cover image RITUAL OF PROOF

RITUAL OF PROOF

Dara Joy, . . Morrow, $24 (340pp) ISBN 978-0-380-97834-2

"It was a woman's world," Joy (High Intensity, etc.) states in her debut hardcover, and she's not making a metaphor. On the Forus moon revolving around the planet Arkeus, women have it all, especially women of noble birth. They govern through the House of She-Lords, own the property and are the sexual aggressors—dividing men into pleasurers and name-bearers. Joy has left no gender-based stereotype unturned, except that men don't get pregnant—however, thanks to the invention of a natal accelerator, gestation only takes three months. Set in a Regency-style past-future, the story pits noblewoman Marquelle Green Tamryn against aqua-eyed Jorland Reynard, the conventions of their society, and her lifelong nemesis, the evil Claudine D'anbere. Marquelle Tamryn can buy Jorland from his grandmother, command erotic magic from his perfect body and "fasten" him in a public ceremony—but can she win his love? And when things get out of control, can he save her life? Arriving at the foregone conclusion is both more fun and more work than it should be. The eponymous ritual, during which a man's virginity is tested in public, ranks as libidinous high camp. But the pace is slowed by Joy's invented language, a tiresome amalgamation that sounds like a cross between Dr. Seuss and Klingon, in which Klees and Kloos prance over the landscape and sassbits eat lumpies for breakfast. Agent, Richard Curtis. (June 12)

Forecast:Joy's appeal is undeniable, as evidenced by her Web site receiving 45,000 hits during its first three weeks and all her previous titles having been USA Today bestsellers. Expect more of the same, bolstered by a national print ad campaign and New England author appearances.