got out that has attached itself to the male half of the human species, so that few male children survive to adulthood. (It's probably been done; I only read one or two dystopians a year, so excuse my ignorance.)
The result is a primarily female civilization, with men and boy children kept as pampered, protected jewels with little to do except to serve more or less as sex workers and sperm banks. Women do all the work (insert ironic comment here), including the soldiering needed to protect their own communities and in particular their male resources. Without enough men to go round, marriage is a rarity and relationships seem pretty fluid altogether, even among the women--which kind of surprises me, given the fidelity I've observed within all-female relationships.
Dian, the protagonist, is one of those annoying characters who's looked up to by everyone and yet never manages to endear herself to me. Which, come to think of it, is a common thread running through King's books--I always prefer her sidekicks to her MCs, who generally have a slightly superhuman side to them. Dian's great attributes appear to be some kind of sixth sense that's never properly explained and her ability to control dogs, which is basically a matter of hard work and then I find myself wondering why she doesn't share her dog-training methods with more people.
The arrival of a new group of people sends Dian off on a journey with a slightly vague goal that she never actually seems to achieve; it mostly seems like an excuse for the journey, which brings her into contact with two new communities that have a radically different way of handling the realities of post-apocalyptic life (again, a typical dystopian theme). Events lead her to grapple with what I suppose you could describe as her central conflict, There's an ongoing threat that never actually materializes; I waited for that conflict all through the book and felt very peeved when I realized it, too, was mostly probably an excuse to have something happen at the opportune time. This novel definitely needed a bit more thought put into its plotting.
I'm glad I read this novel, as another connection with the mind of a writer whose work tends to be a tangle of subtleties and halftones, glimpses and allusions. A very literary writer for a genre writer, in fact. But it was too lax and wandering to make a good story, and I found it quite hard to keep going through its almost 500 pages. I feel that it was a developmental step in the writer's career; interesting, but not interesting enough.
August 25, 2010
Wow. Just. Wow. I really loved this book, and I feel so sad that there isn't a sequel (although it works well on its own, I would have loved to have some "further adventures of...") Part dystopia, part agrarian idyll, post-pandemic California has descended into isolated frontier communities with limited technology. Males has been decimated by the disease and now have protected (and commodity) status due to their rarity. Dian and her village are alarmed when travellers from a far-flung outpost in the North come bearing valuable men as gifts and an unexpected proposition. Dian must travel via the university enclave of Meijing (once one of the greatest West Coast cities) to investigate the reasons for the offer before their community can trust and accept these new arrivals. With some of my favourite literary themes of societal collapse, gender and sexuality, speculative history and strong and interesting female characters, I was sold on this to start with and I only wish there were more books to read!
November 10, 2021
Brilliant! Imagine a dystopia that requires a female savior. Dian started all sharp edges but was developed into a full, nuanced character. The end was perfect.
April 30, 2020
I now officially believe Laurie R. King can write anything and create utterly compelling work. This is totally unlike any of her other work. It is speculative fiction and it was great! I was tearing through it and made myself slow down. I could have been up all night otherwise. I just loved all the characters, even the baddies. 21st century. Males in short supply because of a virus unleashed that reacts in specific ways with male genome killing off the majority and putting even infant males at high likelihood of dying. San Francisco taken over by Chinese—I think Chinese Americans but that wasn’t totally clear. So much more! Barbarity, sadist Black-shirted women guards, men hiding out disguised as women. Fabulous dogs. Having to share beautiful men. I could go on but don’t want to get into spoilers. Read it!
January 24, 2008
Leigh Richards is also known as Laurie R. King, author of the Mary Russell books, so when I saw this on the shelf I decided to give it a shot.
I read it on the plane home from Vegas, and it held my attention throughout the flight. Set in the "near future", after the devastating near-destruction of world (or at least, the known world to the characters involved), the world-building - with a female majority - is good and the characters are generally interesting, but as I finished it this morning I found myself disappointed in the ending. It was just too pat, and too sudden, and I felt it left two many stories unresolved. (With about 100 pages left, I said "I don't think she can pull this all together by the end." In my opinion, she didn't.)
