Freezing Reign - A Dystopian Thriller: Earth's Final Queen is No Princess

by L.A. Goff

Overview

With humanity on the brink of extinction, one teenage girl could save the species or spark a world war.

Mirari Vega feels death's chilly breath. A global pathogen has killed every woman in her life and she'll be next. So when her father gives the eighteen-year-old an alternative, she must make an impossible decision—die with a raging fever or climb into the frigid embrace of an experimental cryogenic chamber.
She calls it a suicide machine. Her father calls it a chance for her to live again. Neither can imagine the horrors waiting for Mirari when she opens her eyes 12 years later.
The world is a violent place without women. Beautiful robots give the men companionship but can't give them children. Mirari's fertility is the ultimate natural resource—a prize every kingdom wants to own. But to crown her queen, they'll have to catch her first.

Mirari Vega is no man's pretty princess.

Bringing science fiction to a dystopian Texas, Freezing Reign is the first book in the pulse-pounding Reign series by L.A. Goff.

Praise for Freezing Reign:

"A superior dystopic Sci-Fi thriller with a Texas-sized scope. Compelling and refreshingly unsentimental...with nightmarish overtones." – Kirkus Reviews


"Trust, betrayal, desperation, and existential ethics blend in a patiently unfolding, thought-provoking thriller that perfectly blends social critique with suspense. The premise of Freezing Reign is entrancing and enveloping, combining a variety of post-apocalyptic themes into an original, empowering, and addictive read." – Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½


"Just when you think you've got a handle on this story, it will surprise you. Goff showcases what people are truly capable of...and musters up a great deal of girl power in a world with nearly no girls in it. Expect sadness, friendship, survival, and a little dash of romance in this empowering Sci-Fi." – Independent Review

"I've been in the reviewing business long enough to recognize when a Unicorn has fallen into my lap. The experience is rare, and involves a difficult-to-articulate mix of voice, style, characters, and plot.

And something else, like the scent of a mysterious spice, or the faint glitter of an undertone that feels almost magical.

Freezing Reign by L.A Goff is one of those Unicorns, and I will tell you right now that that's the first time I've ever used the U-word in a review for any book I have ever read. Yes, I'm comparing this stunning debut novel to a mythical beast that nobody actually believes in, but is invoked in moments requiring a stamp of rarity.

I believe though, and after you read this book, I think you will believe like I do.

But more than that, I believe you will be pulled as deeply into the dark and haunting realities of a world marred by pain and death, but eased through the tragedy of it on the lyrical beauty of the author's writing. Such deep and sad truths, universal, about life and humanity, suffering and hope, offered to the reader like secret windows into a soul.

I do not exaggerate, and please don't miss the incredible experience of reading this book."
– The International Review of Books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798986292939
Publisher:	L.A. Goff
Publication date:	04/07/2023
Series:	The Reign Series , #1
Pages:	382
Sales rank:	970,524
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

L.A. Goff got her start as a journalist, writing a monthly magazine and weekly newspaper column. She has been interviewed by the Today Show, Prevention Magazine, Huffpost and appeared on the cover of Women's World magazine. Currently, she enjoys writing murder mysteries with her husband for their local equity theatre and teasing the crowd with clues along the way. She published a nonfiction book in 2013 with Siloam Publishing. Freezing Reign is Goff's debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

2023-02-22
In Goff’s SF series starter, a teenage Texan girl awakens after 12 years in suspended animation to a savage world of male chieftains and robots that look like idealized women.

The story begins in an alternative late-20th-century United States—or what’s left of it. The 1976 Olympic Games was a super-spreader event for a flu that’s killed millions of people, and is invariably deadly to women. In Texas, where society has already started to fragment, strong-willed 18-year-old Mirari Vega sees her best friend die and senses that women are likely to become extinct. In her distress, she agrees to a plan by her maverick-scientist father (in collusion with her love interest, Aaron) to cryogenically freeze her in a remote cave; the plan is to revive her after the plague runs its course. Twelve years later, Mirari awakens in a quasi-feudal Lone Star State led by fractious, gun-toting baronial patriarchs. Brutish humankind has turned to science and technology to find replacements for women—sometimes by employing forced sex-reassignment surgery, but mainly by creating lifelike, servile robot “feminals” whose beauty is often enhanced by fearsome combat functionality; Aaron’s family is prominent in their manufacture. As possibly the last human with child-bearing potential, Mirari’s existence can’t remain secret for long, but an early flash-forward reveals that feminals may be unexpected allies. Goff opens the narrative with a situation that’s strongly reminiscent of the real-life Covid-19 pandemic (“A global pathogen has a way of demanding attention, and believe me, that beast ravaged my life”). From there, the author further develops the premise in intriguing ways, and he keeps the pace brisk throughout. Although the protagonist’s age would ordinarily indicate that the story is meant to appeal to an older YA readership, there’s nothing juvenile about Mirari’s ordeals, and the profanity and extreme violence is clearly meant for an older audience. Over the course of this novel, readers will find the narrative’s execution compelling and the figure at its center refreshingly unsentimental. Overall, the work promises a well-developed SF series with nightmarish overtones.

A superior dystopic SF thriller with a Texas-sized scope.

Kirkus Reviews

You will be pulled as deeply into the dark and haunting realities of a world marred by pain and death, but eased through the tragedy of it on the lyrical beauty of the author's writing. Such deep and sad truths, universal, about life and humanity, suffering and hope, offered to the reader like secret windows into a soul.

I do not exaggerate, and please don't miss the incredible experience of reading this book.
- Independent Review of Books

International Review of Books