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ktoth818's review against another edition
This was just..... Boring. No intrigue, no good world building or character development
labunnywtf's review against another edition
2.0
Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Trigger warnings for basically everything bad that could ever happen to a woman. Seriously, the sexual assaults, physical assaults, rape, misogyny...it will choke even the strongest.
This book is part The Handmaid's Tale, part Game of Thrones. This is a world where women are nothing more than heir bearer's, and if a woman can't produce a child, or displeases her husband, or is just unpleasing in general, she's sent to an Abbey (get thee to a nunnery), which is forced prostitution.
But also this is a world of magic. Magic that involves spells but also plucking elements out of the air, and it's unseemly for a woman to do magic, so the abigails make the potions and sell them and give the money to the crown because they're men.
The Abbess, who was formerly the queen until the king decided she was inconvenient, casts a massive spell that kills her, her daughter, and her granddaughter, but releases some major feminine mojo into the world. Women can no longer be forced to bear children if they don't want to. Also, they get a Kai if they're raped, which is basically like a death element that...is confusing because it's not like they get to....kill people with it?
There are a lot of main characters here. We have Alysoon, Ellin, Jinnell, Graesan...
Freaking fantasy spellings.
But also Shelvin and Chanlix and Delnamal and Zarsha and HOLY SHIT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE TO KEEP UP WITH.
Seriously, this book is massive and it's only book one. I know fantasy is known for being massive and bulky, but this book should have been split. Maybe only into two, but there is far too much happening in this book, and the pacing is completely off because we can only spend so much time with this many people.
The chapters are not devoted to one character, or one setting. There are often three different viewpoints and three different settings in just one chapter, and there's no flow, the three people aren't discussing the same event or the same information, they're not getting information learned through the previous POV.
There's no flow to this. And with a chunker of a book like this, pacing is everything.
Now for the sexual assault aspect. Women are treated like garbage here. There is a Hollywood trope wherein a woman must be assaulted, physically or sexually, and then she's a tough badass who fights against injustice. There's also the trope of a woman being assaulted and/or killed to make a male main character stronger, but luckily we haven't had that happen. Yet.
The power these women are granted is because of their mistreatment. And that aspect is what made me want to read this book. A woman given power by a terrible man's actions. But that's...that's not really what's happening here. The violence is so graphic, it's really hard to read. And the "power" that comes from it isn't really power.
Ohhhh, you better be nice to your wife, or she'll never be able to bear children! Um, k, I'm going to beat and rape her repeatedly and threaten worse if she doesn't consent to giving me a child. Or I'll send her to live with the other whores, where other men will beat and rape her. NBD.
What?
And see above re: the Kai element, which I saw used to make men completely flacid, which is great and all, but that's...what?
Also, we're dealing with woman empowerment, but we have literally no diverse representation. The "bad guys" are super pale and that's disappointing, and their ways are more oppressive than these OTHER oppressive people, but other than two instances of complaining about them being "colorless" with pale hair, we don't get anything about darker skin, or richer tones.
And also, why is there no gay representation? Or asexual? These women are living in an abbey where they are violated multiple times a day, but we don't get any POVs about how maybe they don't want to have sex at all and that's why they're Unwanted?
Not that I needed more POVs, but we could've gotten rid of QUITE A FEW to make room for some actual diversity.
No. Just no. The further I got, the less I wanted to read because it is so long, so rambling. If this book had been split, we could've focused on the different settings and different people and felt entirely more invested in the story.
So disappointing. Much, much disappointment.
Trigger warnings for basically everything bad that could ever happen to a woman. Seriously, the sexual assaults, physical assaults, rape, misogyny...it will choke even the strongest.
This book is part The Handmaid's Tale, part Game of Thrones. This is a world where women are nothing more than heir bearer's, and if a woman can't produce a child, or displeases her husband, or is just unpleasing in general, she's sent to an Abbey (get thee to a nunnery), which is forced prostitution.
But also this is a world of magic. Magic that involves spells but also plucking elements out of the air, and it's unseemly for a woman to do magic, so the abigails make the potions and sell them and give the money to the crown because they're men.