I read it on the plane home from Vegas, and it held my attention throughout the flight. Set in the "near future", after the devastating near-destruction of world (or at least, the known world to the characters involved), the world-building - with a female majority - is good and the characters are generally interesting, but as I finished it this morning I found myself disappointed in the ending. It was just too pat, and too sudden, and I felt it left two many stories unresolved. (With about 100 pages left, I said "I don't think she can pull this all together by the end." In my opinion, she didn't.)
February 25, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this book. The pace was a little slow but there were parts I enjoyed. The whole premise was interesting but I felt like the end was still not completely resolved. In a society that was all about women I would hope that they would not act just like men but that is basically what happened in this book.
July 21, 2008
This book set in a remarkably different future (on Earth)tells the story of a new type of community and its challenges, including surrounding (not always compatible) communities. I loved this story and when I finished the book - I WANTED MORE!
February 5, 2011
Of all the things this book might have been to me, in the end it was a story about dogs. The relationship Dian and her dogs share created an axis around which the rest of this novel spun. Al dog lovers should give the book a go.
January 25, 2009
I wasn't really all that excited about this one, but it was for a book club, so I figured I'd make an attempt. It's a pseudonymous effort by the mystery author Laurie R. King, and I've been told that she's very good in her usual guise. That may be so, but I saw none of the promise I've been told is there in her mystery fiction in "Califia's Daughters." Honestly, my main problem was with how slow the pace of the book was. I read almost 300 of its 500 pages and still felt like the plot hadn't really gotten going. Things were happening, but they were taking so long to do so that I was getting bored. I'm sure that some people would enjoy the expansiveness of Richards/King's worldbuilding, but for me it seemed overdone. When we had our book club meeting, I was on page 272, and I never read another word of it after the meeting. Most of the other people in the book club never finished it either, and that probably says as much as anything about the relative engagement of this book.
I did give it 2 stars rather than 1, as I felt like there were some good ideas lurking here, but while it wasn't terrible, I couldn't really call it good either.
I did give it 2 stars rather than 1, as I felt like there were some good ideas lurking here, but while it wasn't terrible, I couldn't really call it good either.
August 7, 2011
I found this at a use book store for half price, and was intrigued by the rather interesting concept. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic America, where the population has been severely decreased and rendered the number of men to almost nil. Thus, the women are in charge of the remains of society and men are a protected and valued resource. This, unfortunately, is where the interesting aspects of this book end. It has a lot of potential to be a good story, but the author seems to ramble rather excessively and abuse commas and parenthesis. The story really just drones on for the first three-hundred or so pages before really getting somewhat engaging, and even then the author seems to skip from mini-story to mini-story. It seemed as if she built up several story arcs that she never actually concluded, instead settling on skipping to an entirely new adventure about 75% through the book. Everything from the beginning that seemed to be relevant was almost abandoned as background noise and left almost entirely unfinished by the end of the book.
December 13, 2014
Intriguing worldbuilding, gripping story, mediocre writing. The premise: technophobic riots unleashed viruses which destroyed most of the world's population, and rendered the birthrate of healthy males very very low. So you've got a female-run, post-apocalyptic society where men are a rare, sheltered commodity. Commendably, the book doesn't get into whether a basically Amazonian society would be better or worse, just uses it as a backdrop for a really interesting story. Definitely a page-turner. And like in China Mountain Zhang, China's again a major power, which is a theme I'm sure will be in more and more speculative fiction.
(While it was a cool idea to use quotes from an actual legend of an Amazon tribe to start each chapter, it ultimately felt kind of forced, with connections that weren't readily apparent.)
(While it was a cool idea to use quotes from an actual legend of an Amazon tribe to start each chapter, it ultimately felt kind of forced, with connections that weren't readily apparent.)
April 6, 2010
This book is set in post-apocalyptic California in a society where a deadly virus kills a significant portion of the male population of each generation. Men have become valuable assets to be cosseted and protected by women like Dian, who is responsible for providing security for everyone in her small farming community.
