Califia's Daughters

by Leigh Richards

It's the future. Bad things have happened. Men are scarce, literally. It's a 12:1 female to male ratio on account of an unexplained genetically mutated virus. Women are in charge and they're trying to rebuild civilization one agro-community at a time. The premise is a bit far-fetched; though after seeing "Children of Men," my willing suspension of disbelief came a bit easier.

This is one of those books that I particularly enjoyed yet am hesitant to recommend. I stayed up late - 4am - one night just so I could finish it. I felt at times uncomfortable with the psychological makeup of the protagonist, especially in the latter half of the book when the heroine undergoes a brutal and sadistic initiation and consequently becomes brutal and sadistic. But it was powerful and necessary and more real than most authors are comfortable writing. The characters, particularly Dian the protagonist, were full and carefully considered and the plot was feasible. And that, when it comes right down to it, is all you need for a good read.

But. The book was painful to get into. It took me 3 separate starts which usually results in complete abandonment. But the author is one of my favorites (writing under a pen name), and she had earned my triple-try. However, my rough start was due to a poorly conceived beginning and a lack of necessary background information to get going. There were several other inexplicable elements that normally would have prompted me to cast this tome aside for the next one of my list.

Faux pas 1: Dian roams about with a pack of loyal, highly trainable dogs. Yes, I realize that Dian is symbolic of the ancient Greek goddess and yes I realize that the dogs are a necessary part of the symbolism. But in this case it just didn't fit. The dog conceit was taken too far and explained particularly poorly as some sort of feminine mystical bond; it was at odds with the relationships built and sustained in the rest of the book. Faux pas 2: Dian engages in a fascinating relationship with an enigmatic male and his young son, yet this relationship is completely abandoned in the second half of the book and never satisfyingly brought to a conclusion at the meager end. Faux pas 3: The second half of the book is built on the need for Dian to go and examine an isolated agro-community that wants to ally with her own small group. The need for her journey is built on a huge secret mystery that turns out to be rather insignificant, especially since the resolution to this huge secret takes a scant 2-3 pages to resolve and barely transitions into the second part of Dian's journey and her dark transition. This whole situation is an example of bad planning that tries to hide under solid writing. In this book, it simply doesn't work. Faux pas 4: The meager end leaves simply too many loose threads to leave the reader happy. I enjoy obscure endings, particularly when the author has prepared me. I have no problem with the notion that Dian's future is uncertain. I do have a problem with the complete ambiguity surrounding nearly every other character in the book.

Laurie R. King is a great writer, and this book has more than just glimpses of her talent. But somewhere along the way, perhaps in the editing shop, something went wrong and it shows. The book is worth picking up, but if you can't get into it in one or even two tries then it's probably time to put it down and move on to something different, or maybe just a different book by the same author.