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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán
3.0
3.5
I cannot decide whether this should be 3 or 4 stars. On the one hand - I love the writing. The characters are great. The culture's view on sexuality is interesting, and I love the women who are allowed to have sex without being condemned for it. Melodia may be young and she may love her pleasure, but she is also smart. I think the world building works, though at times the power structure had me wondering a bit.
However, and let me repeat spoiler warning, I have two problems. One is that despite the repeated mention of women who are soldiers, all the physical fighters in the book (ie those in the armed forces) who appear as main characters are male. There is one expection but she is used so briefly that I cannot go to the trouble to remember her name, and her backstory tells into the use of rape in this novel.
Now, the novel takes place in a warlike world and that does mean rape. Yet rape in this novel is used primary to show the effects on male characters. When one army rapes the women of the rebel stronghold, this seems to be there just to show us the effect on the leader of said army, and to show how a plot is affecting said leader. Additionally, the rape of Melodia seems to exist simply to show us how bad or horribly controlled a male character is. (The rape itself also does not make sense. Seriously, considering what the Emperor allows to occur, you want me to believe that he would not have had her watched while imprisoned?). The one woman fighter is given a brief backstory of rape and facial scarring to explain her desire to fight.
Yeah, so I had a problem with that.
Yet, I LOVE the fact that the women in the novel are friends. Melodia's closest friends are all women. She is not the sole smart women in this group either. She is also close to her sister. Melodia is also an elder sister who gets to do something. There is much to like here.
I cannot decide whether this should be 3 or 4 stars. On the one hand - I love the writing. The characters are great. The culture's view on sexuality is interesting, and I love the women who are allowed to have sex without being condemned for it. Melodia may be young and she may love her pleasure, but she is also smart. I think the world building works, though at times the power structure had me wondering a bit.
However, and let me repeat spoiler warning, I have two problems. One is that despite the repeated mention of women who are soldiers, all the physical fighters in the book (ie those in the armed forces) who appear as main characters are male. There is one expection but she is used so briefly that I cannot go to the trouble to remember her name, and her backstory tells into the use of rape in this novel.
Now, the novel takes place in a warlike world and that does mean rape. Yet rape in this novel is used primary to show the effects on male characters. When one army rapes the women of the rebel stronghold, this seems to be there just to show us the effect on the leader of said army, and to show how a plot is affecting said leader. Additionally, the rape of Melodia seems to exist simply to show us how bad or horribly controlled a male character is. (The rape itself also does not make sense. Seriously, considering what the Emperor allows to occur, you want me to believe that he would not have had her watched while imprisoned?). The one woman fighter is given a brief backstory of rape and facial scarring to explain her desire to fight.
Yeah, so I had a problem with that.
Yet, I LOVE the fact that the women in the novel are friends. Melodia's closest friends are all women. She is not the sole smart women in this group either. She is also close to her sister. Melodia is also an elder sister who gets to do something. There is much to like here.