The Abbess, who was formerly the queen until the king decided she was inconvenient, casts a massive spell that kills her, her daughter, and her granddaughter, but releases some major feminine mojo into the world. Women can no longer be forced to bear children if they don't want to. Also, they get a Kai if they're raped, which is basically like a death element that...is confusing because it's not like they get to....kill people with it?
There are a lot of main characters here. We have Alysoon, Ellin, Jinnell, Graesan...
Freaking fantasy spellings.
But also Shelvin and Chanlix and Delnamal and Zarsha and HOLY SHIT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE TO KEEP UP WITH.
Seriously, this book is massive and it's only book one. I know fantasy is known for being massive and bulky, but this book should have been split. Maybe only into two, but there is far too much happening in this book, and the pacing is completely off because we can only spend so much time with this many people.
The chapters are not devoted to one character, or one setting. There are often three different viewpoints and three different settings in just one chapter, and there's no flow, the three people aren't discussing the same event or the same information, they're not getting information learned through the previous POV.
There's no flow to this. And with a chunker of a book like this, pacing is everything.
Now for the sexual assault aspect. Women are treated like garbage here. There is a Hollywood trope wherein a woman must be assaulted, physically or sexually, and then she's a tough badass who fights against injustice. There's also the trope of a woman being assaulted and/or killed to make a male main character stronger, but luckily we haven't had that happen. Yet.
The power these women are granted is because of their mistreatment. And that aspect is what made me want to read this book. A woman given power by a terrible man's actions. But that's...that's not really what's happening here. The violence is so graphic, it's really hard to read. And the "power" that comes from it isn't really power.
Ohhhh, you better be nice to your wife, or she'll never be able to bear children! Um, k, I'm going to beat and rape her repeatedly and threaten worse if she doesn't consent to giving me a child. Or I'll send her to live with the other whores, where other men will beat and rape her. NBD.
What?
And see above re: the Kai element, which I saw used to make men completely flacid, which is great and all, but that's...what?
Also, we're dealing with woman empowerment, but we have literally no diverse representation. The "bad guys" are super pale and that's disappointing, and their ways are more oppressive than these OTHER oppressive people, but other than two instances of complaining about them being "colorless" with pale hair, we don't get anything about darker skin, or richer tones.
And also, why is there no gay representation? Or asexual? These women are living in an abbey where they are violated multiple times a day, but we don't get any POVs about how maybe they don't want to have sex at all and that's why they're Unwanted?
Not that I needed more POVs, but we could've gotten rid of QUITE A FEW to make room for some actual diversity.
No. Just no. The further I got, the less I wanted to read because it is so long, so rambling. If this book had been split, we could've focused on the different settings and different people and felt entirely more invested in the story.
So disappointing. Much, much disappointment.
sommermeyer27's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved The Women's War! I found it with my friend while browsing at B&N, and we both bought a copy and really enjoyed it. I found it to be a very refreshing take on fantasy, as fantasy often treats women as secondary characters. The Women's War focuses on several characters, with various POV throughout the book, and the main women characters have a large age range and different lives and backgrounds, which again was very nice to see. I also very much enjoyed the worldbuilding and the unique magic in this book, and overall the storyline was exciting and enjoyable. The ending left me SHOOK and counting down until the sequel was finally released this month.
While there are some oversights (LGBTQ representation especially), I think that The Women's War was still an amazing step in the right direction of inclusive fantasy. The sequel, Queen of the Unwanted, explores disability with a new, blind main character (she's very Toph-esque for my ATLA fans out there!) and the struggles of the women in Women's Well to un-learn the societal expectations of them.
Overall, I have high hopes for this series (I have heard there is at least a third book planned, but Jenna Glass has no information on the length of the series that I have seen), and the second book gave me hope that, as the series goes on, it will tackle more and larger issues that women face today and in the past. I would highly recommend The Women's War and Queen of the Unwanted for any fantasy fans out there!
While there are some oversights (LGBTQ representation especially), I think that The Women's War was still an amazing step in the right direction of inclusive fantasy. The sequel, Queen of the Unwanted, explores disability with a new, blind main character (she's very Toph-esque for my ATLA fans out there!) and the struggles of the women in Women's Well to un-learn the societal expectations of them.
