Armageddon Girls

The Juniper Wars, Book 1

By: Aaron Michael Ritchey

Narrated by: Angela Rose Masi

On a desperate road through the most dangerous place on earth, three sisters find a boy who could be their salvation, or cost them everything.

It is the year 2058.

The Sino-American War has decimated several generations of men, and the Sterility Epidemic has made 90 percent of the surviving males sterile.

Electricity does not function in five western states. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana are territories once again. Collectively, they are known as the Juniper.

It is the most dangerous place on Earth.

On a desperate post-apocalyptic cattle drive to save their family ranch, Cavatica Weller and her two gunslinging sisters stumble across a rare boy. Sharlotte wants to send him away, Wren wants to sell him...and Cavatica falls in love with him.

Little do they know that an inhuman army is searching for the boy and will stop at nothing to find him.

©2019 Shadow Alley Press (P)2019 Shadow Alley Press

A Real Rip Snorter!

(Readers be warned, I've been listening to a book about the post-apocalyptic Wild West all day. I'm going to make cowboy-slang jokes. Don't try to stop me.)

It begins with bad cards in an impossible poker game, and the Devil grinning the players down. And the stakes they're playing for? The family farm, and the future.

It's a classic Western story, in a whole new Wild West. And that's the strength of Ritchie's writing: taking old ideas and refitting them into something entirely new and wholly engrossing.

Take the gender-relations situation in this new and slowly healing America. 10% of children born are sons. 10% of those are Viable. This means that a boy who can keep the species going is one in a hundred. You can imagine how that effects their value to society. And society itself has changed. Women run the world now. Women comprise most of the population. It's had some good results: lower crime rates, for one. It's also ushered in a New Morality among many Christians, stressing piety, hard work, and couples forming on the basis of love rather than the doweries a wealthy girl's family can pay to a viable boy's. It's also brought a resurgent disapproval of lesbians, now called Jillians. This new take on gender and gender relations is quite a trip. And so is the demographic shift of America: with the population depleted after a war between America and China, immigration was incentivized to fill the desperate gaps in the workforce. Now America is heavily spiced with Indian members and Indian culture. It's fascinating to see how the culture has molded itself to fit these new circumstances.

And speaking of circumstances, welcome back to the ol' West, pardner. Or rather, the New West. A West with updated zeppelins and trucks that run on steam. With new cattle barons and travelling Viable men servicing the ladies. A Wild West with sky bandits who pull zeppelins out of the air.

For all its weirdness, this is a surprisingly realistic and believable world. Ritchie leads us down the path his culture has taken to reach its current position step by plausible step. Every individual circumstance is well reasoned and logical. But taken together, it's a fantastical and unexpectedly fresh Wild West. Reviving the corpse of the Western isn't an easy feat, but Ritchie has done it in style.
The story revolves around three sisters: young and untried Cavatica Weller, her eldest sister Sharlotte, and crazy-wild middle sister Wren. Each has her own sorrows, her own pains and joys. Each is complex, a full being in her own right. Each has her own story to tell. That is, if they don't strangle one another first.

Revolving around these three central characters are a wide array of misfits, hard workers, loyal friends and brutal enemies. Ritchie has done a great job of balancing characterization with color, giving us a cast that is both quirky and human. I particularly enjoyed the interwoven threads of faith and culture throughout the story: these people's beliefs ground them in a tradition, making them that much more alive. Don't worry, the New West isn't stocked with tropes, though they may be dressed up in tropey wardrobe now and again.

The explorations of personal trauma, personal responsibility, and the bonds of family born and found make for powerful people. The things that pull us together and apart are unflinchingly explored in all their nuance.
With fun neo-western slang, candor, careful thought and great action, this story bucks along like a bronco under his first saddle. Ritchie writes in the voice of Cavatica, the style that of a personal journal-come-confessional. This was the perfect choice: her homespun phraseology, sharp mind and ready young woman's candor make her the perfect access character.

