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teri_b's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I was curious to see if I could get back to read this author, as I had loved back in the then the Warded Man when I read it.
I was quite curious to see what this new series would hold.
However, I found the writing style very clumsy and there is so much inner male monologue that just mills around same old same old.
There too is a lot of violence, all the time, and about half of the books just moves from battle scene to battle scene.
As regards the plot and characters,we do have a female main character who is also male. It is quite confusing to be honest and in my point of view not well done. It gets somewhat better when outward circumstances decide for this character to have to live as a male.
From there, the story started to derail completely for me and we have patriarchy in full roar, where the main message seems to be that a female is never good enough in itself and the subjugation of the female represented in these warrior societies is once again cemented, even though you have some females who have attained power and cling to it with all might.
Most likely, it will be this male female main character that then will prove to be the better female than any female in itself could be. And that is just tragic, sexist and very sad.
Also, reading about these nations within this world, felt like a lot of cultural appropriation ongoing and not in a good way.
And to have to hear just once again another female hissing as sign of her disapproval, being left speechless, without words, again, there is the topic of cultural appropriation rearing its head and at the same time of disempowerment of the female by leaving her without a voice, without words. You never meet a male hissing, not in the whole book.
The character development is painfully slow and the second main character when he pops in again, has been out for too long, at that time, I have lost interest in his story.
This possibly is one of the most disappointing reads I have encountered for quite a while. I made it to the 70% mark of this book, then I DNFed it.
Luckily, right now there are fantastic books available that hold strong female characters and give them their own power, strength and value and hold the balance with regards to diversity much better than this book ever will.
I was quite curious to see what this new series would hold.
However, I found the writing style very clumsy and there is so much inner male monologue that just mills around same old same old.
There too is a lot of violence, all the time, and about half of the books just moves from battle scene to battle scene.
As regards the plot and characters,
From there, the story started to derail completely for me and we have patriarchy in full roar, where the main message seems to be that a female is never good enough in itself and the subjugation of the female represented in these warrior societies is once again cemented, even though you have some females who have attained power and cling to it with all might.
Most likely, it will be this male female main character that then will prove to be the better female than any female in itself could be. And that is just tragic, sexist and very sad.
Also, reading about these nations within this world, felt like a lot of cultural appropriation ongoing and not in a good way.
And to have to hear just once again another female hissing as sign of her disapproval, being left speechless, without words, again, there is the topic of cultural appropriation rearing its head and at the same time of disempowerment of the female by leaving her without a voice, without words. You never meet a male hissing, not in the whole book.
The character development is painfully slow and the second main character when he pops in again, has been out for too long, at that time, I have lost interest in his story.
This possibly is one of the most disappointing reads I have encountered for quite a while. I made it to the 70% mark of this book, then I DNFed it.
Luckily, right now there are fantastic books available that hold strong female characters and give them their own power, strength and value and hold the balance with regards to diversity much better than this book ever will.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Cultural appropriation, and War