At some point in the future, the United States has a 2nd civil war. Instead of being between north & south, this time it’s man vs. woman. Ultimately, it ends in an uneasy truce; sort of like the end of the Korean war. As such, there are still minor scrimmages & incursions over the borderlands that divide the genders.

The women of this dystopia somewhat resemble the Amazon women from Greek mythology. Like the Amazons, they are trained for combat have a tendency to really, REALLY dislike men. According to legend, the Amazons would have their childbearing aged women couple with men from a neighboring tribe once a yr. The female babies would be kept, while the male babies would be returned to the men’s tribe to be raised. As for future women, they have cut men out of the equation of reproduction altogether. Women are artificially inseminated, and the male DNA chromosomes have been omitted to preclude the chance of more male babies being produced. This is done, of course, with the efficacy of ultimately bringing the male homo sapiens to extinction.

In order to compensate for having less physical strength than their male counterparts, the women have relied on their guile to built mechanical contraptions that give the user superhuman strength & agility as well as an array of rather nasty weapons to engage male soldiers on the battlefield. They are also much more adept at fighting as a team than the male soldiers whom they square off against.

Such is the backdrop of the current tale. 2 characters living in this future (George & Annabelle) have a chance meeting and both are discontent with the status quo. As was the case in the Middle Ages, the alliance of church & state makes political considerations ever more convoluted ~ nevermind the fact that the genders no longer “play nice.” Indeed, this is a grim depiction of 2 societies that barely function in the broadest sense of the term. Geo & Anna can see that the current path is a dead end for society, but can they do anything to alter the societal path?

This book is recommended for people who enjoy science fiction novels and visions of a dystopian future. More specifically, the target audience would be readers who appreciate a sci fi tale that is set in the not-too-distant future. This is not a book about space travel or jaw-dropping technology. Rather, it centers on the consequences of what happens when men & women fail to “get along.”

(D. Roberts “Hadrian12” Vine Voice)