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The Three | 
 enlarge | Author: Meghan O'brien
Publisher: Quest
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 171929
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 292
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1932300511
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781932300512
ASIN: 1932300511
Publication Date: January 15, 2006
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Product Description
Alone in rural Indiana with only the clothes on her back, 25 year old Anna is almost ready to give up on trying to live in a world that has seen the recent slaughter of her childhood tribe and the murder, only a year later, of her best friend and only surviving tribe mate. When Anna interrupts an attack on a beautiful woman lounging by a lake, she is subsequently drawn into the relationship of two other survivors of the sickness: young, idealistic Elin, who welcomes Anna into their makeshift family with open arms, and her lover, the older, more jaded Kael, whose dark and brooding nature initially keeps Anna at bay. While Anna and Elin fall into affectionate interaction that quickly turns romantic - with Kael's permission - Anna and Kael have a more difficult time learning to live with one another. Their mutual love for Elin sees them through a rough start, and soon they develop a tentative, but genuine, friendship. The threesome is journeying south for the winter season when an unexpected accident leaves Elin severely injured and unable to defend herself from the constant threat of attack that is a part of their everyday lives. Making the decision to nurse Elin back to health in the relative safety of a city, Kael and Anna soon find that tensions rise as their relationship is strained by their concern over Elin's condition and Kael's resulting emotional distance from Anna. When Elin is threatened yet again, this time by a group of religious fanatics who believe that a woman's duty in the post-apocalyptic world is to bear children and work towards repopulating the earth, Kael and Anna's fragile bond will be tested once again as they find the need to work together to save the woman they both love.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fun read June 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Meghan O'Brien's The Three was all in all a fun read.
I read it because I absolutely enjoyed Infinite Loop, but have the same issues with both books. They hindered the reading of Loop less than they did that of The Three.
To summarize, The Three is a story of 3 women involved in a romantic relationship in a post-apocalyptic US, in which only very few people survived a disease. It doesn't quite draw a picture of the entire country, we only get to know what these three women experienced before meeting each other, but those reflect what one would expect from a situation like this.
I'm not always into sci-fi, fantasy, but I do the genres if something in the portrayed world clicks with me. I have a little trekkie inside of me, and enjoyed spending a lot of time in Zimmer Bradley's Darkover world as a teenager.
One of the things that bugged me was that once Anna meets Elin it's love at first sight, and the relationship between Anna and Kael, Elin's partner progresses only slightly slower. I'm not sure if such a post-apocalyptic world would make you trust those sudden feelings faster or maybe not, at any rate, I found it somewhat unbelievable. The threesome itself is very believable and you can see what it is that attracts the women to each other.
I also would have enjoyed more plot and less sex. If you take the sex out (which is well written and hot), there's really not much left, and I think a setting like this would allow for a lot more to tell. The plot itself is also rather weak and predictable.
One of the women, Kael, presents as a man, and Anna, too, in the beginning thinks she is one. Kael likes her masculine identity, and the other women both at times use male pronouns, not just in public but in private as well. This aspect as well could have been better developed and used/explored for more than the sex scenes. Oh, that's unfair of me. To me, Kael is the most interesting characters of them all, and her masculinity and role in their relationship is explored in dialog and fights they have while they try to find their place in the threesome, I just wish there was more of it that doesn't relate to sex scenes. Although those were good.
Another thing that bugged me was the portrayal of masculinity/femininity in the book. While the three women are each at different points of the scale, their masculinity/femininity is portrayed along the lines of behavior etc. that matches the gender binary I so want to get rid of today. I wish the gender bending would have included breaking stereotypes of gender that still dominate a lot of people's thoughts today, e.g., feminine as weak and needs to be protected, cooks etc., while Kael hunts, scouts places for safety etc. Now, I realize that it also has to to with physical ability and personal strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn't explain the strict adherence to stereotypical views of gender.
I did enjoy reading it, but I wish there would have been a bit more meat to the story and that some aspects were developed more fully.
A strange and original adventure that is exciting and sexy May 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I stayed away from this book initially because the premise sounded a bit too out there for me. But I do like post-apocalyptic settings. And I have really enjoyed all of this author's other works, so much so that I decided that I could no longer put-off reading this book. And it was certainly a very original and interesting journey that I'm glad I took. The first half or more of the book is establishing the relationship between the three. One of this author's strengths is spending time with developing emotions and relationships. Then Elin is captured, and the rest of the book is about Anna and Kael working together and attempting her rescue.
This author has a really sure way with plot: she is really able to balance the drama, action and sex very well.
This author has a clear talent for creating distinct and interesting characters that you care about.
This book was very entertaining and original, and ultimately the good guys triumph, which is usually a must for me in my search for entertainment. Certainly it's no secret that the three main characters (Kael, Anna and Elin) are involved with one another. It's some trick the author pulls off making this three-some believable, and also balancing the relationship between each "pair" of the three. I don't know quite how or why it works, but it's sexy and romantic, and the way they all lean on one another in order to confront the harsh realities of their world, and end up forming a stonger family by overcoming obstacles, is inspiring.
If you're looking for a bit of an unconventional romance that mixes in some post-apocalyptic adventure, and you're able to keep an open mind about its nature, then you must read this book; settle in and enjoy it.
How do you define the term family? January 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was positively surprised after reading this book even though I did enjoy `Infinite Loop', another book of this brilliant author not too long ago. But what was I supposed to expect from a book that covers the relationship between three women?
What is this book about? There is Anna, victimized by rape, who just lost her family, her tribe and her best friend in an attack. Now she has to try and survive on her own in a post-apocalyptic world where danger is lurking behind every corner. Anna meets Elin and Kael who invite her to travel with them, if only for a while. They are obviously lovers. But it takes a while for Anna to figure out that both are women.
Elin surprises Anna and the reader with her optimistic attitude towards life in a world that goes down the pan while Kael is the totally opposite with her dark and brooding nature. And Anna? It takes time for her to open up, to trust Elin and finally acknowledge to herself that she is more than attracted to her. But what about Kael?
What does it take to be a family? And what will Anna and Kael do when Elin is kidnapped? Will they be able to work together, trust each other and find their lover?
This book is intriguing, the story is exciting, romantic, and erotic and a rollercoaster ride. But it is not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it and encourage everyone to read it with an open mind. This is a different kind of story which I did enjoy.
Meghan O'Brien is a wonderful storyteller and I am very much looking forward to her next novel `Thirteen hours', coming out in May 2008.
 So NOT Formula, It'll Make Your Head Spin... August 24, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Meghan O'Brien has outdone herself with `The Three.' There is no middle ground here. Readers will either love it or hate it. This reader thinks it's phenomenal.
So many authors in this genre tend to follow the basic Uber (i.e., Xena and Gabrielle) formula or a simple romantic recipe. O'Brien goes out on a limb with this one and introduces a triad of lovers who are trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world.
First introduced is Anna. Anna has been victimized by rape and lost her best friend in the same attack. Trying to stay hidden and recover from her injuries, she runs across the lovely Elin and covertly watches her sunbathe. Goons run in to attack Elin. Although she mostly defends herself, Anna jumps in to help. At the tail end of the battle, Kael, Anna's lover, joins in. Anna initially assumes Kael is a man, but soon realizes he is a she. Due to Elin's open and loving nature, she soon begins a sexual relationship with Anna. Kael looks in from the outside, but soon becomes Anna's lover as well.
The three continue to build a deepening relationship until Elin is abducted by the Procreationists - a religious cult who treat women as nothing more than breeders. Having once been a victim of the cult herself, Kael almost goes mad knowing Elin has been taken. She and Anna stop at no cost to save Elin from the same fate.
A marriage of three, the story is full of emotional highs and lows and kept this reader engaged from the first sentence. I applaud O'Brien for her successful attempt at a different kind of story. What a breath of fresh air from this talented author.
Keep `em coming Meghan!
Adventurous and Erotic Combination is powerful March 5, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
In the The Three by Meghan O'Brien we are treated to first-rate storytelling that features scorching love scenes with three main characters. While the publisher lists this book as an adventure, it is the mix with eroticism that completes this remarkable story.
Anna first meets Elin and Kael as they are traveling south on foot for the winter. There are few people along the way after biological war and sickness wipes out most of the United States' population twenty years before. As the three join together to protect themselves against unfriendly strangers, they find themselves forming a bond of need and love, but the three are no match for a group of pro-creationists who kidnap Elin.
O' Brien convinces and enlightens us with each word as she widens our definition of what it takes to make a family, and this is the power of The Three. She constructs unusual dynamics when Anna unites with the two lovers, Elin and Kael. Rather than being a third wheel, Anna becomes both Kael's and Elin's lover, and we benefit from some awesome love scenes. As the three work through their new relationships, they encounter many difficulties on the road, but they tackle all adversaries as one.
O'Brien's storytelling is much improved over her first novel Infinite Loop. She hits her stride well in The Three with a well-paced plot that never slows. She excels at giving us an astounding tale that is tightly written and extremely sensual. I highly recommend this unique book.
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