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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
I did try to like this. I don’t really know what it is, but I just can’t care about a single character. The premise is interesting, but no one is endearing, no one is interesting. It’s all plot with ZERO character depth, let alone any development.
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This is a brilliant undertaking. For the first majority of it I found myself wishing that this were true. Women becoming stronger and being able to escape patriarchy and all the terrible things men do.
But it has its own points made that who is to say power also doesn’t corrupt women, especially when it serves their own interests.
You can’t put anyone into a box. Listen, even a stone isn’t the same as any other stone, so I don’t know where you all think you get off labelling humans with simple words and thinking you know everything you need. But most people can’t live that way, even some of the time. They say: only exceptional people can cross the borders. The truth is: anyone can cross, everyone has it in them.
Love the last chapter about the manuscript with gender roles reversed.
I feel instinctively – and I hope you do, too – that a world run by men would be more kind, more gentle, more loving and naturally nurturing.
Neil, I know this might be very distasteful to you, but have you considered publishing this book under a woman’s name?
All in all, this is a wonderfully done book with obvious gender flips and it actually makes me think more. How “normal” some violence against men are glaring violent when the script is flipped. How subtle some patriarchal thinking is. And how a world run by women drunk on physical power wouldn’t necessarily make it a better one.
But it has its own points made that who is to say power also doesn’t corrupt women, especially when it serves their own interests.
Love the last chapter about the manuscript with gender roles reversed.
Neil, I know this might be very distasteful to you, but have you considered publishing this book under a woman’s name?
All in all, this is a wonderfully done book with obvious gender flips and it actually makes me think more. How “normal” some violence against men are glaring violent when the script is flipped. How subtle some patriarchal thinking is. And how a world run by women drunk on physical power wouldn’t necessarily make it a better one.
I really enjoyed the first 75% of this book, and then I struggled to get through the end. I'm not sure if it was too violent for my taste or it felt like a shift in genre.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder
This author has a really bleak outlook on human nature. I'm willing to buy the premise most of the way, but we get to a point where I really did not believe what was happening. The frame story salvages this to some degree--gave it some interest.
Spoiler
I did not buy that those women would go so completely crazy with power that they would kill frightened and defenseless children. Perhaps we were meant to understand that the development of the power changed the biology of women in some substantial way, but nothing was really offered to suggest that.
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't agree with some of the things happening in this book and hope humans would be able to sustain more humanity in a world like this. The book is pretty easy to read through if you are ready with reading really brutal and explicit scenes. The way it set up is pretty different to anything I have ever read.
I really like the way the emails are used to build this fictional reality in which Neil and Naomi live in. A world in which they are ruled by a matriarchat and women are to believed to have had the power forever. The way they write about how impossible it would be, that man rule over women and that stuff that happens to men in their society could have never happened to women gives me goosebumps.
I also like how the protagonists are written. Two of them are still kids, when the story begins and they act in a way that is mostly understandable from an outside perspective. They slowly change to do things which are harder to excuse and don't seem to see how wrong it is they do. In the end Roxy and Tunde seem to be the most sensible out all of them (maybe because they don't have the power?) and Mother Eve and Margot seem to have gone corrupted by the voice of power. At least as far as I understand.
I think it will take me another few days to get the book to its full extend, but I will definitely keep thinking about it.
I also like how the protagonists are written. Two of them are still kids, when the story begins and they act in a way that is mostly understandable from an outside perspective. They slowly change to do things which are harder to excuse and don't seem to see how wrong it is they do. In the end Roxy and Tunde seem to be the most sensible out all of them (maybe because they don't have the power?) and Mother Eve and Margot seem to have gone corrupted by the voice of power. At least as far as I understand.
I think it will take me another few days to get the book to its full extend, but I will definitely keep thinking about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual content