Elom Book

Fire from the Goddess and the meat and furs of the mammoth are all that the People need to live. It is a harsh life but a good one and it is one that all cherish.

Young Geerna knows that the time has come for her to become a woman and take up the tasks to keep her people safe. She waits in the Awakening Place, fearful and hopeful as her ordeals come to an end. Then, on the eve of her Womanhood, a shining light descends upon her and her world is torn asunder.

And she embarks on a journey that none of her people could ever envision...

Eons have passed. Cycle upon cycle the Way of the People have remain unchanged: women are artists, men are hunters. Geerna’s Law is the covenant by which humans live in harmony and peace.

But all is about to change. A call has come for The People to choose their champions, and a summons to meet the mysterious creatures who selected Geerna so long ago.

All is unknown. As the brave souls who are chosen venture forth, they will come to discover just how much that pact that Geerna made so long ago has cost them.

And they will have to confront the choices that might help them to finally know true freedom.

Publishers Weekly

This unwieldy debut from former Alabama state senator Drinkard introduces a low-tech world where human reproduction is controlled to concentrate desirable traits. Life is regulated by the scriptures of Geerna, a primitive human who long ago reached a covenant with the goddess Shetow. The wise women of the Medora Council interpret Geerna's words and protect her secret prophecies, overseeing the competitions where adolescents demonstrate their skills and suitability for mating. Occasionally indulging in too-chunky exposition, Drinkard unfolds a world more complicated than it first appears. Seven young men and women, chosen to represent humanity when Shetow passes judgment, soon learn their goddess is not at all what she seemed. Shifting romantic entanglements, team dynamics and personal growth keep the human level interesting despite revelations in which the characters are largely passive, but the eventual pairing off is too pat, and the conclusion ducks the moral questions raised by such social engineering. (Mar.)

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