Set in a dystopic world, Cali and Eve are working together in a competition to become in vitro's. In vitro status would give both women status and wealth. When they are sent to a trash heap and solid waste pit, they are astonished to discover men nearby.

I'm not exactly sure how to rate this book. The oddity of it, and the dynamic characters kept me reading. The world itself wasn't explained very well, and the book seemed half thought out. Although I would re-read this book, it wasn't altogether bad. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars. ( )

This book was interesting but is not a stand alone read. I wish that I had been able to read the first book in the series. It was an interesting premise and I would like to read more by this author. ( )

This is a dystopian novel in a future America that has been broken up into numerous small autonomous countries. The story is set in a town called Cochtonville, in what was Iowa - Cochtonia - where now, highly genetically modified corn is grown at the expense of everything else in order to support pig production. There was a leak of the pesticides used to keep the corn growing about twenty years beforehand, with the result that none of the women living in the city can conceive a boy, and only a few of them can conceive a girl. The agricultural workers, known as Pestos, due to their proximity to pesticide, are able to conceive girls, but their children are born with pinhole eyes and they are virtually blind in daylight.

The protagonist Cali, who is a twenty-five year old scientist, enters a competition to win a chance at getting ‘In-vitro’ status - which involves money and social status, as well as the ability to get pregnant. She is given a female partner, Eve, for this project, which involves going out to a waste dump and finding a way to produce something beneficial for the community. The novel focuses on their adventures - finding other people living there. Two seemingly healthy young men clad in garbage bags. A group of girls, also clad in garbage bags, all have the genetic markers of being born to Pestos. Both these groups have managed to survive in the waste dump and trade food stuffs - the men swap their gathered berries and greens for meat the girls have hunted.

How Cali and Eve manage these relationships and develop their project outcomes, and what they then do is the basis of the plot. At this level I found the book sort of interesting although very heavy handed, eg in setting up the messaging about the impact of the pesticide and the knowledge that cochon is French for pig.

The other element of the book that I found confusing was the way Cali and Eve interacted with the young men. This element of the book read to me like a coming of age novel with Cali as a fifteen year old, or possibly a sheltered eighteen year old, although Eve was clearly immediately interested in having sex. I had to go back and the reference to Cali’s age because her interactions with the young men were so disjointed for someone that age who is a scientist who also assists in the clinic run by her mother - a doctor.

Overall some interesting premises that were not handled well - and written in a style that I did not find easy to read - the author is trying too hard and doesn’t have the technical skill to successfully articulate their vision.

This is a very strange story following Cali and Eve. Two young women in a different world where Iowa is now its own nation called Cochtonia after the family that took over the state. In this future men are rare due to pesticide use and there are those with side effects. This is essentially a police state based on a corn economy with harsh rules including arrests for using particular words such as "natural" in a primarily artificial society. Those governing and police are very repressive. This is a very strange society that is very restrictive and class based. Cali and Eve are in a contest to win the right to be participants in InVitro fertilization to improve their lot in society. And this takes them on a journey of discovery about love and the seedy history and impacts to outcasts of their society. ( )