Lotus Empowered by Clairissa SinClairMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Weirdly Soothing
This book seems like it should be filled with energy and high emotions because it’s about The End of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI), it’s also a Reverse Harem. Instead, it’s strangely soothing. The narrative is filled with gentle observation, even when there is peril and violence, or sex. I might have been disappointed if I’d wanted something different from what I got, but I was actually in the mood for it, even if I didn’t realise it when I started the book.
The book is set in an isolated motel, on the side of a mountain, which is where Lotus, the MFC is staying when TEOTWAWKI happens. Basically, all the computers stop working, which leads to everything else not working. Lotus is a city girl now, working as a Marketing Director for an outward bound equipment company, but she used to live off the grid in a free-love hippy commune, until the age of 16 when her commune was dismantled.
So, when TEOTWAWKI happens she is out in the middle of nowhere, with a truck full of survival equipment and the training and mentality to help her stay alive when the rest of the world stops working. The story is how Lotus not only survives but gets back to a kind of living that makes her happy, making a different kind of family along the way.
As I said, it’s got a very gentle observational style of writing. This puts a small barrier between the reader and the characters which help reduce the amount of angst and darker emotions that people going through TEOTWAWKI experience. However, that also mutes their happiness and joy. It has a kind of a pioneer spirit feel to it, with learning how to manage finite resources and finding ways to better their lives without electricity and easy access to modern medicines.
The characters are pretty interesting, and there are multiple POVs though the main POV is Lotus. We have an insight into some of the character’s journey to the mountain hideaway, but that insight isn’t uniform. This allows the history of the characters to slowly unfold. I really liked Lotus. She has a very conflicted attitude to her childhood which she loved but felt that she shouldn’t because it isn’t generally accepted to practice free love as an underage girl. Her background meant that she never really achieved happiness in the outside world. It did make her strong and educated in the way that really matters when it comes to surviving in the wilderness.
The men were all interesting and captivating in different ways and all of them had things they had to recover from, either from before TEOTWAKI or their journey after it happened. They all had very different circumstances but had complementary personalities as they learned to live with themselves and others.
I really enjoyed this book and will probably investigate reading others by the author, because she has an unusual way of looking at things and people, and that’s something I always enjoy.
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