Review: I liked it
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2011
This is a pretty good sci-fi/futuristic romance. The author created an imaginative setting, with there being only a few things I would have liked a bit more description or explanation of. I actually think the author could take this story and expand it, making it longer and more detailed, and she would have a good series to develop.The story starts with the heroine Mali in a small village in the Barrenlands. And that's exactly what it is-  a rough, dry, hard and barren place. Here the women seem to be in charge, as they outnumber the men about three to one. Also, the population is dwindling, with few men, and most of those are infertile and/or old. Mali is a receiver, a fertile woman, one who will be bred with someone in the village in hopes of producing a strong, healthy child. I'm not sure how many receivers there are, but in the book we meet two more besides Mali.Once a woman has had a child, the village takes it from her and raises it as a community; the child is really community property, an asset to ensure the survival of the village. Mali, who does want a child, also wants a man to love. She remembers stories from long ago, from a time when the village was different, when a woman had one man, who was hers alone and who helped raise their child together, as parents. This is what Mali wishes for.Now of age, it is Mali's turn to be bred, to see if she can reproduce, and as receivers are considered holy and significant to the life of the village, Mali is a virgin, having been kept away from the men in order not to be 'fouled' by the infertile. For five years, the elders had been searching for a breeder, a fertile man. One night, a small hunting party of the men bring back a prisoner to the village. Mali is fascinated with this man right away. He is taller than the local men; he's also young and muscular and virile looking. And she realizes they have taken this man in hopes of forcing him to breed with her.The hero Jaeger is furious with these backward, ignorant savages, and it takes almost all the men to subdue him. He is forcibly taken to the council meeting where he first gets a good look at Mali. Mali thinks it is wrong what they are forcing him to do and so she is burned by his furious glare at her, all that anger and hatred stinging her. Mali reacts by refusing Jaeger, spurning him publicly. And ironically, this makes him reconsider her.Mali is punished very harshly for standing up to the council, who also threaten to expel her from the village if she does not do her duty and copulate with the prisoner. After her punishment, which was being caged for four days and nights, fully exposed to the cruel elements, with only bread and water to eat, Mali, somewhat broken, resigns herself to doing what she must to survive.There's more to the story, about why the village is the way it is, backwards and barren, about Jaeger's identity, and about how Mali and Jaeger end up and where. There were a couple times I was a bit worried about what was going to happen. All in all, I enjoyed this story, Jaeger and Mali, and the captive theme as well.