Reviews

Krieg der Frauen by Jenna Glass

sommermeyer27's review against another edition

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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!

rikerandom's review against another edition

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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.

theangrystackrat's review against another edition

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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

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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.

dabbledev's review against another edition

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5.0

Painful and will stay with me for a long time

ifyouhappentoremember's review against another edition

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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.

justamyth's review against another edition

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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

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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.

katec9999's review against another edition

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5.0

In Jenna Glass's amazing new book, it is considered unladylike for women to use magic, unless it is for healing or vanity spells. That all changes when three generations of women make a sacrifice that will change the world forever, shifting the power balance between men and women.

For fans of Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale.

sharkiereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

I actually really bloody enjoyed that. It was feminist, it was raw, and it was heart wrenching. I still don't know how to take that last scene.