Clan Woodsmen: The General’s Refuge by A.C. Gillies

Author A.C. Gillies weaves a frightening vision of the future in Clan Woodsmen: Book 1: The General’s Refuge. In a dystopian timeline that feels eerily close to our present one, the shattered factions of society must fight for survival, for love, and for one another.

A young woman is taken into one of these surviving clans, and soon discovers the potential for beauty and joy, without forgetting about the looming threats that lurk on all sides. Readers are immersed in a twisted version of reality – our world through a carnival mirror – allowing this book to act as both hyperbolic social commentary and a warning. The novel is also driven by powerful underlying themes of self-reliance, independence, loyalty through love, and the toxic nature of violence.

The writing is creative and the near-future world-building is thorough, but the execution of the story and the technical details leave much to be desired. Despite being a romance novel, the erotic writing often lacks real passion or creative description. The writing is also replete with poorly formed sentences, grammatical errors, misspelled words and repetitive syntax. Additionally, Gillies frequently chooses narration for storytelling, rather than dialogue, which can be heavy-handed in terms of explaining the significance of events and plot points.

Overall, the story is disturbing and original, and sets an intriguing foundation for the series ahead, but improving language use and greater attention to detail would give the prose a major boost.