A very interesting premise for the first book in a series. As always, the first in a series is slower paced as the world building and character developement takes priority. As you become comfortable with the story line, you will find a dystopian Earth that is divided by clans, tribes, families.....strength comes through the connections shared. As this book ends, the basis for many more stories has been built and I'm looking forward to seeing the next chapter.

The Matriarch, Women of the Dust #1
Annabelle McInnes
AKM Publishing Pty Ltd., Oct 2020, 358 pages
Dystopian Fantasy Sci-Fi
Provided by Pub via NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐🌙

The artwork and richness of the colors used on the cover really drew my eye. I loved the cover. I read this book right after I got it and put my review on GoodReads, but never posted it anywhere else. Sorry. This is my review straight from GoodReads and it is revealing.

Ms. McInnes loses half a star for all the little things that bothered me, but mostly for the snakes in Yolanda’s gut. They got to me after about the third reference. And how many ways can you describe a man as big? We get the idea. That said, let’s get on to the good stuff. This was a dystopian situation, post-apocalyptic, so we’re looking at sci-fi, but it felt like a fantasy. Anything can happen. Physically the land is dried up sand and rock and sun-baked. It lacks water, supposedly. Its people have congregated into small nations controlled by a council. Yolanda is the seventh generation Matriarch of the Horde. The Horde is a mostly female nation that has been banished by the Council and has no water access. The sixth-generation Matriarch, Marta was warlike and aggressive. She made the Horde strong and the Council feared the Horde. Yolanda is more a humanitarian and wants to end the war and get rid of the sanctions against the Horde, get back their access to water, save her people. She’s a strong and deadly warrior and a good leader, but she knows her people need peace and a chance to thrive or they will die.

As she goes to meet her neighbor in battle, the Axe, she discovers that all is not well in his nation either. Before the two leaders can exchange blows, his son, the Hammer, decapitated him and surrendered to her. The Hammer, Sasha, convinces the Matriarch she needs to meet with the Council to learn the truth of the situation. This starts them on a journey to the Council and a truth that will break Yolanda’s heart. However, Yolanda and Sasha learn about each other as a man and woman and they quickly fall into a very close relationship that later evolves further into love.

Throughout this whole ordeal, we are witness to Yolanda trying to find herself and her path in her mother’s teachings. Her mother was feared and respected as the Matriarch. Yolanda is respected and loved. Will her path keep her people alive? Her whole focus is on taking care of her people. She makes sacrifices for them throughout the book, small and great. She knows Sasha is right for her when he is so moved over the plight of his own people.

I am looking forward to seeing what Ms. McInnes does in the next book of this series. Recommended.

Yolanda, the matriarch of a dying hoard. The one thing that could save them, water. The hammer son of a cruel and unjust king. He holds the answer to Yolandas problem. But can they overcome to fulfill the needs of their people?


I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Like It? Hate it? Love it? Why? Before you get your hopes up, I don't see The Matriarch as a feminist story at all. Are their feminist elements? Yes. Absolutely. But at the end of the day it's a man who paves the way towards a better future. He's ultimately the one who saves the day. So that was a little disappointing.


So was the fact that Yolanda, the supposed leader of this group of women had more of an insecure teenager mentality than that of a capable, seasoned, confident leader. It's a dystopian setting, if the characters aren't a hardened mess at least on the outside, then it's difficult to find them believable. I wanted to see a woman who was secure and confident in her role as a leader. It was so easy for anyone to cast doubts in Yolanda's mind and that's not someone that should be leading anyone anywhere. She tended to have too many pity parties in her mind too. Again, not someone who should be leading. I'm not saying she should be perfect but a leader in a dystopian world needs to have certain qualities and not allow for anyone to question her capability over something so silly as a man's presence among her people.


I had a difficult time really diving into The Matriarch partially because there's a lot of writing and descriptions that really don't need to be there. The simplest conversations or actions took pages and pages to describe and wade through which made the pace of the book feel like a snail's pace. It wasn't necessary to include what seemed like Yolanda's every thought and emotion. Nor was it important to repetitively state how big the hero was every time he was in the scene. It weighed the whole book down when about 35% of that could have been redirected into the plot development and really selling the dystopian world to readers.


