Reviewed by: Sooz
Genre: Dystopian/LGBTQ
Approximate word count: 100-105,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Gretchen
Blickensderfer grew up in Manchester, England. She acted and performed voices
starting at 12. She came to the United States at 18. Gretchen has worked as an
actor, screenwriter, and film critic.
Description:
The Last Circle chronicles the rise to power of a
United States Evangelical theocracy and the small group of Pagan and LGBT
friends who must escape the country to survive.
Appraisal:
As the
current-day United States fights toward legalizing gay marriage across all 50
states, The Last Circle looks at a “what-if” world if the opposite happens.
However, it’s not just about gay marriage, but paganism and anything that is
deemed un-Christian, even Cinderella.
The
fundamentalist Christians have won in The
Last Circle and those that do not follow their beliefs are not safe in this
dystopian future.
The message
in The Last Circle is very
heavy-handed with an almost preaching-like quality of what will happen to the
country if Christians take over. This could be a real turn off to many readers,
including myself, but not for the reasons you think.
It just
seemed so much was painted in black and white. If you’re a Christian, you’re an
evil person who doesn’t want anyone to be happy and you will go to dire lengths
to ensure that salvation comes to everyone even if means they have to give up
their freedoms to do so. On the other hand, if you are pagan or Wiccan and your
friends are gay and outcasts from their families, you’re inherently good.
Life does
not work this way.
While I
appreciate Gretchen Blickensderfer’s fight for a better society, it just seemed
many of the scenarios were outlandish and many of the characters were walking
stereotypes. It’s a bit more complicated than good versus evil especially when
painting with such a broad brush.
The book
also seemed to jump around a bit too much and felt disorganized.
Format/Typo Issues:
There were
some typos.
Rating: ***Three Stars
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