I admit that I am predisposed to like this book, as much for the strong relationship the main character has with her dogs as for the portrayal of women-run societies. And as a bonus it is also well-written, with interesting characters in a rich, fascinating world. I could have done without the last little bit at the end though. Sometimes a clean death is better than the alternative.
I admit that I am predisposed to like this book, as much for the strong relationship the main character has with her dogs as for the portrayal of women-run societies. And as a bonus it is also well-written, with interesting characters in a rich, fascinating world. I could have done without the last little bit at the end though. Sometimes a clean death is better than the alternative.
May 17, 2011
I enjoyed this more than i usually enjoy post-apocalyptic feminist fiction. Excellent character development, strong plotting, good ideas. I like the world she has created, and would love to read more in it. My only real problem with the book was the idea that monogamy would mean anything at all in a world where the gender ratios were 10:1. I suspect the author was unable to question her own monogamist bias, or didn't realize it needed questioning. That was the only note of jarring unreality. I really liked the protagonist, and found her psychological development, challenges & growth process both realistic and engaging. Would happily read more books in this world, particularly if they continued with this character.
February 8, 2020
I don't usually read this sort of dystopian literature, but since it was Laurie King I decided to give it a try. I absolutely loved it and it has me musing about the characters and the ideas a long time afterwards. It did feel like it ended abruptly; I was all set to accompany Dian and Robin the whole way home and then some, and was particularly sorry to miss the birth. I join my voice to the loud cry for a sequel, even, perhaps especially all these years later. Since we are living in dystopian, authoritarian times we need her alternative vision more than ever. But don't stop writing the Mary Russell books though!
September 4, 2008
This is a rather adventurous book set into a rather grim future where males have been nearly wiped out and are to be kept safe while the females take on the work of holding together their own special communities, protecting the weak and harvesting the crops. Dian is our heroine that must embark into a now hostile world from her own semi-utopia and encounters much that is different and sometimes dangerous. I read this book with much enthusiasm and finished it quickly.
May 12, 2021
Apocalyptic California, little technology or science left, males rarely surviving infancy, so women become their protectors (or sometimes enslavers) and take charge of everything, sheltering the men from danger (and freedom). No matter which gender is dominant, though, the same problems arise- tyranny, repression, violence.
September 16, 2008
I only read this because it is actually written by Laurie King and she gave me a copy when I worked at a bookstore. It was ok. She's a good writer, with great ideas, but I didn't like it as well as her other books.
September 5, 2020
A creative post-apocalyptic story. Ferocious woman guarding the last few men of the world, with corresponding quirks and twists of current gender roles. Devastatingly harsh, but glimpses of the tender love that’s still present in such a world.
December 12, 2024
Nothing I enjoy more than a book about a woman and her dogs, especially when its set in a dystopian future where women are the dominant sex. Loved it!
February 6, 2019
This is an ebook - I don't know why it says Paperback above. The author is a pen name of Laurie R. King. I love her Russell & Holmes books, have them all, and reread them often, so I thought I would give this one a try. She says it was the first one she wrote - or at least started - it wasn't finished until after the first R&H book was published. This is one I am just picking up now and then between other books, so it may take a while unless I get sucked in.
I was right - I was nearly halfway through before I was completely sucked in, then I couldn't put it down. I am not usually a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, but this was quite a fascinating story! It was inspired by the myth of the warrior queen Califia. A village in California, where war has decimated society and a strange virus causes males to die, is managed and protected by women. Since males are rare, they are protected by the warrior women like Dian, who also trains dogs as protectors. Men are not allowed to fight or do anything that might be dangerous, because there are so few of them; they must be kept alive to continue the species. They must also be guarded against kidnapping by roving bands of women. A group of strangers appears at the village, asking to join them in the future, as their home has been made uninhabitable by radiation leaking into the water supply. They leave behind one of their men and his little son, who befriend Dian. Dian, as the chief protector of the village, makes a trip with two of her dogs to the strangers' home village, to try to decide if it is safe to let them come. When she is injured, she is rescued and befriended by a strange woman with a secret. Eventually Dian goes to Ashtown, supposedly the worst town in the Bay area. In order to free her friend, she joins the Guardians, the repressive and brutal 'police' of the town, and has to fight her own inclination to brutality. A most interesting read, and quite touching in places, even if you don't care for dystopian stories.