Click It or Skip It? It's up to you. I would give this author another shot but there's gotta be some editing done to eliminate scenes, descriptions, and dialogue that slows the pace and pushes out the potential for better plot building events.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book!

This was one of those books where, although I didn't really connect with it and it frustrated me immensely, I just could not stop reading... The premise behind it was solid, and I love the idea of a bunch of bad-ass women taking over the world! However, the writing style just bothered me. Too wordy and almost overwhelming. I could see this being a hit for some people, so give it a try- just not my style!

ARC from NetGalley

This wasn't really a bad book, it just didn't really do it for me personally. It was far too verbose. Too little happened, but the book was padded with descriptions that bulked it out. I had to skim because I would have stopped reading otherwise.

I found it hard to get into the dirty bits because of, well, their dirty bits. You follow? In this post-apocalyptic world of infinite dust and very little water, how often do you think they bathed? How often did they clean their teeth? They were on the "road" together for I'm not even sure how long, barely having enough to drink. Actually, rarely having enough to drink. It would have been better for me, since there was really only one sex scene, if that scene had waited until there was some water to perhaps scrub the junk with, you know?

The instalove was silly. It really pulled me out of the story. It can be done well, but it wasn't in this case. It was just like.. why? It made no sense. Not necessarily on her part but on his part. I just didn't get it. I also didn't get the diatribe at the beginning of the book about the me too movement when this book is pretty much all about a man saving the day. Yes, Yolanda suffered and wanted to work hard to save her people, but she couldn't do it without a man, and she kept on talking about how strong and manly he was, manly mannish man. MAN. Okay I get it, he smells like a man. AKA he needs to wash his balls because there's no water in this fucking world.

The plot was decent enough. It was an interesting premise. I did have one issue with the Asta situation.

A solid meh from me on the whole. I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I liked this book a lot. It was very clearly a Mad Max fantasy based on the latest movie, but I like Mad Max so I liked this book. The world building could have gone into more detail, but I didn't see that as too much of a negative. Sometimes the author gets very repetitive with her wording, but I put that down as being very much in the head of the main character. One thing I found mildly annoying ... all major achievements were still down to her partnering with a guy. Is that a commentary on how patrichy will never be overthrown?

Wow! That was... Intense. This was my first book by Annabelle McInnes and, just, wow! Intense.

The Matriarch is set in a dystopian world where... countries?, factions?, kingdoms?, nations (Yeah, I guess Nations is right) fight for resources and for power amongst the other nations. Yolanda, the 7th generation's Matriarch of the Horde is in the last stages of the latest war. She is marching her horde of all-female warriors to defeat the King of Delasovia. The world is fraught with famine and war. There is little in the way of water or rations. The sun and dust pervade everything. The all-woman nation of the Horde is fighting for resources and against the abominable machinations of the King of Delasovia. Just as Yolanda has him in her sights, a mountain of a man claims her prize for himself and beheads the king himself. The Hammer, the former king's son and now the new king of Delasovia, then does the unthinkable. He surrenders.

There is so much going on here. The author's ability to capture the desolation, the arid conditions, the heat, the dust. It really does suck you into their world. I felt the depth of despair. I really enjoyed the theme of the story. Yolanda for being a strong warrior woman embraced the "female" attribute of feeling and mourning the atrocities of actions of war. She maybe dove straight into the deep end with all her emotions but hell, if I'd been in war for so long and had all that on my shoulders, I might just go straight for all the feels right out the box too.

The women of the horde were warriors of the highest order. They were tough and brutal and made no qualms about it. It really was quite refreshing to see such female badasses.