The quotes at the beginning of chapters really add weight and depth to the overall world, pulling us ever deeper into its history with elegant speed. The reader captures the characters perfectly. Ritchie balances situational elements perfectly with interpersonal conflicts. The only point I stuck was in a character literally dropping out of the sky into the plot, but hey, after a bit, it really grew on me.

This story also allows us to reflect on who we are: as Americans, and as human beings. But it never preaches. It just passes the ammunition.

Armageddon Girls

Following the Sino-American wars, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and New Mexico have no power and are now collectively called the Juniper. There is 1viable male for every 20 females. This is the story of one family and what they must do to fulfill their debts that there mother has left them upon her death. The only way they see to make that much money is to drive their cattle across a very dangerous land to sell to different people, people that will give them what they are worth, if they make it. The three sisters take off and shortly in to the drive find a boy, one sister wants to sell him, one just wants him gone, but the third has fallen in love with him, what they don't know is who he is and the danger he is going to bring.

This was a exciting book from start to finish, there was non-stop action and suspense around every corner. If you are a audio person this one is a must as Angela Rose Masi's performance is awesome. She takes you to the dusty, gun slinging Juniper, where you can go on this adventure with Cavatica and her sisters. You can be a part of their friends that is helping them on this drive. Whether you are a audio person or a book person you won't be disappointed with this book.

Love these sisters!

The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is the story isn't done. This is a "to be continued" which usually annoys me and makes me put a series down, but I'm too in Love with these sisters to stop now. They'er as hard as nails, but Ritchey manages to show each sisters' softer side/vulnerability without making them look week. And the narrator is amazing, she gives each character their own voice,bringing the book to life.

Thinking woman’s Dystopia

A rollicking what-if of a cattle drive with strong women in a dystopian future in the West. The characters’ unique voices make the wild ride fascinating and absorbing.

One of the best books of the year!

I love, Love, LOVE this book! Armageddon Girls landed firmly on my favorites list! I gotta say 2021 has been good to me, with several top quality reads, and February isn't even half over!
This book is what happens when the author has an over abundant love for all genre fiction. It's a coming-of-age, near-future, Apocalyptic, Scifi, Western that's been Steampunked! Yep, you heard that right! Our protagonist (Cavaticus: so named because her mama loved the story of Charlotte's Web) and her two sisters take a daring risk in order to save the ranch. They decide drive 3000 head of cattle across the wastelands, journeyin' south to where the markets are better, and the beeves will pay off the ranch's debt! The only difference between... say a Zane Grey tale and Armageddon Girls are the weapons, and that the rustlers/pirates swoop in on either a dirigible, or horseback, each with equal aplomb, to take whatever they want and kill everything else!
I grew up on a diet of Westerns, and later Scifi (Ya' just cain't take the Western/Spacer outta' me!), so it's really a no-brainer that I would love this!
The story's end borders right on that fine line between something I really liked... and a cliffhanger that earned my wrath, but I decided that it really did have a good positive conclusion, even though, they're stuck hiding in Denver, not even a quarter of the way to their destination!
Other reasons to get this book: (What you need more?) How about a kickass protagonist, along with her also Kickass-sisters, Sharlotte and Wren? There's plenty of action to go around, and a great character driven plot! All of that just makes this book rock! Bonus if you like audio books, because Angela Rose Masi's awesome narration really sets the stage!


Quotes I liked ♥!
"The report of an MG21 echoed across the landscape. Betty Butter (cow) let out a bellow that started in her butt and threw itself out of her mouth."

"Yes, Wren has bested June Mai’s soldiers three times now, but if I were throwing dice in Vegas, I would gratefully take my money off the table and get some pie. I love pie.”

"I nodded. His words and that mad-dog stare wiped every thought from my mind, including fear."

"If we die, I’m going to beat the truth out of you.” Pilate paused, grinned. “Wait, no, I’ll beat you before we die. It’ll work better that way.”