Overall, I have high hopes for this series (I have heard there is at least a third book planned, but Jenna Glass has no information on the length of the series that I have seen), and the second book gave me hope that, as the series goes on, it will tackle more and larger issues that women face today and in the past. I would highly recommend The Women's War and Queen of the Unwanted for any fantasy fans out there!
rikerandom's review against another edition
2.0
cn: death (by suicide, beheading, mercy killing, magic, (off-page) torture, …), sexual assault (rape, forced prostitution, …), miscarriages, violence against children
THIS IS NOT A FEMINIST BOOK!
I really wanted to like this book because the premise was awesome. Then I started reading it and within the first 10 % several characters committed suicide / were pressured into killing themselvs, countless women were raped and I don't know what else. I originally decided to just dnf the novel but then read on anyways. It got simultaneously better and worse.
I liked a few things about the book. It's world, some of the characters, the writing, some of the ideas behind it and I did get drawn into the story after a while. But I also hated so much of it (spoiler ahead and also serious tw regarding all the stuff listed above):
- It is NOT queer inclusive. At all. In fact the whole thing is based on an absolutely binary concept of gender. There is pretty much only either strictly male or strictly female. And there's not a single queer character in sight. No trans or enby characters but also no sign of anybody being non-hetero.
- There's also no disabled people in this, the only fat character is ridiculously evil and … I can't say that I remember any character description that, especially in combination with the skin colour of the hand on the cover, implied that anybody in this book was not white. Apart from those who were even whiter, of course (there's racism against the whiter guys?). Oh, it's also classicist (is that the right word?) and there's not a single peasant in sight, apart from some lady's maids who don't actually get a voice in this.
- I absolutely hated that it is strongly implied that only women who explicitly said 'no' to and/or struggled against their rapists got 'rape-magic'. Got repeatedly raped by your abusive husband but never managed to do more than silently cry into your pillows? Well, too bad.
- Then again, rape apparently also doesn't really lead to trauma in this world, so … yeah … All the women forced into prostitution are pretty much fine or at least aren't shown to experience any mayor issues after being freed. They're just mostly okay?!
- Somehow women and especially women who do magic (who are usually also prostitutes) are really not well regarded in any of the countries in this world and yet in some super surprising twist of fate half the guys aren't really that shocked about them doing magic or turn out to be amazing allies?!
- I hated the (on page) violence. Most of it felt so clumsy, heavy handed and often unnecessary. Yes, I get it, women are in a horrible position in this world and all guys (apart from the good ones, of course) are superduper absolutely evil. Still, I don't need all those rape scenes and other stuff.
- Parts of the story seemed weirdly disconnected from the rest and there where plotlines that didn't seem to have any actual relevance to anything. It just gives this novel this feeling of "Hey, I'm just an introduction for a coming series and in the sequels it will totally make sense, that these characters were introduced!"
- This is mostly about sex. Who can have it, who can't and, oh, how cool, now women can have sex with whoever they want too! Sure, this is meant to convey how women suddenly have all the power, because they can't have children unless they want to, but it just isn't done in a way that works and only seems to result in trying to see how many rape and fade-to-black sex scenes can be put into this.
THIS IS NOT A FEMINIST BOOK!
I really wanted to like this book because the premise was awesome. Then I started reading it and within the first 10 % several characters committed suicide / were pressured into killing themselvs, countless women were raped and I don't know what else. I originally decided to just dnf the novel but then read on anyways. It got simultaneously better and worse.
I liked a few things about the book. It's world, some of the characters, the writing, some of the ideas behind it and I did get drawn into the story after a while. But I also hated so much of it (spoiler ahead and also serious tw regarding all the stuff listed above):
- It is NOT queer inclusive. At all. In fact the whole thing is based on an absolutely binary concept of gender. There is pretty much only either strictly male or strictly female. And there's not a single queer character in sight. No trans or enby characters but also no sign of anybody being non-hetero.
- There's also no disabled people in this, the only fat character is ridiculously evil and … I can't say that I remember any character description that, especially in combination with the skin colour of the hand on the cover, implied that anybody in this book was not white. Apart from those who were even whiter, of course (there's racism against the whiter guys?). Oh, it's also classicist (is that the right word?) and there's not a single peasant in sight, apart from some lady's maids who don't actually get a voice in this.
- I absolutely hated that it is strongly implied that only women who explicitly said 'no' to and/or struggled against their rapists got 'rape-magic'. Got repeatedly raped by your abusive husband but never managed to do more than silently cry into your pillows? Well, too bad.
