Author: Karina Kantas

The core of the feminist story is the coming-of-age of a girl named Lexi who is living with a controlling boyfriend named Aron. While they have hot sex, and readers of the Adult Edition of this tale will get to experience a long, vivid description of that hot sex, Lexi’s growing independence and distaste for her restrictive life as a Malok in the mountains sends her on the road to becoming a Ranger, one of the fighters being trained to battle the Outcasts, quasi-humans who live underground and compete with the Maloks for control of the addicting and life-supporting Terra plant.

At the same time Lexi is affirming herself,  the man of her childhood dreams returns to be the new leader of her people. An old foe of Lexi’s, a woman named mae, is by his side and Lexi assumes the two are a couple.    So one subplot to the saga is Lexi slowly learning the truth about her would-be suitor with whom, ah, back to that hot sex thing. Almost.

The final third of the book, and I’m not providing any spoilers here, sends all the main characters into a violent and vicious battle with the Outcasts where Lexi discovers many truths about herself, her future, and the most important people in her life.

So, in one fast-paced adventure, readers get a feminist champion, some erotic, sensory passages, a futuristic society with a spartan culture, an extended vicious battle—what more could you ask for in a read that can be completed in one evening? How about a happy ending?     How about the author’s promise to give us a second volume so we can follow the fates of the warriors we got fascinated by in volume one?

If you like your reading fast, furious, and unrestrained, Toxic is well-worth an evening of your time.  I gather there’s a milder version of the book that might appeal to readers not accustomed to rough and ready fiction, but I can’t speak to it. I like being entertained by sex and violence and interesting characters in an interesting world.