Gated

Like most people, I find the study of cults fascinating and a little sad. I actually ended up taking a class on cults my junior year of college because one of my original classes for that semester–Latin 3, if you’re wondering–was cancelled due to a lack of interest. Shocker. Somehow, a few days before school began, I had to find another class to register for to keep up with my full-time student status, and there were few classes for my major, my minors, or my general requirements that were open. I finally stumbled across a class called New Religious Movements(the more sociological term for cults and sects) that was open and fit a requirement for my religion minor with a professor who was generally spoken of positively. I registered, not knowing that class would end up being one of my favorites and most fascinating. See, that class is why I had such a profound interest in Gated from the start, and the book did not disappoint.

The society at Mandodrage Meadows is the type of place outsiders look upon with a mixture of curiosity and fear. The members do not interact with the modern world as much as they can help it, aside from the occasional run in to town for supplies. They stockpile. They create a bunker, and they’re waiting the apocalypse. Each member is paired off with another for families, and all of the families have undergone trauma of some kind, and are looking at the society as a place of healing. At the front of it all is Pioneer, the leader of them all.

I thought Parker did a terrific job of writing the world of Mandodrage Meadow as both appealing and off-putting at the same time. It was easy to see what could attract families, especially families who had lost loved ones, to the community and simple life the compound gave. Yet, Parker never slipped into making the life seemed ideal. All along, the idea that this society was so carefully structured that an outside magazine or a pair of teenagers sneaking out could bring this down.

Lyla navigated her world with such ease, and at first I couldn’t help the dissonance I felt as an outsider looking in and the comfort she seemed to carry. Couldn’t she see how scary and wrong this was? How the end of the world could come at any moment, yes, but that all the prepping and packing and hiding away just built fear, not tore it down? That was everything the reader in me wanted to say as I read about Lyla’s day-to-day life, but of course her comfort makes sense. She wasn’t born in Mandodrage Meadows, so it’s not really the only life she’s ever known, but it’s close enough.

Throughout the story, Lyla slowly opens herself up to the outside world a little bit more, and this was also fascinating to see from the perspective of someone who doesn’t really live in the same world so many of us do. I thought her character was well-written and that her curiosity, discomfort, and terror were all presented well.

Pioneer, the leader of Mandodrage Meadows, is one of the most complex and complicated characters I’ve ever read about. The story is told through Lyla’s first-person POV, so we only see Pioneer through Lyla’s eyes. We see her awe and admiration at the beginning, her confusion and hurt in the middle of the book, and her ultimate anger by the end. Pioneer is deranged, but the way his carefully composed character presents as pleasant and charismatic is. . . disturbing, to say the least.

Gated is a difficult book to read. It moves slowly as Lyla lives out what her community truly believes is the last of days, just to culminate in a quick and breath-catching last fifty pages. It’s not a book for everyone, and throughout Gated, readers will really SEE the world that Pioneer has built, which can be difficult reading as an outsider, having already labelled this group a cult. But it’s still a book I would recommend to people who enjoy the study of cults and find them sadly fascinating, as I do.

Final Impression: Not an easy or fun read by any means, but I thought Gated was an excellent look into a cult that is preparing for the end of the world and seeing the effect the community and it’s leader can have on a teenager’s life. I thought the society at Mandodrage Meadows was written really well in a way that both made me understand how the community to seem so compelling to people while at the same times still being disturbing.

From the blurb I got the feeling this was about a society that was maybe a little out there with their thinking and beliefs, but it was a lot more than that, it about a cult ran by a seriously deranged man. Lyla is just 17 years old, stay off the radar, observes those around her, and when an outsider comes to Mandrodage Meadows, she begins to question the things she has been taught about the upcoming apocalypse. There are so many question that she want answers to. The big one for me, was what is going to do if she finds the truth she is looking for, and what is she going to do with?

