One thing about me is that I cannot resist the siren song of a dystopian novel. But then make it cultish? With marriage raffles? AND THEN come to find that this cult is a government experiment to save the human race? Yep, I’m dropping everything. So here I am, not writing about Zodiac Academy, but instead reviewing Theirs to Protect by Stasia Black.

Alright, so an eco-terrorist event has happened called “The Fall”, where a genetically engineered virus called “Xterminate” is released in major cities around the world and over the next five years, 90% of the world’s female population is dead. Next came nuclear war and EMP attacks that wiped out even more people and all technology. The book focuses on Texas, now renamed, “The New Republic of Texas” that has been overrun with corrupt politicians lording over regional areas. Resources are scarce, violence is high, and women are hunted.

We begin the story with a prologue; Audrey, a 22 year old, terrified woman, exchanging marriage vows with five men. Chapter one juxtaposes this scene with a three week flashback to Audrey and her older brother, Charlie, finding water after a day and a half. They’ve been on a 200 mile journey from their Uncle Dale’s bunker and are now one week into hiking through Texas Hill Country. They spent the last eight years underground in Uncle Dale’s bunker and, although we don’t know what at this point, we do know that something happened to force them to run away. Their goal is to get to the coast where they’ve heard of a safe place for women.

As they are drinking, they are ambushed by several men, who shoot Charlie and grab Audrey. Charlie slumps to the ground, presumably dead, Audrey fights the men, and flees on foot. She’s tackled in the long grass of a clearing by Nix, the Head of the Security Squadron in Jacob’s Well Township, a peaceful community in Central Texas Sector South. Nix regularly leads rescue missions in other territories with the goal of saving women from slavery and violence. Audrey is in one of the most brutal territories run by a mysterious man named Travis. Nix, Jeffries, and Finn shoot Audrey with a tranquilizer gun and tear out of the area, all the while being shot at by Travis’ cronies.

Audrey is brought back to Jacob’s Well and put up in the Commander’s house to recover. After many escape attempts, she is forced into the town’s marriage lottery, which is their supposed peaceful solution to the apocalyptic chaos. Men enter the lottery and must pass, what is essentially, an ongoing background screening, which keeps them in line, as they must remain on pristine behavior to be eligible. When a woman is rescued, the Commander pulls five men’s name at random and they all become a clan, assuming the last name of the head of the house (i.e. the man with the highest standing in the community).

I love finding a new take on the dystopian theme and this book is so unique. The cause of the apocalypse, I’ve never read before. A virus that targets only women sets up such a rich cause and effect storyline that brings endless possibilities. The fact that there’s a township that’s experimenting with this lottery solution to keep the peace amongst a population of seemingly sex starved men is incredible. Then, how they are dealing with the rebuilding as a community is fascinating. Everyone pitches in from making soap, to rebuilding machinery from scraps, to politics, bookkeeping, farming, water production, and on and on. Stasia has thought of everything. And she gently weaves all of it into the story without detracting from the plot. It all seems so believable too, what with the power structures, socio-economic-like hierarchies, and just how everyone fits in based on skills and prior knowledge.

The characters all have varied backgrounds that all mostly include some form of trauma, which informs the characters’ personalities and how they deal with day to day life. Stasia doesn’t officially call it out, but I’m pretty sure one of the husbands, Graham, is autistic, which is amazing to see unfold. Not only do we see how Graham navigates a world of constant upheaval, while finding routine, but also gives himself over to the family, way out of his comfort zone.

Did I mention that this book has a cultish vibe? I’m not going to give it away, but, anyone who’s watched even one cult documentary on Netflix knows that when there’s a cult, there’s some messed up stuff happening in the shadows. Throughout, you just know that something is going to go down in this seemingly peaceful town. Well, this book delivers on that and by the end, you can tell that there’s so much more to the corruption in this world.

This is a five book series, where the overall story is on going, but each book focuses on a different clan. I’ve read a few chapters of the next book and it looks like the new characters are going to intertwine with previous characters very closely. This is unlike most series I’ve read where there’s small cameos of previous characters. Stasia’s take here is perfect because, by the end of Theirs to Protect, there’s still so much to the story that hasn’t been told. I immediately downloaded the next four books. I have to see what happens next!

Even though I gave this book a 4.5/5, that doesn’t mean I didn’t absolutely love it. The only reason I took it down a bit is because I’ve read some absolute stunners this year, so my bar is pretty high. I still highly, highly recommend reading. If you’re interested in Stasia Black’s work, you can check out her website here. As always, feel free to comment below if you’ve read this series or if your catnip is also dytopian, cultish novels. OH! And if you have any recommendations, please send them my way!