A virus caused female births to be almost nonexistent worldwide, and brought about the creation of the National Obstetric Alliance, the purpose of which is to find a cure and restore the female birth rate. The NOA actively searches for baby girls, bringing them to the Advance Research Compound, or ARC, in order to keep them safe and teach them about their important purpose in life.
Zoey has lived in the ARC her entire life, her every move constantly monitored by security cameras and guards. She feels like a prisoner and is determined to escape… somehow. A terrifying situation morphs into an opportunity for escape, but danger lurks around every corner and the freedom she wants so badly will come at a terrible cost.
I enjoyed this novel very much. A world populated almost completely with men and boys would be a very frightening place for women and girls, and Hart does an excellent job of maintaining an undercurrent of danger in every situation, including the mundane. This is the first in a trilogy of novels, so the end of the book leaves several unanswered questions, but they were the right questions, in my opinion. I’m looking forward to reading more of Zoey’s story in the next book.
If you enjoy reading dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels, I think you’ll like this one. I certainly did!
I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Thomas & Mercer via Netgalley.
Author: Joe Hart
Title: The Last Girl
Series: Dominion Trilogy #1
Genre: Dystopia, Post-Apocalyptic
Published: March 1st 2016 by Thomas & Mercer
Rating: 4 stars
About the Book
A mysterious worldwide epidemic reduces the birthrate of female infants from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.
Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away—told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population.
Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has ever returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning—but Zoey is ready for war.
About the Author
JOE HART was born and raised in northern Minnesota. Having dedicated himself to writing horror and thriller fiction since the tender age of nine, he is now the author of nine novels, including The River Is Dark, Lineage, EverFall, and the first two books in the Dominion Trilogy, on which this graphic novel is based. When not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising, exploring the great outdoors, and watching movies with his family. For more information on his upcoming novels and access to his blog, visit http://www.joehartbooks.com.
The Geeky Bibliophile 
Hmmmm. Sounds interesting. Might have to check it out.
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I hope you will. I really enjoyed it.
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