When Utopia Goes Bad: A Review of The Bond

Dinitra is a teenager living a matriarchal society known as the Weave. In the Weave, men have been banished because of their brutal behavior, and technology has replaced traditional methods of procreation. Although Dinitra attends an elite academic school where graduates take on leadership roles, she is more interested in painting than studying. While sneaking out to paint, she encounters a Legion spaceship—the Legion being the military arm of the Weave—and its bionic-woman commander, Kesh. Then Dinitra and many of her classmates are assigned to the Legion after graduation, almost unheard of for their school because military service is not desirable. Dinitra is put in charge of a cross-bred beast larger and fiercer than any attack dog, and the cross, known as 12, bonds to her. Things go terribly wrong on a mission beyond the Rift, when she and 12 are kidnapped and barely survive. She has heard rumors that Kesh, the bionic Legion commander, is a traitor, but the kidnapping leads her to surprising discoveries, tough choices, and the realization that the Weave’s opponents are as harsh and authoritarian as the Weave, but with two key differences: girls are bonded to their mothers in a clan society, and boys and men are bred as warriors and treated as slaves.

Kirk’s debut novel offers strong worldbuilding that draws from both traditional clan societies and science fiction tropes used in fresh ways. She seamlessly incorporates information about the warring societies into the story and creates a protagonist with strong universal desires and conflicts, thus expanding the readership beyond hardcore fans of the genre. Dinitra’s quest to figure out the truth about each society and to do the right thing when she comes to realize the dark side of life in the Bounty—specifically the cruel treatment of males and of “drafts,” experiments in cross-breeding that have unexpected results—will draw readers in and make them think as they turn pages. What appear at first to be utopian matriarchal societies—ecologically sustainable and excluding men with their penchant for violence and domination—turn out to be dystopias also based on violence and domination.