3.5
Men, you can't live with them, and you can't live without them. Moncia La Porta explores this notion a step further in her distopian novel where men are slaves and used for sperm donations for a women only world. Mauricio is a different man, who wants to question his surroundings, he wants something more for not only himself, but future generations.

The Priest will have readers thinking, and I'm curious on what a man's opinion would be of this story. It is well written, flows so the readers are not bored. Even the characters will have you sympathetic to their causes. She helps the readers understand the world that they are not part of. She had a real original idea. There was some action, but I felt the ending was a little too just given and spaced, but be a leading up to a second one. ( )

Certainly a topic far from the norm or popular sort; credit is due for a novel nearly void of grammar mistakes and other typographical errors. The plot is interesting and holds plenty of potential, but overall it feels dispassionate. The characters lack fleshing out making them difficult to connect with and the choices they make are often a bit hard to swallow as natural to who they are. There is no passion, no gripping emotions to draw the reader in and keep them turning pages. While the world around the characters is presented in detail, there are several inconsistencies and an overall feeling of being a first draft instead of a finished novel. It was more out of mild curiosity that I finished the book. ( )

The Priest took me hostage for 24-hours. If I wasn't reading late into the night or stealing moments to read during the day, I was-- and still am-- thinking about this captivating tale.

Mauricio is a compassionate and intelligent young man who had been born a slave in a society ruled by women. His life is lonely and hopeless behind the walls of The Temple, the confines of which he hadn't been outside of his entire life. But he is resigned. He was born into slavery and would die in slavery-- unloved, insignificant, suppressed. Until, a Temple guard's mistake changes everything.

This is a story of forbidden love between a slave and a "pure breed" woman, who transcend prejudice and hatred to find a soul mate. It is brilliantly written, vivid, and elicits strong emotion. I was completely sucked into Mauricio's bleak existence, rooting for him, worried for him, wishing hell fire on his oppressors, drinking in his few moments of happiness, and concocting alternative storylines, all the while hanging onto the hope of a happy ending-- which I won't tell you if he had or not.

The other aspect I appreciate about this story is its innocence and the author's tact. The Priest is a true romance, and one I won't soon forget. Goes without saying, I look forward to reading Book 2 in The Ginecean Chronicles, Pax in the Land of Women. I fully anticipate sleep deprivation. ( )