Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Overall, I think my lack of connection with this book simply comes down to it just feeling too modern and simplistic. When I read historical fantasy, especially fantasy that is focused on political intrigue, I want it to feel rich and layered, to transport me to that time period and to make me believe in the magic of the world. This book simply failed to do that. The first person POV, with two very different characters whose narrative voices were identical, and the lack of description and very simple prose, all led to this book's writing style feeling very flat. Even the political intrigue was not very intriguing, since it just involved people talking about their plans and then those plans working out (usually perfectly) in the next chapter. Gormflaith was at first interesting to me as a scheming Lady Macbeth type figure, but as the book went on she didn't feel internally consistent as a character and neither did she feel like she really grew or changed. Fódla on the other hand was boring to me as a character, but she at least grew and began to take a stand at the end of the book. The problem that both characters have is that 1) their voices are too similar, 2) their voices are too modern, and 3) their voices are too young-- I never really was convinced that these were ancient immortal women who had gone through marriage and childbirth and all of life's other struggles.
And now, let's talk about the feminism. This is just such a strange way to write about feminism, women's roles in medieval society, and their relationship to power in a medieval landscape. It's a world in which women are always hapless victims and men are always chauvinistic aggressors, yet all the "good" female characters are always saying "not all men" and in fact that is one of the main lessons Fódla is taught while living among the mortals. Except... it lowkey is every man--even the more sympathetic and kind male characters view women as lesser at best. All female characters want peace and all male characters want war. Every woman is good (except Gormflaith) and every man is bad (except Fódla's tentative love interest). And the Descendant's/Fódla's struggle to trust mortals is explicitly about whether to trust mortal men. Even Fódla and the other female Descendants are not interested at all in mortal women as a group of people with their own motivations and goals. Again, it was just too simplistic, which made it boring to me.
It's like Lawless wanted to write this story about historical women clawing for power in a world of men but didn't want to commit to the real horror and pain of that world, so instead we get something in between-- Gormflaith is allowed to actually face that more historically accurate hellscape for women because she's ambitious/mean/morally grey and thus unsympathetic, while Fódla as our morally pure naive healer gets to live in this kind of modern feeling multicultural town where women are seemingly given free reign and slavery is explicitly outlawed (I thought this might just be something the real Brian Boru did, but no-- I looked it up and he actually enslaved the people he conquered). I'm not saying that I need or even want to read grimdark stories about women, people of color, and other minorities suffering in the name of "historical accuracy," but when you write a historical fantasy that is specifically interested in feminism and women struggling for power, you kind of have to deal with those issues in a satisfying way and not simply when you can have a pithy one-liner about how all men are pigs or whatever.
I am mildly intrigued in what is going to happen now that Gormflaith and Fódla are in the same place, but not really enough to continue on with this series.
And now, let's talk about the feminism. This is just such a strange way to write about feminism, women's roles in medieval society, and their relationship to power in a medieval landscape. It's a world in which women are always hapless victims and men are always chauvinistic aggressors, yet all the "good" female characters are always saying "not all men" and in fact that is one of the main lessons Fódla is taught while living among the mortals. Except... it lowkey is every man--even the more sympathetic and kind male characters view women as lesser at best. All female characters want peace and all male characters want war. Every woman is good (except Gormflaith) and every man is bad (except Fódla's tentative love interest). And the Descendant's/Fódla's struggle to trust mortals is explicitly about whether to trust mortal men. Even Fódla and the other female Descendants are not interested at all in mortal women as a group of people with their own motivations and goals. Again, it was just too simplistic, which made it boring to me.
It's like Lawless wanted to write this story about historical women clawing for power in a world of men but didn't want to commit to the real horror and pain of that world, so instead we get something in between-- Gormflaith is allowed to actually face that more historically accurate hellscape for women because she's ambitious/mean/morally grey and thus unsympathetic, while Fódla as our morally pure naive healer gets to live in this kind of modern feeling multicultural town where women are seemingly given free reign and slavery is explicitly outlawed (I thought this might just be something the real Brian Boru did, but no-- I looked it up and he actually enslaved the people he conquered). I'm not saying that I need or even want to read grimdark stories about women, people of color, and other minorities suffering in the name of "historical accuracy," but when you write a historical fantasy that is specifically interested in feminism and women struggling for power, you kind of have to deal with those issues in a satisfying way and not simply when you can have a pithy one-liner about how all men are pigs or whatever.
I am mildly intrigued in what is going to happen now that Gormflaith and Fódla are in the same place, but not really enough to continue on with this series.
dark
emotional
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book has two very interesting and distinct main characters. Fódla is the most easily likeable of the two and is a more traditionally "good" character, though misguided in her own way - she slowly begins to see the truth. Because of how gradual this is done and how well the author shows us exactly which situations influence her, this is very believable. Gormflaith is at times despicable - but I understand her. I understand where she's coming from. And the way she gets hurt, in the end, by the one man she wanted to help, that was the biggest knife in the back. I'm very interested to see how she will come back from this in book two.
This book had me rage scream a couple of times for my fellow women of the past - the blatant sexism they faced was so hard, especially Gormflaith, when she's clearly the most inteligent and polically savvy person in the room at all times. How they descredit her is painful. The author taps into the consequences of it, both politcally and personally, really well.
This book had me rage scream a couple of times for my fellow women of the past - the blatant sexism they faced was so hard, especially Gormflaith, when she's clearly the most inteligent and polically savvy person in the room at all times. How they descredit her is painful. The author taps into the consequences of it, both politcally and personally, really well.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men
By: Shauna Lawless
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
I am still on my journey to find a historical fiction/fantasy that blows me away but this was a step in the right direction! I thoroughly how smooth Shauna Lawless introduces this world and these characters. It is very deep and focused on the cross politics of families/blood lines and clans and the main POV’s we see the story through are quite strong! I really was hoping to get more development on the other characters because I wanted more and felt like at times there were names that could’ve been thrown out and others that needed more development. Overall I was pleased with the strong main POV’s and the author made the historical portion seamless!
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes