"I really found myself feeling for the main characters..." #Kindle #BookReview

Moral Authority

by Jacob Z. Flores

Genre: General Fiction

Book Synopsis

In the year 2050, America has changed. Profoundly.

Homosexuality is a crime, cursing is a punishable offense, and lifestyle legislation keeps American citizens on a prescribed moral path. The country lives in a Moral Age, all thanks to The Moral Authority, the nation’s fourth branch of government, which has held dominion for the past thirty-five years. Yet the Moral Age comes at a price. Americans either live like mindless cattle or in fear.

Told from three points of view, Mark, the brash young hero who finds true love in the most desolate of places; Isaac, the renegade, who searches for redemption; and Samuel the dictatorial megalomaniac intent on maintaining his power, Moral Authority exposes what happens to a nation that continues to restrict, instead of broadening, civil rights.

Bec's Rating

Bec's Review

Moral Authority is a story that deals heavily with the topic of homosexuality so before I begin this review I want to make it clear. Many of the main characters are male homosexuals. The story is set in a future where, because of the chaos of crime and murder the US had fallen into in the past, Morality itself is governed by the Moral Authority. Things such as swearing, or having too many calories, or even drinking alcohol are punishable by a court of law, and chief among the moral crimes is Homosexuality.

Moral Authority paints an eerie view of the future. It is too easy to see governments deciding to over police society in order to save it from itself. So it is easy to fall into the world of Moral Authority. And the story itself was a great read. I really found myself feeling for the main characters, who just wanted to live their lives but who as a result had to lead double lives or risk being sent to a live a hellish existence in a detention camp where no human rights existed. I was along for the ride, wanting the good guys to win out, reading along to find out what would happen next.

And yet this book is not without problems. In a way it is a political statement, how could it not be. However I was not comfortable with the references to real people (or their descendents) in this book. If they needed a person to originate the moral law couldn’t they make one up? The same is true for the President, and for another member of parliament mentioned, both who are related to current politicians in some way. In a fictional book I feel characters such as these just bring you back to reality.

The ending was my other gripe with this book. I was left unsatisfied with the ending, which while finishing off one aspect of the story left a lot up in the air. Since a big part of the story drew me into the Human Rights Movement that races through a book it didn’t feel right to end the story not knowing how that would all play out. But other than that this a great book, though one that is not for everyone. If homosexuality bothers you, then don’t read it. Otherwise, if nothing I have said has turned you off give this a go and you may find it imagines a future that could one day be all too real.

Disclaimer: This book deals with the topic of homosexuality. If this bothers you do not read it. It also has Mature themes and violent and graphic scenes that make it advisable to only be read by those over the age of 18.