When she woke

I echo the sentiments of most other 3-star reviewers on Goodreads. The first half or two-thirds of this book was well-done dystopian fiction that leaned heavily on elements from The Handmaid's Tale, The Scarlet Letter, and (not sure the exact chronology of publications) the "color hierarchy" of individuals present in something like Red Rising. In the first half, Jordan presents a bleak, yet realistic, picture of how religious conviction and self-righteousness could lead to an authoritarian society specifically around issues such as homosexuality, abortion, and gender roles yet, at the same time, mask over serious hypocrisy. The Bible consistently reminds its readers of the fallibility of humankind and the innately sinful nature of people and perhaps the most alarming aspect of a theocracy (which is what has arisen in this future United States) is how the gilding of righteousness and piety provide an outlet for the most base instincts of human nature—violence, discrimination, and lack of fellow feeling.

The second half of the book felt rushed—some of the rapid developments in the plot were jarring and out of place—and concluded in a way that left you thinking: "Ok...wait, what?" In my opinion, this should have probably been at least a two-part series so that Jordan could have taken more time to develop some of the backstory, world building, and character development to make this a truly excellent piece of fiction. This will be one of the rare occasions when I advocate for a book to be longer or broken into parts.

When She Woke is in essence a modern version of The Scarlet Letter, but instead of the letter A, her skin is turned bright red. The book is set in the not so distant future, where religion is in control, and everyone is a religious fanatic; that’s right, its set in Texas. Imagine a world where the Westboro church is in charge and you pretty much have an idea of this dystopian society. This is a rather good modernisation of the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne story; it has taken all the key elements from The Scarlet Letter and added to this book. It tackles Religion, Rape, Murder and mainly Abortion and the effects it has on the woman and the people around her. This isn’t really a pro-choice or pro-life book, but instead it tries to explore both angles without trying to force you to pick a side. I had some issues with the story but all in all it was rather good.