- Then again, rape apparently also doesn't really lead to trauma in this world, so … yeah … All the women forced into prostitution are pretty much fine or at least aren't shown to experience any mayor issues after being freed. They're just mostly okay?!
- Somehow women and especially women who do magic (who are usually also prostitutes) are really not well regarded in any of the countries in this world and yet in some super surprising twist of fate half the guys aren't really that shocked about them doing magic or turn out to be amazing allies?!
- I hated the (on page) violence. Most of it felt so clumsy, heavy handed and often unnecessary. Yes, I get it, women are in a horrible position in this world and all guys (apart from the good ones, of course) are superduper absolutely evil. Still, I don't need all those rape scenes and other stuff.
- Parts of the story seemed weirdly disconnected from the rest and there where plotlines that didn't seem to have any actual relevance to anything. It just gives this novel this feeling of "Hey, I'm just an introduction for a coming series and in the sequels it will totally make sense, that these characters were introduced!"
- This is mostly about sex. Who can have it, who can't and, oh, how cool, now women can have sex with whoever they want too! Sure, this is meant to convey how women suddenly have all the power, because they can't have children unless they want to, but it just isn't done in a way that works and only seems to result in trying to see how many rape and fade-to-black sex scenes can be put into this.
theangrystackrat's review against another edition
This was touted as feminist fantasy novel - it was NOT. It was super misogynistic and poorly set up. Why bother with a book that is not what it promises.
ameserole's review against another edition
4.0
The Women's War was so much fun to listen to. Thrown into a world where the first duty is to produce a male heir was interesting. Sort of like a blast from the past kind of thing. Where women were treated more like possessions than people. The only thing this book needs is for the unexpected to happen, right? Yes.
Women no longer want to see themselves the way they have always been. They are pretty sick of it if I'm being quite honest here. So, it should surprise anyone really when they finally realize that they can hold all the cards for once.
Change is in the air and lots of people are excited to see it. Now, not every male character is but they are complete douche canoes who only really care about having a son. If they want one so freaking badly, then be my guest and have one. By yourself.
The characters, tensions, and all kinds of twists throughout this were simply amazing. I never once found myself bored and just wanted to know more about this world and revolution coming my way. Then there's the hints of magic here and there that definitely helped form questions in my mind. Seriously, I have no idea what the rest of this series will bring me but I'm excited, nonetheless.
In the end, I can't wait to jump into the sequel and the novella. Definitely need more from this series.
Women no longer want to see themselves the way they have always been. They are pretty sick of it if I'm being quite honest here. So, it should surprise anyone really when they finally realize that they can hold all the cards for once.
Change is in the air and lots of people are excited to see it. Now, not every male character is but they are complete douche canoes who only really care about having a son. If they want one so freaking badly, then be my guest and have one. By yourself.
The characters, tensions, and all kinds of twists throughout this were simply amazing. I never once found myself bored and just wanted to know more about this world and revolution coming my way. Then there's the hints of magic here and there that definitely helped form questions in my mind. Seriously, I have no idea what the rest of this series will bring me but I'm excited, nonetheless.
In the end, I can't wait to jump into the sequel and the novella. Definitely need more from this series.
ifyouhappentoremember's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very interesting premise but I wasn't completely enthralled by the execution.
Looking through the negative reviews, I do agree with the criticisms regarding the lack of LGBT+ representation. I really did not like that it was implied that only women who explicitly struggled against their rapists got the special rare magic. There are a lot of interesting questions that this book sets up, but it seems that my questions will not be the ones answered in this series.
Looking through the negative reviews, I do agree with the criticisms regarding the lack of LGBT+ representation. I really did not like that it was implied that only women who explicitly struggled against their rapists got the special rare magic. There are a lot of interesting questions that this book sets up, but it seems that my questions will not be the ones answered in this series.
justamyth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
stella94's review against another edition
4.0
3.6 and rounded it up to a 4.
Enjoyed this. Truly an adult fantasy book instead of young adult. Enjoyed as usual mostly female leads, the story and hoping there is a sequel.
Enjoyed this. Truly an adult fantasy book instead of young adult. Enjoyed as usual mostly female leads, the story and hoping there is a sequel.