I was right - I was nearly halfway through before I was completely sucked in, then I couldn't put it down. I am not usually a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, but this was quite a fascinating story! It was inspired by the myth of the warrior queen Califia. A village in California, where war has decimated society and a strange virus causes males to die, is managed and protected by women. Since males are rare, they are protected by the warrior women like Dian, who also trains dogs as protectors. Men are not allowed to fight or do anything that might be dangerous, because there are so few of them; they must be kept alive to continue the species. They must also be guarded against kidnapping by roving bands of women. A group of strangers appears at the village, asking to join them in the future, as their home has been made uninhabitable by radiation leaking into the water supply. They leave behind one of their men and his little son, who befriend Dian. Dian, as the chief protector of the village, makes a trip with two of her dogs to the strangers' home village, to try to decide if it is safe to let them come. When she is injured, she is rescued and befriended by a strange woman with a secret. Eventually Dian goes to Ashtown, supposedly the worst town in the Bay area. In order to free her friend, she joins the Guardians, the repressive and brutal 'police' of the town, and has to fight her own inclination to brutality. A most interesting read, and quite touching in places, even if you don't care for dystopian stories.
December 26, 2022
I was absolutely surprised by this book. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't what I got. And that was the most beautiful thing about it. A dystopian novel that was soothing in it's immense descriptions of living simply. Of intense relationships that came in and out of existence in the blink of an eye. The concept was well thought out and impeccably written. I loved the characters deeply (oh, gosh. Dian was so human it broke my heart), was intrigued by the culture created from the almost extinction of men, and honestly have never felt so deeply about dogs as I do about Callum & Thomas --excuse me if this isn't the correct spelling, I listened to the audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend.
And I have never had an epilogue break me like the epilogue in this book did. Tears welled up in my eyes and I just sat in silence for a couple of minutes after the book was done. It was such a satisfying ending to a book, but darn it if I'm not wishing for a sequel with my whole heart.
It is slow, so you need to be in the mood to meander. But it's worth it. So darn worth it.
And I have never had an epilogue break me like the epilogue in this book did. Tears welled up in my eyes and I just sat in silence for a couple of minutes after the book was done. It was such a satisfying ending to a book, but darn it if I'm not wishing for a sequel with my whole heart.
It is slow, so you need to be in the mood to meander. But it's worth it. So darn worth it.
November 12, 2021
First off, rounding up from 4.5⭐which maybe be a litleeeee generous but It's been too long since I've come across such an enjoyable piece of speculative fiction. It is my jam and all. Anyway, to put it bluntly Diane, the MC of this story is a bad ass bitch. She's got it all, intelligence, compassion, top notch warrior skills and she's also very diplomatic. The setting is in california, post nuclear disaster. Most of the men have died off due to some virus(?) that specifically targets the male species, reducing the male infant survival rate to the point where men and boys are rare enough to be prized and protected basically, above all else. Diane has to leave her valley home on horseback and a whole ass epic ensues. It was fun to read about societies run wholly by women in post apocalyptic world but the author did leave a couple little gaps that left me wishing for a resolution. I mean, I'm still going to shout this book out but Dear Author, please give us a sequel!!!😬
December 30, 2025
I'm not going to get too in detail here, but I'll be blunt and say this was a DNF for me, as of now. I might come back to it, but I'm unsure.
The problem with this book, is that it is relentlessly slow, with so little going into progressing the plot. It was just an endless description, with some minor conflicts that seemed to resolve themselves as soon as they appeared.
By the time I hit the 75% mark, and we were still on the way to the location we were headed for, I realised that this book just could not have an ending that was satisfying, and had to quit.
Interesting ideas and unfortunately just that. A story still needs conflict, structure, interesting characters, and pacing.
