New London: 2067
Britain struggles to rebuild after the crushing devastation of the Great Flood.
Those in power have formed a new regime in the wake of the disaster. Whether it is a hard-won utopia or an oppressive nightmare depends entirely on gender. Unmarried women have no legal rights or protection, and their access to education and employment is limited to ensure their servitude. Yet a fire burns within them to prove they are far from the weaker sex, and their rebellion seeks to tear down the patriarchal rule.
Cerys and Gloria have very different dreams, but a common enemy. Joining an underground alliance, they discover a group of scientists in possession of a weapon powerful enough to change society forever.
Their radical solution is not without great risk. Failure means death or imprisonment. Success could land them in a seat of authority, over a society that loathes them, without the requisite skills to thrive.
This was a novel with a very interesting premise, especially since I started reading it during the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in the world. I have always loved novels that deal with deadly viruses; I think its due to my Biomedical Science background, but I’ve always found viruses fascinating.
This novel starts as a letter written by Cerys. She starts with the dispersal of an airborne virus that only effect those with testoterone, ie males. This virus is the bomb that starts a war in hope to equalize men and women. Women are less than second class citizens in this time; they are beaten and abused as a norm and have no hope for change. Until now.
Cerys struggles with being subservient to the men of the world. She is apart of a group that has the mean for change, but is it worth the deaths of those that she loves?
Gloria, on the other hand, is all for the culling of men. She hates being controlled and abused by all the males that feel they are better then her. She welcomes the change, whatever the cost.
This novel was so interesting to read. It contains so many controversial ideas and “old world” knowledge from the time before the flood, ie the early 2000’s. I greatly enjoyed this novel and am interested to see if this world continues.
Carmilla Voiez is a proudly bisexual and mildly autistic introvert who finds writing much easier than verbal communication. A life long Goth, she is passionate about horror, the alt scene, intersectional feminism, art, nature and animals. When not writing, she gets paid to hang out in a stately home and entertain tourists.
Carmilla grew up on a varied diet of horror. Her earliest influences as a teenage reader were Graham Masterton, Brian Lumley and Clive Barker mixed with the romance of Hammer Horror and the visceral violence of the first wave of video nasties. Fascinated by the Goth aesthetic and enchanted by threnodies of eighties Goth and post-punk music she evolved into the creature of darkness we find today.
Her books are both extraordinarily personal and universally challenging. As Jef Withonef of Houston Press once said – “You do not read her books, you survive them.”
Carmilla’s bibliography includes Starblood (Vamptasy Publishing, Dec 2018), Psychonaut, book two of the Starblood series (Vamptasy Publishing, March 2019), Black Sun, book three (Vamptasy Publishing, June 2019), Starblood the graphic novel, Psychonaut the graphic novel, The Ballerina and the Revolutionary, Broken Mirror and Other Morbid Tales. Her short stories have been included in Zombie Punks Fuck Off (Clash Books), Slice Girls (Stitched Smile), Another Beautiful Nightmare (Vamptasy), Sirens Call Magazine and Trembling With Fear.
Her website and blog can be found at www.carmillavoiez.com
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