The world is destroyed.
Stripped of all modern technology, a small group of people survive and evolve. The Rehloy are born blind and don't gain sight until they reach puberty. Learning of the world first through their other senses, creates such a high level of awareness in them that they border on the mystical.
For a thousand years they have lived in isolation, developing a special relationship with nature. Theirs is a "spiritual" life, ethereal, in some ways divine. But the outside world is intruding. The trees have begun to whisper of change....
On a distant shore, men whose technology is akin to the ancient Romans, have landed. Bent on conquest, they cut down trees, carve out roads, and begin to build a city.
And so, the struggle between a shamanic-like culture and an industrial one begins.
Loy is the story of a shaman, who must leave his homeland to discover the truth, and in so doing becomes its instrument.
It is about a mother who sacrifices her freedom and sanity in order to save her unborn child. It is about a child born with excruciating sensitivities, whose pain eventually becomes a source of great strength.
It is about monsters and madness, paradise found and lost. It is about the search for inner truth and a journey into the nature of mind and spirit.
Industry Reviews
Best Indie Sci-Fi / Fantasy Novel for 2023 - The Kindle Book Review
"A measured apocalyptic tale with a superb otherworldly cast." - Kirkus Reviews
"LOY is an incredibly original Epic Fantasy story that offers a fascinating and thought-provoking look into the future of humanity...[the] story is one that is not to be missed." - Literary Titan
"Libraries and readers interested in apocalyptic sci-fi may at first think that the nature and setting of Loy: In the Forests of the Mind portends the usual read about physical struggles and adaptations, but the greater joy of this story lies in its mental and spiritual explorations. Sci-fi fans seeking higher-level thinking from their futuristic reading will find Loy: In the Forests of the Mind not just thought-provoking, but well suited to book club discussions." - Midwest Book Review
"A riveting storyline both captivating and profound. Loy by Todd David Gross is a true epic that transports the reader into a future world full of the profoundly mystical and strangely familiar. It is a place of captivating beauty and terrifying danger that challenges our assumptions about the nature of humanity and our relationship to the world around us. I loved it." - James T. Powers, author of Shadows Over Dawnland and Ancient Wisdom, Modern Hope