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A review by vinayvasan
The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
5.0
These are fantastic and yet angry set of essays that ought to be read no matter what your sex is, no matter what your geek quotient is. There is a flow of righteous anger that permeates throughout and its extremely well justified
Disclaimer time: I think it took me a long time to read a genre fiction book written by a woman featuring a woman protagonist. Like the arch typical geek, my reading consisted of primarily white, hetero hereos, the quite loner types or the charming women-would-swoon around types. I think I am primarily indebted to 3 women writers for showing me the glorious world that existed beyond my narrow myopic view.
First & foremost, Robin Hobb through the Farseer trilogy. Forever grateful and indebted for having Fitz as character who was way different than any character I had read by that time (circa 2005) and proving epic fantasy could be written as beautifully and as emotionally as any piece of literature.
Tamora Pierce, whose books on Alanna, Daine and Kel (3 different series) rank among my favorite re-reads (even if I find now a bit of complexity lacking but hidden meaning in some interpretations that I had missed before). Tamora's women characters arent the damsels in distress. They are kick-ass characters, strong in their own rights without simply being dudes with boobs
Lastly, Janny Wurts.Her collaboration with Raymond Feist to produce the Empire Trilogy is pure gold. It features a remarkable female character growing up in the shadow of war, taking on the empire itself as she takes revenge for the death of her family. A work, that outshines most of Feist's other works apart from the Magician series (the 1st 3 books pretty much).
What Hurley's work here does is in a way force you to take a look at some of the biases that you have within you and kind of work her way through how women do have it worse than others. Peppered with incidents from her own life, be it a struggle to get published, her brush with death, her fight with weight or the Gamergate, the Sad Puppy incidents, she has a very clear lucid ang;e and frankly a view point that makes so much sense.
Disclaimer time: I think it took me a long time to read a genre fiction book written by a woman featuring a woman protagonist. Like the arch typical geek, my reading consisted of primarily white, hetero hereos, the quite loner types or the charming women-would-swoon around types. I think I am primarily indebted to 3 women writers for showing me the glorious world that existed beyond my narrow myopic view.
First & foremost, Robin Hobb through the Farseer trilogy. Forever grateful and indebted for having Fitz as character who was way different than any character I had read by that time (circa 2005) and proving epic fantasy could be written as beautifully and as emotionally as any piece of literature.
Tamora Pierce, whose books on Alanna, Daine and Kel (3 different series) rank among my favorite re-reads (even if I find now a bit of complexity lacking but hidden meaning in some interpretations that I had missed before). Tamora's women characters arent the damsels in distress. They are kick-ass characters, strong in their own rights without simply being dudes with boobs
Lastly, Janny Wurts.Her collaboration with Raymond Feist to produce the Empire Trilogy is pure gold. It features a remarkable female character growing up in the shadow of war, taking on the empire itself as she takes revenge for the death of her family. A work, that outshines most of Feist's other works apart from the Magician series (the 1st 3 books pretty much).
What Hurley's work here does is in a way force you to take a look at some of the biases that you have within you and kind of work her way through how women do have it worse than others. Peppered with incidents from her own life, be it a struggle to get published, her brush with death, her fight with weight or the Gamergate, the Sad Puppy incidents, she has a very clear lucid ang;e and frankly a view point that makes so much sense.