Califia's Daughters

Califia’s Daughters is one of the most unique, inventive, thought provoking, dark, disturbing, pseudo-violent, feminist-based, post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels I have read in a long time, if ever. I thoroughly enjoyed it and came away impressed with the book and author. What a work of art!

The book takes place in the not too distant future after some type of apocalyptic nightmare has taken place, presumably throughout North America, probably the world, and most certainly California. Most people have forgotten how to use things such as automobiles and planes, or that there even were such things years ago, and for most, life consists of an agrarian society. At some point, someone – we’re not told who – released show more biological/chemical/ radioactive agents/toxins that have caused various plagues around much of the world, resulting in a monster virus affecting the world’s men, so that nine of every ten male babies and men in general who are born or live die shortly after birth or contracting this virus. Thus, two things. One, it’s a matriarchal society, with women having to assume ALL roles in society – hunter/gatherer, homemaker, warrior, scientist, farmer, etc., and two, all surviving males are treated like precious gemstones, to be protected at all costs, given regular security, aren’t allowed to do anything dangerous, must hide if anyone new comes to their villages, must be protected from infections, etc. And every village has Amazonian-like warrior women. In this novel, in the Valley in which we read about, the chief protector is Dian and her guard dogs, who she has trained to be perfect guards and killing machines. Additionally, she has additional warriors she has trained to protect the Valley.

So it passes that one day, a group approaches, something to fear, and they are met by Dian and her dogs. It is a group from another town up in northern California and they come bearing a gift and a proposition. It’s quite odd. They would like to bring and leave a male as their gift, quite a valuable gift, if Dian’s town will allow them to relocate to the Valley and join forces for protection from the evil armies forming up north and moving southward. The town council contemplates it and tentatively decides to accept their offer, but Dian’s sister, the leader, and Dian agree that she will secretly go up to their town on a reconnaissance mission to see if everything is as they say it is, if they’re on the up and up, before ultimately allowing them to move south to join them. It will be a long, arduous trip, but a necessary one.

And so, after wading through all of that preliminary stuff, the real part of the book that contains the action, character development, strong plotting, strong dialogue, extreme tension and intrigue, seemingly impossible scenarios, and horrible sacrifices takes place. And it’s all worth it. Dian travels north with a couple of her dogs, first through the major city of Meijing (the major West Coast city/power), then on up through the wastelands. What she experiences is nothing short of horrifying. What she encounters is humanity like little she’s encountered before, loyalty unlike what she was expecting, sacrifice more than any person should ever have to make, ungodly pain, Ashtown, the Angels, Breaker, an insane Captain who’s a psychotic bitch if there ever was one, serious violence, depression, an unexpected pregnancy, relationships that matter, betrayals, an uprising, escape attempts, the hopes and dreams of one day making it back to the Valley alive, etc.

It’s a tense, fascinating journey and I found myself on edge half the time, hoping like hell she could get out of the mess she was in. I was emotionally invested in this book. I also found it interesting, to be honest, to see how in a matriarchal society, so many stereotypical traits, often associated with men in a less than stellar way, shine through even though men not only aren’t the prevalent gender, but aren’t even exposed to society and culture. It’s as though there’s little to no difference between the two genders when the two are in power at separate times in history. To the best of my knowledge, the author is somewhat of a feminist, and many of her fans are definitely feminists, so I found this intriguing.

Whatever the case, I thought the ending was pretty good, but a little too abrupt. A whole lot was left out. A lot. We got to see the very final ending, but not how we got to transition from point A to point Z. I would have liked to see the points in between. Also, the epilogue seems to disappoint a number of people and I, too, wish it hadn’t been included. Nonetheless, this was such a unique, unusual, intriguing, well written, well thought out, well plotted book, that even with was minor flaws, I’m not going to quibble. This is definitely worth five stars. And definitely recommended! show less

A post-apocalyptic future. A disease has swept the world, killing most human males. In central/northern CA and southern Oregon, several communities of women have various regions of control, with some being warring and others being research-oriented. Smaller farming communities support the cities. Only the oldest remember the old world of travel by car and plane, when men were in charge. Now men are protected and almost hoarded.

Dian's small community has had strangers arrive, wanting permission to live nearby and assistance, as they flee from an aggressive group in the north. Dian, dog trainer extraordinaire, decides she will go see how much of what they say is true, and goes on a fascinating trip to what was San Francisco and points show more north, heading toward Ashtown (Ashland?).

I love a good dystopia or post-apocalyptic novel, and this hit on both. I love Richards/King's idea and descriptions. Definitely a bit odd reading this post-Covid, these disease-based post-apocalyptic stories are a bit more frightening. show less

I listened to this book instead of read it. As an audiobook, Califia's Daughters lilted and meandered along very enjoyably. While the post-apocalyptic All-the-Men-Are-Dead scenario is not new, here it is well-execution and detailed (in comparison to others of this mini-genre). Alas, if I had been reading instead of listening, I believe the occasionally long-winded narration, style, and various plot holes would have driven me quite bonkers. In Califia's Daughters, disease, war and civil unrest has brought civilization tumbling down; now small, isolated communities scratch a living as best they can. For unknown reasons, males have suffered the brunt of the various plagues: years later, men and healthy boy-children are rare and precious. show more It is the women who are rebuilding the world.Of course, this is no Utopia. Removing 'male power' has not decreased humanity's capacity for violence, greed and selfishness. Califia's Daughters explores this future by first focussing on the community of the Valley, somewhere in California, then on the travels of Dian -- a capable young woman with a remarkable connection to her dogs -- as she ventures forth into the wider world. The future is fascinating, and I enjoyed reading about its quirks, triumphs and failings. Its social set-up and gender politics are more realistic than others in this "mini genre", with significant regional variation. Unfortunately, the story could not decide what it wanted to be. The plot shifts from the slow community life and its intricacies, to Dian's travel-log, to what I can best describe as a prison-breakout adventure. The conclusion was a bit Glued-On-Ending-Out-Of-Nowhere, but I understand Califia's daughters was intended as a set of linked novels. Alas for fans, poor sales left the publishers uninterested in continuing the series. All in all, worth it for the world-building, but not ground breaking or brilliantly written. A good book for long journeys. show less

I enjoyed this take on the far future of America. It seemed realistic and I like the odd gender twist. Highly recommend to those who want to read a far-from-normal science fiction book.

This book had been discussed on the FSFFU listserv so I thought I'd check it out. It had the post-apocalypse thing going for it. The writing was a bit stiff but the story was interesting - a future world where a virus had decimated the population of males. The heroine lives in a farm/village outpost, but the real center of the region is what's left of San Francisco. I enjoyed much of her journey, but the ending seemed tacked on or lopped off, I'm not sure which. Oh well. (January 17, 2005)

For cereal book? The gender dynamic is … difficult. It's awfully reminiscent to [b:The Gate to Women's Country|104344|The Gate to Women's Country|Sheri S. Tepper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171511056s/104344.jpg|879718]. I just can't bring myself to be all-fired interested in a book obsessed with the shortage of men.

Utter drivel.