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A review by emilyusuallyreading
Breeder by Casey Hays
4.0
What I Liked
The dystopian world of Breeder is fascinating. Women rule this place, taking on every job and leaving men to rot in the Pit with "breeding" as their only responsibility. Historically, men were the causes of wars and fighting and destruction. So now men barely deserve to live. For YA fiction, this is a fun scenario and a good read. I read Breeder in a single sitting of about two or three hours because I was hooked. Hays is a good writer.
The characters portrayed here are interesting and all likable in their own way. There is Mona, the cold ruler who must have something horrific in her past to allow herself to transition from tenderness to cruelty in a heartbeat. There is Mia, the best friend who has found her place in this difficult world - and even if she's not quite content, she doesn't see the problems the way that Kate does. There is Diana, who has endured unspeakable damage. And there is the Woman who secretly taught Kate how to read (why didn't we ever learn more about who she was...??). I was intrigued by Justin and Jesse (Max didn't exist much). And Ian... yes, Ian was a dream. The perfect YA hero dreamy love interest. I could read about Ian forever.
I love a good YA novel that doesn't contain graphic sex or gratuitous cussing because "teens do that stuff so how could they possibly go without reading it?" Sometimes YA fiction is littered with far more swear words than adult fiction because it's classified as a YA thing. Breeder is clean of profanity, and even though the subject matter is obviously mature, there aren't explicit sex scenes. And I appreciate that.
What I Didn't Like
I love Jesus and don't mind a well-written piece of Christian fiction. I wasn't expecting this to be Christian fiction... and it wasn't. I don't think. That's what was confusing. Before the first chapter is Isaiah 25 in its entirety, and at the start of every chapter was a verse. Romans 1:25, Micah 6:8, etc. And I really never saw the connection in this. The members of the Village believe in astrology and the Fates. Everyone's destiny is determined by the set of the stars. The Archer decided that Kate would be a breeder, which meant that she would mate with men (the outcasts imprisoned in the Pit until they're no longer useful) - and it doesn't matter if Kate wants to be a breeder or not. Few people in the Village actually seem to believe in the Fates (except for Mona herself), and ultimately Kate's decision-making shows that there isn't a set destiny for her... or is there? With the Bible verses placed all through the text, I was confident that there would be a shocking reveal that Fate wasn't real because God was, but there never was. If anything, the "religious" characters were left looking a little bit ridiculous or all-around corrupt. And the characters who wanted their own free will apart from the stars religion were the ones who seemed intelligent. So, as happy as I was to see Bible verses in a YA book, I never really understood why they were there.
At times, this world contradicts itself. This is a feminist society. Women are the rulers, the warriors, the jailers, the everything... and yet women don't have control over their own bodies when it comes to sex. Another example is how dictatorial Mona and the Council are supposed to be, yet how open people can be about their distaste of them, like Diana, for example. To me, it's weird that there are books about good men in the library at all, even if only accessible by teachers.
I found a handful textual errors. Mostly punctuation, but once there was the word "was" instead of "what." Not huge problems, but an issue with the editor and not with the author herself.
I wish I could have a little more world-building. Like I said above, I loved the idea of this dystopian world. If it's been done before, I sure don't know about anything like it. The all-female Village is an interesting concept to me and Hays created an enjoyable story. I just wish I knew more about why this world got to be the way it is.
(By the way, some of my answers to my questions here might be answered in future books, which I would be interested in reading - but in terms of world-building and Scripture placement and etc, I would like Breeder to stand out as a story arc on its own. For the most part, it does that job.)
The dystopian world of Breeder is fascinating. Women rule this place, taking on every job and leaving men to rot in the Pit with "breeding" as their only responsibility. Historically, men were the causes of wars and fighting and destruction. So now men barely deserve to live. For YA fiction, this is a fun scenario and a good read. I read Breeder in a single sitting of about two or three hours because I was hooked. Hays is a good writer.
The characters portrayed here are interesting and all likable in their own way. There is Mona, the cold ruler who must have something horrific in her past to allow herself to transition from tenderness to cruelty in a heartbeat. There is Mia, the best friend who has found her place in this difficult world - and even if she's not quite content, she doesn't see the problems the way that Kate does. There is Diana, who has endured unspeakable damage. And there is the Woman who secretly taught Kate how to read (why didn't we ever learn more about who she was...??). I was intrigued by Justin and Jesse (Max didn't exist much). And Ian... yes, Ian was a dream. The perfect YA hero dreamy love interest. I could read about Ian forever.
I love a good YA novel that doesn't contain graphic sex or gratuitous cussing because "teens do that stuff so how could they possibly go without reading it?" Sometimes YA fiction is littered with far more swear words than adult fiction because it's classified as a YA thing. Breeder is clean of profanity, and even though the subject matter is obviously mature, there aren't explicit sex scenes. And I appreciate that.
What I Didn't Like
I love Jesus and don't mind a well-written piece of Christian fiction. I wasn't expecting this to be Christian fiction... and it wasn't. I don't think. That's what was confusing. Before the first chapter is Isaiah 25 in its entirety, and at the start of every chapter was a verse. Romans 1:25, Micah 6:8, etc. And I really never saw the connection in this. The members of the Village believe in astrology and the Fates. Everyone's destiny is determined by the set of the stars. The Archer decided that Kate would be a breeder, which meant that she would mate with men (the outcasts imprisoned in the Pit until they're no longer useful) - and it doesn't matter if Kate wants to be a breeder or not. Few people in the Village actually seem to believe in the Fates (except for Mona herself), and ultimately Kate's decision-making shows that there isn't a set destiny for her... or is there? With the Bible verses placed all through the text, I was confident that there would be a shocking reveal that Fate wasn't real because God was, but there never was. If anything, the "religious" characters were left looking a little bit ridiculous or all-around corrupt. And the characters who wanted their own free will apart from the stars religion were the ones who seemed intelligent. So, as happy as I was to see Bible verses in a YA book, I never really understood why they were there.
At times, this world contradicts itself. This is a feminist society. Women are the rulers, the warriors, the jailers, the everything... and yet women don't have control over their own bodies when it comes to sex. Another example is how dictatorial Mona and the Council are supposed to be, yet how open people can be about their distaste of them, like Diana, for example. To me, it's weird that there are books about good men in the library at all, even if only accessible by teachers.
I found a handful textual errors. Mostly punctuation, but once there was the word "was" instead of "what." Not huge problems, but an issue with the editor and not with the author herself.
I wish I could have a little more world-building. Like I said above, I loved the idea of this dystopian world. If it's been done before, I sure don't know about anything like it. The all-female Village is an interesting concept to me and Hays created an enjoyable story. I just wish I knew more about why this world got to be the way it is.
(By the way, some of my answers to my questions here might be answered in future books, which I would be interested in reading - but in terms of world-building and Scripture placement and etc, I would like Breeder to stand out as a story arc on its own. For the most part, it does that job.)