The Daughters of Moab

by Kim Westwood

Assassin. Protector. Blood sister.A story of our times seen through the lens of the future. A story of love, justice and the difficult nature of truth. In a world torn asunder, a small corner of Australia is having a chaotic rebirthEustace Crane II and his Followers of Nathaniel, the begrudging custodians of a ravaged landscape, are harvesting the genetically modified blood of the captive Daughters of Moab - because the Daughters, unlike the Nathans, have an unnatural abundance of good health. Assumpta Viali likes her solitude. But her boss, the crotchety Eustace, has other plans for her time and sends her to track an escaped captive, Easter. the hunter and the hunted forge an uneasy alliance, joined by Angus O'Connell, a Nathan with questionable motives. While Assumpta returns to the site of her community, destroyed long ago, Easter realises the perils of her lineage ... and Angus finds hope in the most unlikely of places. Driven by loss, and the search for home in an unpredictable new world, each of them must ultimately decide who to trust, and where they belong.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wild ride. There is not a sentence where something did not happen. And it contains plenty of Aussie references so if you are not familiar with Milo, CSIRO and other local icons it could be a bit of a mystery what is going on.
It's a few years in the future, DNA/genetics/GM was taking over and then an atomic explosion/bomb destroyed much and the survivors live in a variety of ex-mining camps, space tracking centres and science research centres. They live under the rule of the teachings of a fictional messiah called Nathaniel. Into this midst, Assumpta is trying to find out what happened to her mother while waiting for the Nathaniel's to die out.
There is plenty of tongue in cheek humour, a few nasty people, lots of gullible ones, new human-types with animal like capabilities, a man turning into a cockroach and plenty of dire predictions of where the world is heading.

[mab · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

australian lit really does hit different. also the extra half a star is for the bioluminescent dingos.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut sci-fi novel is unlike any book I’ve ever read (and I’m no stranger to dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction). In fact, it struck me as somewhat original. And I had enough reasons to like it beyond the stunning cover design: the faithfully observed yet vividly re-imagined Australian setting; a quirky, dark sense of humour and gender-bending feminist vision; the tense coexistence, thematically, of science and religion; Westwood’s unusually cliché-free way with words… And yet... somehow these high-grade ingredients never quite gelled for me. As much as I admired and at times even enjoyed various aspects of the narrative, I couldn’t escape my awareness of the author – her passion, commitment, sincerity, wealth of ideas, investment in story and characters – and her craft – such patience, care, inventiveness, attention to detail blah-blah-blah – when I wanted to be changed, challenged, I-don’t-know… offended? Disgusted? Shocked? Disoriented? Jolted out of my comfort zone? What I didn’t want was to be left with a sense of polite, politically correct preciousness. Sigh.

[Raven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to reading this book seeing as it's dystopia/post-apocalyptic and set in Australia. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations and I'm pretty sure that's not because I had high ones either.
It may have had an interesting premise, but that wasn't enough to save it. At times the writing style was a confusing, chaotic mess, filled with plenty of detail but lacking essential explanations to tie events together and when there was some much needed explanation (rarely given) it seemed to be thrown in apart from the event it was tied to, giving it a very disjointed feel.
Even so I kept pressing on in hope that something would happen to really grab me and add a missing element to the story but after reaching the half way point with nothing but further confusion and erraticism, it felt like a waste of time.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very strange novel, made even more difficult to read by its sometimes quite impenetrable language and symbolism.

Part of desert Australia has undergone a melt down in some dystopian future. There are few survivors, and no towns left. Those who have survived eke out a living waiting for the end of days, when the true believers, who are those with a male and female parent, will be taken to New Jerusalem and the transfected, those born of genetic dabbling, will die.

The only problem is that the Nathans (the true believers) are sick and dying, while the transfected, who have been genetically spliced with various animals, are thriving in the tough conditions.

Too much dystopia, too many plot lines, too much poetic language makes for a difficult read, even if the ideas are sometimes interesting

[Pete Aldin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abandoned (for the moment) because the book was a little too "literary" for me and required much more concentration than I like when reading a book to escape.

However, it is expertly written with some of the most stunning prose I've ever read. And to have a VERY Australian scifi book like this is something special too.

[Estela Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the idea of this book very much. Post apocalyptic, set in Australian, genetic manipulation, great ideas well written but... a little to confusing in parts. I found myself wishing she would get to the point over and over again throughout the book. I did enjoy reading it, I think I would have loved it had it been more straightforwardly written.

[Jenny]

The writing really is very good, but sadly I just couldn't summon enough interest in the characters to make it further than half-way. Also, for the absolute life of me, I can't believe that anyone would splice dingo genes into humans. To what end?

[Liz]

I stopped reading this a long time ago.

Completely inaccessible.

[Bren MacDibble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moody atmospheric, futuristic, high action, what's not to love?

[Jennifer Rolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating to read as it was set in Australia. Liked how she played with genetic modification and its impact on humans as well as environment. Her treatment of fundamentalism was great.

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit of a hard slog for me. I found the plot confusing and the characters unrelatable. Could be that Sci Fi isn't my favourite genre??