Sasha or the Hammer or the new king of Delasovia was quite a man. He was a giant mountain of manly support. I LOVE when authors pen a strong man that isn't afraid of a woman's strength. I loved his back story about where his mother came from and how he came about his mindset versus the environment he ultimately "grew up" in. I absolutely could not think of any other character than Jason Mamoa when he was in Game of Thrones. cuz, uh, yum! but also he is just a big strong man that seems perfectly non threatened by a equally strong woman.

I will say that sometimes the writing, well, it got to be a lot. Not wordy but, well... This is the first paragraph...
"When the sun shattered the clean line of the horizon in a cascade of flame, sparks and tangible heat, Yolanda, seventh-generation Matriarch of the Horde, was meant to call for her army's advance."
It's so... descriptive. And I love it. It's great but stylistically, the writing was extremely picturesque and poetic but overall it ended up being a little too wordy? and sometimes reaching towards verbose? I know, I know. I'm a picky reader. I can't help it.

Also, you probably could have gotten extremely sauced if you played a drinking game with a shot for every time Yolanda said or thought "I am the Matriarch" OR mentioned snakes in her belly (which, just, eww... no!). I wouldn't recommend a drinking game for both because you would die from alcohol poisoning.

Overall, The Matriarch has the making of a very interesting and intriguing new series. I am absolutely looking forward to more from the Women of the Dust series.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is called “The matriarch” and hence, I was expecting a powerful book with a strong female character. I’ll admit I did not read the summary to know what the story was really about and I definitely should have. I was not expecting this romance at all and was kind of disappointed because of it. But first of all, I have to say I really liked the world in this book as it is very relevant with today’s climate and global warming issues. It shows a world of dust where trees don’t grow anymore and where water is scarce. It could be our future, who knows.

Now back to the romance. I thought it started way too early in the book, with many chapters about Yolanda realising she desires Sasha, the hammer, but fighting this urge. There were just too much repetitions. I know it is very difficult to edit a book but here, many parts could have been cut off and we would still have the same story, just less redundant. I think it would be considered a slow-build romance but there was too much romance for me. It feels like the whole book is about it and the adventures and challenges the characters go face seem just secondary and superficial. Moreover, maybe because of the characters always repeated themselves, I didn’t get attached to them, I’m not even sure I like them very much. I quite liked the women of the Horde though, all trying their best and being there for one another. A society like the Horde would be very interesting to see. They are strong and independent.
However, I was surprised by the story sill being “male-driven.” Sasha is the one ending the war and protecting the matriarch etc. It felt like Yolanda was just standing by. So yeah, that’s why I only gave two and a half stars. The story has potential and I would love to know what happens next but I think it should be re-written a bit. I don’t really recommend it for the moment.
2.5/5

The Matriarch was so good. I haven't stopped talking about it to all my friends. Remove the violence and war and that is a society I need to live in! So satisfyingly feminist and empathetic. Love it.

Also, a nice bit of smutty romance, found that I had to fan myself with my Kindle at times! I recommend this book!

This was a good book and I wouldn't be amiss to reading more books from this author in the future. which is probably going to happen since this book is a series.

this was a great start to a series, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the scifi elements,

3.5 stars
Matriarch is my first story by Annabelle McInnis. I enjoy a good dystopian tale where the challenge to survive means more than just the physical. In a nation where woman rule, change is difficult to imagine, especially when it goes against family and leadership beliefs. Yolanda is a tough and intelligent character who’s motives are not always straight-forward, but has her people’s welfare at heart.

A beautifully written dystopian romance that’s extremely light on the romance thankfully. I was initially intrigued by the description of the dystopian world and the feminist based society at the centre of it. I should’ve read it a bit closer as I missed the romance part. Disclaimer: I hate romance novels. This one focuses more on world building and actual storylines, so the romance was tolerable if a bit laughable at times. I mean, who thinks about jumping someone’s bones when they’re potentially plummeting to their death?

