The Protector

Men of the North, Book 1

By: Elin Peer

Narrated by: Noelle Bridges, John Masterson

Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Four hundred years in the future, men are few and women rule the world.

Except for the area formerly known as Canada and Alaska, which is inhabited by the Men of the Northlands, a group of strong men who refuse to be ruled by women.

Christina Sanders, an archeologist and professor in history, is fascinated with the past. As a modern woman of year 2437 she knows that women are better off without men, but longing for an adventure, she makes a spontaneous decision and volunteers for a job no one else wants. Now she's going to lead an archeological excavation in the Northlands, the most secluded place on earth where the mythical males live who are rumored to be as brutal and dangerous as the men Christina has read about in her history books.

What will happen when Christina crosses into the men's territory? Will they allow her to do her job, and is there any way they'll let her leave again - unharmed?

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Elin Peer (P)2018 Tantor

Post apocalyptic romance

This story was an interesting take on a post apocalyptic romance, in that it takes place centuries after the battles occurred that ended mass civilizations. The “Motherlands” are ruled by women and men have become passive there, while women rule in a society that suppresses expressions of emotion. The heroine is an archeologist and lecturer at a university, but longs for adventure. She applies to be alllowed to go on an expedition to look for artifacts from pre-wars, but is turned down. But while waiting to see the government official about it, she overheard about a request for an archeologist that no one seems to want to undertake. Now, there are a group of men in what as formerly Alaska and Canada who refused to follow the post-war rule by women and they are the N-Men, or North Men. They’re kept isolated and a border wall is in place. They are the ones asking for help from an archeologist and the heroine volunteers to go. She’s always been fascinated by stories of the N Men. Little does she know, her life and way of thinking is about to change forever. The action and romance in the story moves along at a good pace, and there are a few hot sexy scenes. I really liked the hero, once the audiobook proceeded. Narration was excellent

Well written but......

The world building was good, and the story flowed nicely and was paced well. However the authors concept of romance is pretty warped, she tried to develop 'traditionally' formulated feminine and masculine worlds, however really just depicted each gender as having some really bad, unhealthy habits, (though maybe that was the intent) which is not that appealing for either side.
I also get really concerned by authors that have no sense of consent - if a person says no during sex, it is not romantic for the 'hero' to use coercion or some twisted logic that 'if a person is physically aroused', then their consent is no longer required, their arousal somehow magically overrides a verbal statement - this is not romance, this is sexual assault, no wonder so many girls get confused about what sexual abuse is and isn't.

Loved it!

Well written. Great narration. Relevant. Loved the characters and the story line. A refreshing change of pace. Intelligent, sexy and sweet. I've listened to hundreds of books (probably closer to a thousand) and this one ranks high. I don't write many reviews but I felt compelled to write this one. Definitely worth a credit! Looking forward to more from this author.

I loved this Book

Any additional comments?

I absolutely loved this book. Not only was the story well written but the narration was fantastic. There was romance, a plot, and character growth. I laughed several times throughout the book and had a hard time putting it down at others. I will always recommend this to anyone. It is a romance without the heavy smut. That does not mean it is a clean read, however.

I cannot express enough how much I loved this book!

Wouldn't Recommend in 100 Years

I love me a good post-Apocalyptic or futuristic romance and as I was cruising the Audible Escape selections, this title--the whole series, actually--caught my eye.

The premise is that most of the men on earth have been exiled to the northlands because of their barbaric ways and they are extremely short on women in their territories (like 1:100,000). In contrast, the rest of the world is run by a matriarchal society that has created amazing advancements in technology and by-and-large achieved harmony among its peoples (with a ratio of approximately 1 man to 14 women), though at the cost of government-controlled information and careful monitoring of behaviors considered violent or extreme.

I was really interested to see how an enlightened matriarchal society would butt heads against the me-Tarzan-you-Jane "Men of the North" and I have to say... the result ensured I would write this angry review. 

I can say without any reservation that I won't read any other books in the series. I found some seriously problematic elements throughout and ended up hate-reading the book and, honestly, only managed to stick it out until the end because the narrators KILLED it. 

If you don't want any spoilers, I recommend you stop right here because I'm about to lambaste this book.

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Still here? Okay, well, you asked for it.

I get it. The MotN (or N-Men, as they're called in the book) are seriously lacking females. They subsist off of sexbots to fulfill their needs--we'll get to that LATER, because hoo boy--and when there's a lady up for grabs they have gladiatorial fights to the death for the honor of being chosen by their bride.

Only, our heroine doesn't know any of that. She volunteers to go to the verboten North to pursue a lead on a recently unearthed library where she can use her knowledge in archaeology to examine artifacts about pre-war earth. The king of the Northmen has allowed her to come, even securing her a protector who very grudgingly agrees to watch over her. But based on a transmission failure, the king and his retinue all believe the archaeologist will be a man. When Christina shows up instead looking like a snack, things go to sh*t really quick. 

The truth is hidden from her from the get-go. She's made to think all she needs is a protector when what they've really set her up for is a marriage, with the hope that she'll get knocked up and be forced to stay. 

Um.

The hell you say?

To each their own and all that. Every once in a while I can do the breeding kink but when the female party isn't aware of it and has been coerced into the situation unknowingly? That's a deal-breaker for me. 

The big tough alpha male who ends up winning her as his bride has expectations. Sexual expectations. Home girl is just here to do a job and he's over here trying to get into her pants because all he's ever had is sexbots. He tries to sell himself as a virgin which--no. That's a horse of a different color altogether. 

