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justabean_reads's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. It's got so many things that I like in it! It follows a tribe of nomadic horse people from north of the Black Sea, and an isolated Mesopotamian kingdom somewhere in the mountains, probably about 600 BCE? Very much the Age of Heroes in any case, as several of the characters have god-like powers of undetermined origin. The horse people are a riff on the Amazons, and I loved the harsh lines of how that culture could work. It's full of cultural detail, horses horses and more horses, and some of the most compelling battle sequences I've ever read. The plot is engaging. The writing is stunning. The structure pulled me in so hard I could hardly put it down.
But man, did I hate this book by the end. I absolutely did not believe the romance between the Amazon goddess and the king of the city; it had no chemistry, and I could not believe that she would put up with him. I also really didn't like how the Amazons were made to look like the villains by the end and (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)basically their problems were solved by giving up their Amazon ways, settling down and marrying men (men who treat women like shit unless they're goddesses, so far as I could tell. I had no confidence that would work out). I didn't like that the Sungoddess spent half the book delighted that her dick husband had died and she was now free to sleep with or marry whoever she wanted, but then the second she was kidnapped and carried off was kind of, "Eh, I guess he owns me now. Fair is fair." I didn't like the low level slut shamming with the promiscuous characters condemned for being such even while the narrator said that the culture didn't really care (obviously it did). And how the Sungoddess was supposed to be super virtuous for not taking a lover before now. I really didn't like that the Amazon character who moved heaven and earth to rescue her best friend from presumed slavery was condemned for being excessively vengeful and killed off.
I really didn't like that with with 10,000 Amazons the only sexualities in text were apparently straight and chaste, with a side option of perpetual virginity via female genital mutilation. The ending was a mess, really, with characters shuffled off for the sake of the two-dimensional OTP, and I was left with no confidence that anyone would be remotely happy. Also did I mention the teeth-grinding sexism? Would not rec.
But man, did I hate this book by the end. I absolutely did not believe the romance between the Amazon goddess and the king of the city; it had no chemistry, and I could not believe that she would put up with him. I also really didn't like how the Amazons were made to look like the villains by the end and (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
I really didn't like that with with 10,000 Amazons the only sexualities in text were apparently straight and chaste, with a side option of perpetual virginity via female genital mutilation. The ending was a mess, really, with characters shuffled off for the sake of the two-dimensional OTP, and I was left with no confidence that anyone would be remotely happy. Also did I mention the teeth-grinding sexism? Would not rec.
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