McInnes has a very lyrical way of writing that sucks you in and keeps you wanting more. My only issue with the novel is the repetitiveness of parts. Every time The Hammer/Sasha/male protagonist is mentioned, he’s huge/a mountain of a man/enormous/a scarred god. Ok, he’s big. I get it. Other frequently repeated imagery includes snakes in the belly, cracked lips, and exhausted-but-I’m-the-Matriarch-not-a-woman-so-I’ll-rebuild-my-weak-shields-and-go-on.

Yolanda/the Matriarch is a solid main character. My only complaint was that she trusted and fell for Sasha far too quickly for someone whose people have been fighting for seven generations. Also, Sasha was completely in love right from the get go. Where’s the build up?

Are you looking for a romance book that isn't so heavy on the romance? Something about a world so far in the future that where The Matriarch and her Hoard lives, all there is, is dust? What about a book that shows no matter what happens you still have to be strong? Than this is something you might want to check out. Though I do think as an adult, I'm too immature to read real romance books, this wasn't so hot and heavy, and more focused on the actual story, and that's what I really enjoyed about it. Once I started it, I didn't want to put it down.

Yolanda inherited her Matriarchy through the death of her mother, after battling disease for too long. Though her mother was a warlord, aggressive and dominant, Yolanda is very caring, and willing to sacrifice herself for the good of her people. And that's what her people love about her. A Horde of battle women, they're charging after their enemy with little supplies, because that's what they need to do to end the war that has destroyed both sides for almost ten years. What she doesn't expect, though, is an evil man leading an army of children. And his son to put an end to him before she ever has the chance to.

If you know me, you know I love books about apocalypse, no matter what the actual topic is. And that's why I grabbed this book as soon as I saw it. Though I'm not usually into real romance books, I was able to put that immaturity aside for a bit, but this book made it easy to, because there was only really a couple parts where it was romance driven. Inside this book is an epic adventure about a woman who learns to care about herself and someone else she never thought she would, a man who's her enemy's son. They join forces not only to save her people, but to try to save his as well, and they head out of the desert and deep into the mountains to the horribly sexist group that controls the land around The Matriarch's home. The people that not only denied her because of her gender, but because she's not willing to just lay down and let them do whatever they want to her and her own. They've taken her water, but she's going to fight to get it back.

I really enjoyed reading this book because it was really exciting, and the characters were a lot different than the others I've been reading about lately. War torn but still tough, they did what they have to do for their people, and even though I'm not into romance novels, I think this book made me realize it's not what I thought it was, at least for the most part. I'd love to check out the second book, and maybe even dip my toe into more in the genre, if they're all this interesting and action packed. I think you'd like this story if you're looking for a strong leader who just wants to save her people, and a really interesting story about that.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

Yolanda is the Matriarch of the Horde. She fights for her people against men who wish to subjucate and breed women in a world ruined by the abuses of man.

Sasha, the Hammer is the son of the Delasovian King. When Yolanda and his father meet for their final battle, he kills his father and surrenders to the Matriarch.

This dystopian world is filled with tragedies and the horror war and abusive leaders can bring but it's also filled with the hope and desires of a people who wish to restore their world and love.
McInnes weaves a rich, intense tale of a leader striving to be better than her predecessor, strong for her people and not lose herself to her fury over injustice. As Yolanda and Sasha join forces seeking an end to the sanctions and war amongst the Council of Six, they draw closer together.

I was pulled in from the first pages and could not put this book down. This book has all the feels and deep emotional connection I crave in a good story, with rich, details, and artistry, painting a picture so vivid I felt the dust, the sand, their thirst and their hunger. This is the kind of book that sticks with you, makes you want to read it again and share with your friends. I'm so grateful I received a copy of this book through Net Galley or I may not have ever discovered this amazing author and her incredible world.

There are some minor details that tried to distract me from the story but it was just too good to care. I can't wait for the second book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book and I'm voluntarily leaving a review. If you like my reviews I hope you will follow my blog. https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/

Thank you firstly to NetGalley, to Ms. McInnes and to AKM Publishing Pty Ltd for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested although not required.