"Master of None" had a similar temperament to this book in pacing, airing for that slice-of-life style, but just did a far better job.
The problem with this book, is that it is relentlessly slow, with so little going into progressing the plot. It was just an endless description, with some minor conflicts that seemed to resolve themselves as soon as they appeared.
By the time I hit the 75% mark, and we were still on the way to the location we were headed for, I realised that this book just could not have an ending that was satisfying, and had to quit.
Interesting ideas and unfortunately just that. A story still needs conflict, structure, interesting characters, and pacing.
"Master of None" had a similar temperament to this book in pacing, airing for that slice-of-life style, but just did a far better job.
June 9, 2020
The leader of one of my book groups loaned me this book and said she thought I'd like it. I shouldn't have set it to the side for as long as I did because I ended up loving the book. This is the type of book that really appeals to me. A futuristic look at a society that has had their male population decimated by some type of virus that swept through. Even baby boys born after the virus have no promise of growing to adulthood. So their males are closely guarded and kept as safe as possible. Now, another small community has approached Dian, the Valley's chief protector, and her sister with a gift hoping that they'd be willing to join forces. Dian determines that she needs to visit the offering community and see more of their background before she makes a decision. And so begins the amazing journey that she ends up taking, involving many more detours than she could have ever expected.
June 22, 2017
Knowing that this post-apocalyptic science fiction was written under a pseudonym, by Laurie R. King, made it important for me to dig up a copy. I've read pretty much everything else she's written, and while this is a far cry from her normal genres of mystery, and historical mystery, I was particularly curious because, while I'll read most any genre, science fiction is my favorite. This book did not disappoint, in the least. Great characters, well structured plot, and a well-built world, make this an excellent read. You will go through a wide range of emotions, while reading this book, and to me, that's what great writing is all about.
November 11, 2020
5 Stars
I loved with weird apocalyptic society so much more than I thought.
Such a new and original concept, still relevant and entertaining today.
If you liked The Breeders series or want a more adult Alanna: The First Adventure series this is it.
I loved with weird apocalyptic society so much more than I thought.
Such a new and original concept, still relevant and entertaining today.
If you liked The Breeders series or want a more adult Alanna: The First Adventure series this is it.
January 17, 2019
It’s about the year 2100, 75 years after the end of the world as we know it. A pandemic has reduced the male population to a fraction. The virus still exists and it’s a rare boy-child that lives past his second birthday. Consequently, the women are the planners, the builders, the doers while the men are protected and pampered. The story takes place generally in the area between Meijing (San Francisco) and Ashtown (Ashland, OR). The premise is intriguing, the characters are appealing, and the action is adventurous. Definitely worth a read.
March 8, 2019
I had avoided reading this book, even though I have enjoyed and admired everything I have read by Ms. King.
The cover was rather odd and the description sounded like the common dystopian stories that are so popular and often so poorly written.
Ms. King published some of the book on her blog and I read it and was sold.
As usual with her writing, it is solidly thought out with rich characters and a tantalizing story.
Although the book came out some years ago, it could easily be part of an ongoing story.
Quite a fine read.
The cover was rather odd and the description sounded like the common dystopian stories that are so popular and often so poorly written.
Ms. King published some of the book on her blog and I read it and was sold.
As usual with her writing, it is solidly thought out with rich characters and a tantalizing story.
Although the book came out some years ago, it could easily be part of an ongoing story.
Quite a fine read.
November 29, 2021
Oh. My. This book.
Set in a very plausible near future dystopia, it's a combination of wilderness survival, social commentary, several dollops of "what if?" tossed in. And masterful storytelling.
I've read several of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell mystery novels, so I knew I was in for a treat, but oh my does this book deliver that, and more.
I can't remember the last book that brought me to tears repeatedly.
Set in a very plausible near future dystopia, it's a combination of wilderness survival, social commentary, several dollops of "what if?" tossed in. And masterful storytelling.
I've read several of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell mystery novels, so I knew I was in for a treat, but oh my does this book deliver that, and more.
I can't remember the last book that brought me to tears repeatedly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews