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A review by bzliz
The Fortress by S.A. Jones
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Please consult the content warnings prior to reading.
I’ve never struggled so much to rate a book. I’ve been thinking about it for several hours and all I keep thinking is “what the hell did I just read?” And other reviews seem just as perplexed or they had a gut reaction and stuck to it. Some people hated it, some people thought it was interesting and thought provoking. I’ve decided on 4 stars because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it but it was upsetting so I can’t bring myself to rate it 5 stars.
I’ve settled on it being an excellent catalyst for discussions about consent. Our main character Jonathon is a dirt bag who cheats on his wife but believes himself to be a good man. His moral code clearly defines rape and pedophilia as “bad” and he believes he’d never do that. Yet when he is confronted with the reality that his workplace is complicit in the sexual exploitation of female employees, he does nothing. He wonders to himself about which man he’s interacting with daily is capable of performing such an act, but he doesn’t really comprehend that it’s all of them including himself. In fact, it isn’t until a confrontation set up by his wife that he realizes he himself has caused harm because at least one of the women he had sex with at work didn’t want to do it. She just froze. Men so often have the luxury of ignorance about issues of consent, which defies the reality of life for endless women throughout history.
All that said, I am still struggling to see how becoming a supplicant to the Vaik was going to train him into being a good person. He struggles to follow their rules, which is somewhat understandable. Learning a new culture while not being allowed to ask questions would be beyond frustrating. And when their culture (men in the Fortress cannot defy orders from nor refuse sex with any woman) clashes with his moral code from the outside world (someone Jonathon views as a child chooses him to be her first sexual encounter), how can that be reconciled? In her culture, she has the right to demand this of him and he must comply. It is a crime for him to deny her. In his culture, this is a crime and would put him closer- morally- to the isvestyii than he ever wants to be. (See content warnings if you want to know what his crime was and how it is handled.) Although he consented to his life in the Fortress, could he really consent to that act if he didn’t know it was possible? Could he consent to having sex with another man at the command of a woman, if he didn’t know that might happen? Would he have even gone in if had known? I don’t think he would have.
I’ve never struggled so much to rate a book. I’ve been thinking about it for several hours and all I keep thinking is “what the hell did I just read?” And other reviews seem just as perplexed or they had a gut reaction and stuck to it. Some people hated it, some people thought it was interesting and thought provoking. I’ve decided on 4 stars because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it but it was upsetting so I can’t bring myself to rate it 5 stars.
I’ve settled on it being an excellent catalyst for discussions about consent. Our main character Jonathon is a dirt bag who cheats on his wife but believes himself to be a good man. His moral code clearly defines rape and pedophilia as “bad” and he believes he’d never do that. Yet when he is confronted with the reality that his workplace is complicit in the sexual exploitation of female employees, he does nothing. He wonders to himself about which man he’s interacting with daily is capable of performing such an act, but he doesn’t really comprehend that it’s all of them including himself. In fact, it isn’t until a confrontation set up by his wife that he realizes he himself has caused harm because at least one of the women he had sex with at work didn’t want to do it. She just froze. Men so often have the luxury of ignorance about issues of consent, which defies the reality of life for endless women throughout history.
All that said, I am still struggling to see how becoming a supplicant to the Vaik was going to train him into being a good person. He struggles to follow their rules, which is somewhat understandable. Learning a new culture while not being allowed to ask questions would be beyond frustrating. And when their culture (men in the Fortress cannot defy orders from nor refuse sex with any woman) clashes with his moral code from the outside world (someone Jonathon views as a child chooses him to be her first sexual encounter), how can that be reconciled? In her culture, she has the right to demand this of him and he must comply. It is a crime for him to deny her. In his culture, this is a crime and would put him closer- morally- to the isvestyii than he ever wants to be. (See content warnings if you want to know what his crime was and how it is handled.) Although he consented to his life in the Fortress, could he really consent to that act if he didn’t know it was possible? Could he consent to having sex with another man at the command of a woman, if he didn’t know that might happen? Would he have even gone in if had known? I don’t think he would have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Blood
The isvestyii is a pedophile. He is being punished because he went to a school and shot the teacher, then tied up and raped three 10 year old girls. One died of her internal injuries shortly after. The second killed herself a few years later. The third was eventually the only fatality in a car accident that shouldn’t have been deadly. Much of this backstory is learned early on and it is appropriately treated as the heinous crime it is. It takes a while to learn why he is permitted to live and after a confrontation Jonathon is deemed his judge, ultimately pushing him off a part of the Fortress to his death weeks later. It seemed clear to me that the isvestyii wanted to die the whole time but the Vaik weren’t giving him the satisfaction and peace of death.