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odunayo_y's review against another edition
dark
3.5
The presence of certain triggering content really soured my enjoyment. I get it’s grimdark, but did (almost) every “romantic” relationship be pedophilic/grooming or incestous There was genuinely no reason for Akihi to be fucking his cousin the hell??? Just why??
I’m one of those crotchety 25 year olds that really doesn’t like having kids/teens as significant characters in non-kids’ media. Honestly I’m really questioning why Lilia & Roh had to be like 15/16. Especially with how I felt it made no sense for ones so young to be given their responsibilities, also the ick factor of their “relationships” would’ve been avoided if they were bumped up to early 20s. That’s just me I freaking hate kids lol.
The Dhai poly stuff didn’t annoy me as much as it usually would. Probably because it wasn’t presented as a romance or “good” but a weird cultural thing. It was honestly so excessive too that I really couldn’t take it seriously enough to be annoyed with it. A poly relationship with 3 people sure, but marriages involving double digits??? Nah that’s crazy.
The Reverse Patriarchy of Dorinah was interesting to say the least. I’m equally disturbed by the people who think the author is some anti male feminazi writing out some revenge fantasy AND the people who do uncritically enjoy it as a “sexy” revenge thing. Both are gross. Hurley has written that she doesn’t buy into the “benevolent matriarchy”, that just because women as a class (not individual women) are in charge that doesn’t mean the society will be better for it. So she decided to portray a matriarchy that’s as putrid as all the other male dominated cultures we see. It also exposes some readers’ bias. When there’re fantasy stories with femicide, young girls being sold into child sexual slavery, rampant rape, and being victims of abusive men, nobody bats an eye. It’s seen as “normal” “just how things are” and those who criticise them are being sjws complaining about nothing. But flip the genders and suddenly people get that it’s wrong. I do feel that it got a bit extreme in getting its point across, there were aspects that just kept piling on that made me go “I get it!”
I loved Taigan he/she/ze wa Awesome. Go imortal amoral genderfluid assassin mage! Go!
The setting and worldbuilding was classic Hurley; queer, original and squishy.
Really appreciated the gnarly elements AND the appendix/glossary. Hurley knew she was throwing a lot of fantasy bullshit at the audience and prepared accordingly.
I’m one of those crotchety 25 year olds that really doesn’t like having kids/teens as significant characters in non-kids’ media. Honestly I’m really questioning why Lilia & Roh had to be like 15/16. Especially with how I felt it made no sense for ones so young to be given their responsibilities, also the ick factor of their “relationships” would’ve been avoided if they were bumped up to early 20s. That’s just me I freaking hate kids lol.
The Dhai poly stuff didn’t annoy me as much as it usually would. Probably because it wasn’t presented as a romance or “good” but a weird cultural thing. It was honestly so excessive too that I really couldn’t take it seriously enough to be annoyed with it. A poly relationship with 3 people sure, but marriages involving double digits??? Nah that’s crazy.
The Reverse Patriarchy of Dorinah was interesting to say the least. I’m equally disturbed by the people who think the author is some anti male feminazi writing out some revenge fantasy AND the people who do uncritically enjoy it as a “sexy” revenge thing. Both are gross. Hurley has written that she doesn’t buy into the “benevolent matriarchy”, that just because women as a class (not individual women) are in charge that doesn’t mean the society will be better for it. So she decided to portray a matriarchy that’s as putrid as all the other male dominated cultures we see. It also exposes some readers’ bias. When there’re fantasy stories with femicide, young girls being sold into child sexual slavery, rampant rape, and being victims of abusive men, nobody bats an eye. It’s seen as “normal” “just how things are” and those who criticise them are being sjws complaining about nothing. But flip the genders and suddenly people get that it’s wrong. I do feel that it got a bit extreme in getting its point across, there were aspects that just kept piling on that made me go “I get it!”
I loved Taigan he/she/ze wa Awesome. Go imortal amoral genderfluid assassin mage! Go!
The setting and worldbuilding was classic Hurley; queer, original and squishy.
Really appreciated the gnarly elements AND the appendix/glossary. Hurley knew she was throwing a lot of fantasy bullshit at the audience and prepared accordingly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Excrement, and Vomit
oliash01's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is my first entry into high fantasy and I must admit I enjoyed this book immensely. I will definitely be purchasing the other books in the series. The biggest issue I have with the book is that I personally got confused with characters and names as there are a lot, however, I understand this is a primary feature of high fantasy. There is a glossary at the end of the book that is extremely helpful for any missing context.
As for the positives, there are many. Firstly, Hurley creates a world where gender politics is vastly different to our own, yet they do not shy away from acknowledging that abuse, power dynamics, and other troubling topics will still be present. The world makes sense despite how fantastical it is. The politics of the world are shaped entirely by the rules of the world in a logical way but it still offers an interesting insight into our own world.
There are a lot of characters, arguably 3-4 main characters, all with different motivations and consistent focus changes. Sometimes this is too much, and whiplash occurs when going from one story to the other but it's usually handled very well. All the characters have seperate stories that are always passing by one another by how they affect the world.
Finally, the magic is a brillant concept and very interesting but also simple to understand. Like I said previously, it is put into the world in a logical and meaningful way. It is one of my favourite magic systems I have seen in fantasy media in general.
Overall, I would say I am officially hooked and will be sure to keep myself fully in the worldbreaker saga. I look forward to how this story develops!
As for the positives, there are many. Firstly, Hurley creates a world where gender politics is vastly different to our own, yet they do not shy away from acknowledging that abuse, power dynamics, and other troubling topics will still be present. The world makes sense despite how fantastical it is. The politics of the world are shaped entirely by the rules of the world in a logical way but it still offers an interesting insight into our own world.
There are a lot of characters, arguably 3-4 main characters, all with different motivations and consistent focus changes. Sometimes this is too much, and whiplash occurs when going from one story to the other but it's usually handled very well. All the characters have seperate stories that are always passing by one another by how they affect the world.
Finally, the magic is a brillant concept and very interesting but also simple to understand. Like I said previously, it is put into the world in a logical and meaningful way. It is one of my favourite magic systems I have seen in fantasy media in general.
Overall, I would say I am officially hooked and will be sure to keep myself fully in the worldbreaker saga. I look forward to how this story develops!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Minor: Body horror
marimo's review against another edition
Awful. I was promised a dark queer fantasy and got a glorified rapist & pedophile, a stupid gender system that's barely explored, and the rep that's delivered on is... lacking. Not nearly as bad as the rest, but it also introduced eight povs in twenty one chapters, one of which had TWENTY ENTIRE CHAPTERS between a character's introduction chapter and their following one, by which I'd completely forgotten she existed. That itself is a crime. I need fantasy (and scifi) authors to realize that the flipped dynamic of women dominating men is tiresome unless you use it to say something about society or the world you've built (because why else would you write it that way?) but instead of that Kameron Hurley sure did deliver on the abusive rapist war criminal front. Thank god for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Blood
Moderate: Pedophilia