This book was a RIDE. I came into it expecting a sort of feminist Mad Max situation and frankly that's more or less accurate. Between the author's Australian nationality and the Mad Max vibes I also really envisioned this taking place in a post-nuclear apocalypse Australian landscape.

I've seen plenty of reviewers cover the basic plot, so I really don't think it's necessary to do so. Suffice to say, Yolanda, current Matriarch of her [mostly female] Horde is a terrific character who is exactly as tough, fearsome, independent, intelligent and capable as you'd need to be to succeed as a leader in this world. She also struggles with the more totalitarian and honestly, somewhat barbarian and excessive, teachings of her mother with which she's been indoctrinated. Yolanda sees a different way forward for her Horde than the way her mother taught her, a way that allows for occasional softer feelings and cooperation with allies, and she has to overcome her fears and mistrust to proceed. Her counterpart, the Hammer (or prince) of the Delasovian people, offers support and alliance but it's a big risk for Yolanda to (a) trust not just someone outside the Horde, but a MAN and (b) leave her Horde in order to get answers.

I enjoyed a lot of things about this story:
-the action level was definitely very high. The paced moved quickly and something was almost always happening.
-the feminist personality aspects of both Yolanda and her Delasovian ally (don't want to spoil anything) were excellent. In the circumstances Yolanda lives in, you can completely understand her outlook and point of view, and her progression to acceptance of the Hammer seems pretty natural for a female leader in her position. The relationship between them is beautiful.
-there wasn't a ton of worldbuilding revealed but what there was, I enjoyed, particularly Yolanda's horde's adaptations to feed, clothe and transport their members on such scant resources.

A few things to note:
-I would have liked more worldbuilding in general, maybe a little more about the nuclear apocalypse and the other nations' formations afterwards. More information about the Delasovian and Horde nations would also have been interesting: how and why did they "settle" in those locations? How did the nations and their governments form? I assume from the subtitle that this is going to be a series, so maybe these questions will be answered in forthcoming books.
-I would have enjoyed a little more meat to the ending. After so much time spent on the road the ending felt a little rushed and incomplete. Perhaps this too will be expanded in future books?
-I think this book may need a serious trigger warning for (war-induced) violence towards and death of children, as well as illness-related death of children. A few passages made sense plot-wise but were difficult to read.
-one more thing, and the author referred a couple times to "damning" of water. I can only assume this will be corrected in edits? Or maybe it's an Australian thing? I always thought the correct spelling was "damming".

Otherwise, I liked this book very much and would definitely be interested in reading more in this series. 3.5 stars happily rounded to 4 for GR.

The characters in this book are phenomenal, the female protagonist, Yolanda, is headstrong and unwavering in her support of her people. She would give up just about anything in to make sure her people survive. Sasha, the male protag was great, he supporting her in anything she did but held his own as an independent character.

The chapters are short but packed with detail, I particularly liked the anecdotes at the start of each chapter, they really give insight to the reader of how Yolanda was raised, they also tie into each chapter. The book had many surprising twists and I am eager to read the next.

I loved the world building and the characters, this is a great dystopian adventure/romance, well dystopian in that we hope doesn’t happen but feels all too possible.

That being said I had severe issues with pacing of the story. It’s interesting and the character build is on point for the reader to “feel” as the character feels throughout the book. However I thought it was a bit too slow at times. I soldiered on because I wanted to know what would happen, but almost skimmed at times.

It’s a slow burn romance in the way that it was written, but fast burn if you consider the book’s timeline.

One thing that bummed me was the ending, I expected more and felt it was somewhat rushed for a book that up to that point was exceedingly well explained and developed at times.

This book has an intriguing premise and I liked the overall idea a lot. However, the execution and the writing style feels off to me. There are too many metaphors and flowery words used that it sounded overdramatic in my head and made me cringe a little. I kept noticing these nuances and thus, makes my overall reading enjoyment not great. In this instance, I think it's more of a "me" thing and it's no the book's fault I don't enjoy reading too much of metaphors and flowery words. I think other people who do not care for the writing style and is purely here for the story would still enjoy reading this though.