Ahoy there me mateys!  I am not sure where I heard about this self-published dystopian.  This ended up being a strange read where I adored the first half and didn't like the second half at all.

The beginning deals with the life of Corim Colleran who is born into the bottom tier of society called the General Order.  Like most dystopians, life is rigidly controlled.  The interesting aspect of this world is the regulated life spans and how sex work is built into the society.  The death and sex are not graphic but the ramifications of how both are used were kinda fun in a weird sort of way.  For example, sexual education is built into the school curriculum.  At a certain age at school, the General Order is required to have sex during the school day in controlled circumstances while watched by robots.  Sex is natural and encouraged and being selected as a sex worker after graduation is a high honor.  The healthy attitude towards sex was interesting.  Of course there was a dark side due to class distinctions later too.

Death is also dealt with unusually.  Men in the General Order only live until 36.  Women until 37.  As societal rank increases, as established by birth, so does the number of years ye live.  Dying is also humanely controlled in how it occurs.  I actually loved how these elements worked even if it was sad to watch the characters go through it.  One of the main conflicts of the book is that Corim's wife, Kiri, is killed out of time.  Her body is revived for three days so she can say goodbye before dying for good. 

Though the three day grace period makes little sense intellectually, as a dystopian rule it had interesting consequences.  I loved the relationship between Corim and Kiri.  Ye watch them grow up and fall in love and start a family while knowing that the 36 year deadline is approaching fast.  Of course Kiri's death and how it affects her family are horrible.  But both the death and sex worker aspects had me riveted.

Sadly, once the Kiri aspects were over, the book completely lost me.  I thought the world building was fascinating before the author tried to explain how the world evolved that way.  How the truth was exposed and what the truth was just felt lame to me.  Corim fights the system because of how it affected his wife.  His view for the new future seemed simplistic and silly.  Corim went from feeling like a fully realized character to a caricature.  The other characters after the half way mark seemed even flimsier.  The two halves seemed almost like they were parts of two different books written by different people.  So I don't really think I could recommend this one even though the first half was fantastic for me.  Arrrr!