She's cool with making out--and really, who isn't? Making out is awesome--but he starts to push for more. 

Later on in the story when he's got her alone (they've previously had sex by this point), she outright tells him 'no' when he starts to push for sex. He bullies her into having sex anyway despite her denying him several times, using the excuse that her body wants it despite her denial. I HATE that justification in romances.

We are beyond un-cool at this point and in straight-up rage territory for me. 

The N-Men are barbarians. They talk marriage up like they treasure their women above all things but they have no idea what their womenfolk do while they're off doing manly things all day, and they expect submissive beddable females whenever the mood strikes them. Nothing about their behavior indicates that they treasure women at all except that they're possessive and territorial as hell. Beyond that? I'm lacking any real indication of women being treated as anything beyond highly prized possessions. 

Meanwhile, they're over here trashing the matriarchal society left and right and calling them a bunch of pansies (my word, not theirs) for valuing harmony and acceptance of emotions as natural. And while the society has its own problems--withholding information from the general populace, providing false narratives about the North, and trying to keep them cool as cucumbers (kind of like the Pax in Serenity)--it still holds women, their desires, and their strengths in the highest esteem. 

Seeing the heroine's mindset get switched entirely into that of the N-Men and hidden behind the 'I love you' label while the hero didn't have to change any of his own mindset or make any true sacrifices of his own made my blood boil. 

Let's not touch on the fact that the wife of one of the secondary characters runs away and escapes from the North and the character loses his sh*t and, when he can't find her, kidnaps another woman with the intent to hold her for ransom. Nothing in his actions reflect a true love or respect for his lost wife or an attempt to understand why she would have even been tempted to leave his caveman ass. F**k that dude.

But the lack of consent isn't only on the womens' side. The N-Men have unknowingly, and without consent, had their sperm harvested for years (via those sexbots I mentioned earlier) and it is one of the North's biggest exports. 

Are. You. F**king. Kidding. Me.

I realize I'm going to be in the minority on this one, based on the average stars on Audible. But if there's even one other listener like me expecting a more female-forward narrative alongside some brooding, hulking menfolk, to you, my dear, this story is not for you.

Try Kit Rocha's Beyond series instead. You'll get alpha males, female badassery and empowerment without any loss of agency, and lots of sex. And nobody--and I mean nobody--tolerates a lack of consent in those books. Not for the male characters, not for the female characters.

Kronk out.

The Northmen book 1

Overall premise was amazing,the idea of hundreds of years of change from men to women being in charge........though the triteness of overwhelming the story with not greatly thought out sex scenes and F words was irritating. I am no prude and use the word myself,however..... 6 or 7 in a row was just juvenile.Really wish the “story” would have been told in greater depth, that would be a REAL book!

Weird, Political and Gross

So underwhelmed after so many positive ratings. Repulsive feminist vs misogynist plot-line. Couldn't finish. Not worth a credit.

Cool concept but toxic message

I really liked the concept of this sort of future with a distorted countries and societies. I liked how there were positives and negatives to both, but I didn’t like how one was seen as totally bad. I won’t spoil the ending, but this idea was very evident in how the story ended. I also didn’t like the romance between the main characters. I got the impression that it was based heavily on appearance and pleasure, and not really on the virtues, personality, and strengths of the people. Almost all of what the north men said was very problematic and to me, this book seems to promote this sort of patriarchal society and toxic mindset. I was disappointed that the female main character didn’t really show her strengths.

I wouldn’t recommend this book. If you are looking for a book with an interesting plot about a dystopian sort of future about two societies favoring matriarchal and patriarchal societies, I’d recommend reading Gender Game by Bella Forest.

Intriguing concept, HUGE disappointment.

The narrator's were great. However, this book just got dumber the further I got along in the story. I am so greatly disappointed that I'm kinda pissed I can't get my money back.

A dystopian future world.

This novel is the first in a series but a stand-alone. I have to confess to it being a guilty pleasure for me. I could see plot-holes but I didn't care. I loved the men of the North, and why the heroine would want to visit them and stay. The novel appealed to something elemental in me. I loved the slow-burn get-to-know-you and rush of feeling the romance evoked. The new-to-me writer did a good job of pitting the politically correct, regency era politeness of the futuristic female dominated world, against the down and dirty male dominated and dominating world. The clash was delicious. I could overlook some of the simplicity and enjoy the main characters’ journeys to love. That’s why I read romance, and sometimes, the smexy has the right tone too. It did here.

The narrators, Noelle Bridges and John Masterson were perfectly cast. I enjoyed their performances and I’m happy they narrate the whole series. I’ll be back for more of it.

Couldn’t turn it off!

Didn’t expect this to be so good — why is it not more popular?? I loved the prequel but worried that this book would be too dissimilar. It was wonderful, though. The clash of cultures was really interesting, the romance felt real, and the steam was good… ok, I wish there were more steam, but that’s not a complaint. I loved seeing the MCs overcome so many preconceptions and obstacles for their HEA.

Entertaining.

Entertaining and actually thought woking world after world war III. Female versus male elements, on steroids, make for a fun read. Am actually really interested in how it all turns out. The male narrator is a hoot and a half.

Hooked

Any additional comments?

I got really hooked on this. Very interesting premise with loveable characters and lots of plot turns. Looking forward to the next one.