Lyla was a great character and narrator, maybe a little out of place in a society like she lived in. She thought different, she was bold and strong and stood out, and wasn’t like the other teenagers that truly believed Pioneer. But something about her, just worked for me. The secondary characters brought their own level of intensity to the story, from Cody is the outsider that comes to visit and Lyla is drawn to, to Marie the best friend who has a fascination with the books from the outside. There a few others, that I enjoy as well. There was a little bit of a romance between Lyla and Cody but it didn’t play a big role.

This isn’t a fast paced story at all, and it needed be this way to give the full feeling of the life they live in the Community and especially the domination Pioneer had over “his people”. They have been lead to believe the world outside their walls is in a state of chaos. Pioneer the leader, was a fantastic villain. I’m not sure whether he truly believed what he told them, or he was just plain psycho. Anyway, Lyla is stuck, she wants to be with her family but at the same time, she is certain that things aren’t what they seem. She does all she can to find the truth. Following her and watching her grow into her own was a part that I liked watching. And with the twist climatic twist toward the end, I so engrossed I just couldn’t stop reading. It’s not a happy ending but closure for those in the Community, and an ending that was just right for a book like this.

Gated is dark and thrilling, and takes the reader into cult living, and was horrifying and intriguing all at the same time. The quotes at the start of each new chapter, just added to the creepiness of it all. I think this definitely makes you think, and worth reading.


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Thank you to Random House for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Every now and then, I read a book--a book that opens my eyes to the world and helps me see the world in a different way. Gated is that book, the kind of book that's eye opening and just absolutely wonderful. Amy Christine Parker absolutely blew me away with Gated. Gated is an incredible, important novel that I think everyone needs to read at least once in their life because it's life-changing. Read Gated and your view of the world will forever be changed for the better.

Gated hits the reader hard with a story that is extremely poignant and thought-provoking. Most books, in my opinion, don't portray good or evil in the correct way at all. So many books show good and evil in a black and white way where a person is all good or all evil. Not only is that not realistic, it's extremely irritating to read. Amy Christine Parker expresses in Gated how thin the blurred line is between good and evil; how we all have a little both of good and evil in us.

The characters in Gated are extremely realistic and they are just the type of conflicted characters that I seem to love. Pioneer is the kind of character that you will never quite be able to decipher because there are just so many layers to him. Does he actually believe he's following divine orders? Does he truly believe what he's doing is right? He's one of the best characters I've ever seen written and there is just so much to his character. Lyla is also a character that was executed perfectly throughout the novel. Her transition from being a naive person to someone who is strong-headed and strong. Lyla's character really made me question whether "Ignorance is bliss"or if the old adage is a bunch of drivel. Is hiding from the evil in the world any good? Is there evil everywhere? There was just so much to ponder over while reading Gated because it was such a thought-provoking novel.

I have never been in a cult and I will never join one, but I feel as if Parker hit the nail on the head with recreating what being in a cult is like. All of the little intricacies of Mandrodage Meadows were brilliant and well-done. I felt the looming danger that the outside world posed to this cult and the danger everyone felt. There is a perfect sense of urgency and tension throughout the novel like the world was actually ending.

The plot of Gated was incredible and was extremely fast-paced right from the first few pages. Gated is without a doubt, an intense, memorable thriller that engrossed me right away. There is never a moment where the plot is at a stalemate and the plot is always being progressed by even the smallest details. This is one of those books where I think that the romance was absolutely necessary to add to the entire picture. The ending leaves no loose ends unattended to and this makes me as if this is a stand-alone.


Gated is an incredible, fast-paced thriller that is sure to wow readers of all ages. I can honestly say that Gated has changed me as a person and how I perceive things. Just everything about Gated was enticing to me. I can't express how brilliantly this novel was executed and how everything just seemed to fall into place perfectly. I know for sure that I will be reading Amy Christine Parker's sophomore novel and I hope it's as picture-perfect. Gated is a book that will linger in your mind long after you read the final sentence, it's truly unforgettable!