The Separation by Stormy Russell

Genre: Dystopian/Coming of Age

Rating: 5/5

Less than a century ago, the differences between men and women grew so great that a war was fought, and they began living apart. Now actual walls separate them and there is no contact between regular citizens. Communication between men and women is restricted to the leadership and even then, only the most necessary and important issues require interaction. Eroyn lives with her elder, Grace, and has no major ambitions other than to have a happy life, make Grace comfortable, and do her job as a security officer well. She has been taught to despise men. One day she captures one. She drags him home to interrogate him and plans to turn him over. But then, she meets several more, including someone she never thought she would see. Her interactions with them cause her to question her whole society.

I found this book very interesting, especially in light of the extreme feminism that we see today. It was an interesting exploration of what our lives might be like if we lived in a female-only culture. I really LOVED the setup where a girl would be chosen by an older woman to be her companion, and then the younger girl would go on to inherit what the older woman had. The elders were taken care of and respected in such an amazing way and Eroyn loved Grace as a mother. I am eager to hear more about the rest of the world in books to come, since they were very isolated in this book. Everything was quite controlled (as it is in most dystopian novels) so we got just a small glimpse of the world.

Overall, a great read that definitely stirs some questions! It was quite creative and enjoyable!

Grammar/Editing: Abysmal/Poor/Needs Work/Good/Excellent - There were some grammatical and punctuation errors here and there but nothing excessive. There was nothing that detracted from the story too much.

Profanity: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - Almost no curse words.

Violence: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme -  A man implies rape at one point. SPOILERS: A town is bombed at one point and there is quite a lot of bloodshed and death. This is really quite traumatic.

Sexuality: None/Mild/Medium/Heavy/Extreme - Rape is implied at one point, but other than that, there isn't any sexuality.

Purchase books 1 and 2 using my affiliate links: