A review by thenerdymom
Folsom by Willow Aster, Tarryn Fisher

5.0

“The secret to survival is to stay hard and focused, hard enough that the vastness of emptiness cannot live inside you. My life is a straightjacket, and if you don’t want anything to hold power over you, including the straightjacket, you pretend you aren’t wearing one. But, as I sit across from this woman, I feel it: every constraint, the painful tug of my conscience both toward her and the Regions. Before Gwen I did what I needed to do, I survived. But not I’m not so sure what that means.”

Folsom Donahue is one of twelve reasons the male gender will survive, the weight of this sits upon his shoulders every day. He thinks nothing of it though, it’s his civil duty: have sex with women and impregnate them. He’s been doing it for years and he’s sure he is doing this for the greater good. To produce more men. Until he meets Gwen Allison.
All Gwen has ever wanted in this life is a baby of her own. Someone to call her own, take care of and to love. The only way to get what she wants is by an End Men. It just so happens her favorite, Folsom Donahue is moving to the Red Region. Her mother has set an appointment with him Gwen’s dreams will soon become reality. Or so she believed.
When love takes root and grows in your heart, what are you willing to risk for it?
 
I want to gush forever about this unique story that Tarryn and Willow have created for us. I’m not surprised that I’m in love with it so much to be honest. When Tarryn first announced that she had been co-writing a book about the extinction of men I fainted. Okay. I’m being dramatic. But come on! Who is better fit to slay this type of novel? Right, no one except Willow Aster.
Willow Aster’s work has only popped up in my radar because of Tarryn. I’ve heard nothing but AMAZING things about this woman, knowing Tarryn wouldn’t steer her PLN’s in the wrong direction. Folsom is my first Aster read and I can confidently say it will not be my last. And the two authors together? Shit is DYNAMITE.

“The life I live is lonely. I have no home, I have no family, and I have no ties to any one place. What they make us do takes our souls; it turns us into machines that function without love. Every human needs love…”

Folsom is a hottie. There. I said it. He’s caring, charming, and sexy. There is a magnetic force pulling the reader in, demanding attention. And I gave it all. He’s one of the most sensitive male characters that Tarryn has ever written and it is more than likely because Willow played her part in this. I loved it. I loved Folsom Donahue. And I can successfully add another book boyfriend to that corner in my heart.

Let’s talk about Gwen now! Without a doubt she is my favorite female character I’ve encountered in a long time. She’s different than all the women of the new world and it radiates from her. She doesn’t question, she just does. She’s Tarryn tough but her walls do not stand tall like previous female characters she has brought to life. It was like a breath of fresh air. Her femininity is one of the attributes I enjoy most about her. She’s small, dainty, and vulnerable in the best way ever. But my favorite thing about Gwen? She’s a fighter, and the fight has just begun.

“Don’t forget, Gwen, that these men you love so much are the ones responsible for this mess we’re in. They had control of this world for thousands of years and they didn’t do anything but take from us, use us, and suppress us. ‘The age of women,’ as you call it, is finally here. And most of us couldn’t be happier about it.”
“You can’t hold twelve men responsible for an entire gender, Sophia.”

The message that was given in this book will be received when you read it. During times like these–which we are currently living in–books are always there to help us stop, take a step back, and remind us of some things we may have lost sight of.
“You can’t hold twelve men responsible for an entire gender.” is a quote that not only pertains to men these days, but any group of people. Police men, doctors, republican, democrat, black, white …anyone. Our problem as a country is that we have started to look at people as a whole instead of the individuals themselves and it’s become dangerous to our society. We need to stop blaming these groups, open our eyes to the fact there will always be terrible people in the world. But more than that? The good will always be there to outweigh. The only way forward is to try  understanding each other even if we cannot agree. To stop holding twelve men responsible for an entire gender.

More than anything reader, I want you to enjoy this book and to understand it. I want you to love it and to be just as excited as I was when I finished it. I am so ready for Jackal that I cannot contain it. I have so much faith in both Tarryn and Willow that this will be one of my favorite series ever. Now, I’ll leave you with this;
 

“Before the age of women, there was an aged of men.”
You could hear a pin drop in the room, it is so quiet.
“In that age we were ravished, sold into marriages, denied an education, raped and blamed, and refused equal treatment. I’m beyond grateful to be with you today in this age of woman. But I am also grieved. The age of men is over and so is our oppression. And what has oppressed us is near extinction. Unfortunately, we will follow shortly behind them.” I swallow hard, my emotions reaching their peak. The faces staring up at me are conflicted. that are listening to me, rapt attention on their faces. I flex my hands where they can’t see, hoping I don’t look as wrung out as I feel.
“The problem lies not with men, or women, but with humanity. Perhaps we lost it, but there’s a good chance we never found it. And what has been done to us for thousands of years must not be done to them now…the men. In the age of women, we must rise for the sake of our humanity. Let us decline rather than once again turn humans into slaves. We must not repeat history; we must rewrite it. To do so, we must unite. Unite in our defense of justice for all women and for all men.”