Review: A truly innovative meeting of the minds
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2014
This is really an incredible read. Carolyn Faulkner and Breanna Hayse are both high-quality authors, but working together they have achieved something beyond the sum of their parts. Each has a distinctive style and approach, and while both are evident here, working together they are able to take their prose and plotting to a new level. I have had a few issues with each author’s works in the past (but clearly nothing too major) but I can say that this is probably my favorite piece either of them has put out, both by its theme as well as by the technical proficiency of the writing.Strictland Academy is set in a post-apocalyptic setting after World War IV, but that is basically just set up. The outside world is largely covered in exposition near the beginning, which essentially establishes that this is a dystopian society on authoritarian lines of class and gender, and where relationships and offspring are strictly regulated by society. As part of the population shortages from the wars (and the fact that many of the wounded veterans are not considered desirable) the government essentially forces young women into ‘rehabilitation’ under spurious charges, Strictland Academy being a center which provides one such service. The book follows a group of new arrivals at Strictland and their various travails.There is so much that happens to them that I couldn’t recount all of them here. Needless to say, it includes heavy discipline, school, prison, medical (including enema and gynecological exams) and diapering themes, and has both M/f and F/f sex. There is also a strand of romance between one of the inmates and Dr. Wells, even if that romance is not position as the girl being granted ‘freedom’ but rather a more compassionate approach to her submission under male authority, something which I appreciated. If you like even just one of those above themes, this book is well worth it.Strictland Academy is being promoted as book one of The Darkness Series. From Hayse’s intro, it’s not clear whether the entire series will follow the same narrative established in this book, or will be a series only linked by similar dark themes. This book, while ending on a definitive note, certainly leaves enough room open for direct sequels. In either case, I will definitely be following their future collaborations.