This book had a great deal of promise, but unfortunately Riley was unable to fulfil what she set out to do. As an alternative, reversed retelling of "The Handmaid's Tale", here we have an alternative Universe where the women have overthrown the men, and are now in charge of running a dystopian society.
I really like this as a premise, it's something original and I'm sure many people would argue is relevant for the current political climate today. However, the writing style was unfortunately incredibly simplistic and undeveloped. It. therefore, was unable to carry the weight of the story. Riley strove constantly to build an atmosphere of dark intensity, but never fully pulled this off.
The characters were all intensely unlikeable, which wouldn't in itself be a problem, but with a story like this, all we really want is someone to root for.
I really like this as a premise, it's something original and I'm sure many people would argue is relevant for the current political climate today. However, the writing style was unfortunately incredibly simplistic and undeveloped. It. therefore, was unable to carry the weight of the story. Riley strove constantly to build an atmosphere of dark intensity, but never fully pulled this off.
The characters were all intensely unlikeable, which wouldn't in itself be a problem, but with a story like this, all we really want is someone to root for.