A Gentle Tyranny shows value of every person

I first learned about Jess Corban’s novel, A Gentle Tyranny, when I saw a list of novels touted as the best of 2021. This debut YA dystopian novel is the first in a two-book series, and it delivers with tension. The heroine must protect her life and the lives of others in a society that proclaims one thing while keeping dangerous secrets as they march toward a destructive future. This memorable story received many accolades.

About A Gentle Tyranny

All her life, Reina Pierce lived protected at her mother’s finca. I didn’t like Reina at first because of how she treated her mother, but as the story progresses, we learn people aren’t always who you think they are. Descended from the founder of this matriarchy set in the South American jungles, Reina’s life changes when her reigning grandmother chooses her to compete in the Selection. From the Selection, an apprentice will be chosen to take the grandmother’s place.

The troubling and dangerous premise involves making men disposable servants. They call these altered men, Gentles. The threatening men, who many believe lived only in the past, are called Brutes and lurk beyond the boundaries of Nede.

Grandmother believes Reina’s mother raised her soft. Before the Selection, Reina questioned her calling in life. This all-women society has different occupations to choose from. As part of the Selection, Reina experiences some of the options.

Heroine fights corruption

Her competitors in the Selection increase the dangers Reina faces in a world where trusting someone costs either party if discovered. Living this way exhausts her. Along the way discoveries fuel her to a greater goal. Reina must determine if she will do what she knows is right or go along with what is expected of her.

She walks a fine line. Secretly, Reina questions the brutal system. Such doubts leave her in a precarious situation. Mother tells Reina to remember who she is, but Reina wonders who she is from the beginning. You’ll have to read this book to find out who she learns she is. And I need to read the next novel so I can know if the dangers and sacrifices and dreams culminate in something better for Nede. A Brutal Justice, also published last year, advertises the exciting conclusion to the Nede Rising Series.

Present day links add to tension

In one revealing part of the story, Reina reads the founding mother’s journal. In it she says that her friend figured out a vaccine that will alter men. A pharmaceutical company mass produced this vaccine. The media assured “right positioning, fake reports of the ‘Scrotia Virus’—more contagious than coronavirus and AIDS combined! . . . . [They] had a good laugh brainstorming slogans that would convince male government officials to mandate the vaccine. . . (p. 293)” Given the pandemic we’ve endured these last two years, this caught my attention, especially since the author worked on this novel the better half of a decade, and it takes awhile from acquisition to final book. How current events and debates appear in novels adds to the realism of the story.

Innocent Reina doesn’t understand the references about men, but the reader does. This adds to the scariness of the story.

Recommended for older teens

Because of the elements of violence and evil displayed by the antagonists, I recommend this novel for older teens. Readers find thought-provoking content as they learn about tyranny. They’ll root for Reina and grow to love her. She’s a very brave 17-year-old who celebrates her birthday during the two months of the Selection.

Comparable reads include Hesitant Heroes by Sharon Rene and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

To learn more about the author, visit JessCorban.com. Jess Corban tells a gripping tale of good versus evil. I look forward to more from her.

Wander, an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, published A Gentle Tyranny.