Book: The Light from the Other Side of the Forest (Lionesses of the Light) by April G. G.
Reviewed by Judy Sullivan
Rating: 4/5
This was an interesting read. I struggle to classify it, though....Probably New Adult? It isn't quite dystopian, though we are dealing with a cult.
Our FMC, Porter, is growing up in the Lionesses of the Light, a cult of women who live in a remote wooded area completely away from society. The women who founded the cult, her mother's generation, left "our" society for unknown reasons. The leader, Mother-Lioness, exerts strict control over every aspect of their lives.
The children, only girls, grow up learning to read and how to do simple chores to support the community. There are coming-of-age rituals at various times to give them goals and set them up in a societal structure that gives them something to be responsible for. Porter ends up being the type of kid who loves to question things. For the most part, those questions are satisfied with the simple answers she receives....until her mid-late teens. At the time when most teens are feeling rebellious, she starts asking harder questions and isn't as satisfied with the answers she receives.
This book does a good job of exploring the faults inherent in a system that excludes others, that "others" people just because of genetics. It's a pretty decent look at how power structures expose their own weaknesses and leaders can blind themselves to the seemingly obvious issues that dance barely under the surface. We do end on a hook for book 2, Behind the Invisible Wall, which I'm off to read to see how we end this quest for knowledge.
I would add CW for talk of forced pregnancy, talk of forced abortion, lack of medical attention leading to harm.