A review by howwoolatthemoon
The First Sister, by Linden A. Lewis
0.25
CONTENT WARNING: rape and sex slavery.
In a sense this review *might* be spoilers, but I'm not giving away major plot points. I will merely reveal some details that I believe the author means for the reader to discover gradually. But you, Dear Reader, deserve a Strong Content Warning!
In some ways this was inventive and an interesting world, but I couldn't at all say I enjoyed it. The first sister is part of an order of priestesses who are also sex slaves. While not uncommon historically, it's certainly not pleasant to imagine. Told by a female author, it feels less like the women are objectified for the sake of the male gaze. But still, I think I'd rather not read about such a brutal and terrifying situation. They're raised from children to become sex slaves, and fairly horrible abused while growing up. They have no choice in who they have sex with unless they get a powerful man to choose to "own" them. Unless or until they are owned by one man, their job is to hear the confessions of soldiers and then fuck them. The fucking is neither optional nor rare; it's an integral part of the confession/absolution. And they take confessions at apparently all hours of the day or night, often many times a day. They also are physically unable to talk -- ostensibly so that they don't give away the military secrets of their rapists (not that they ever use this term) -- but they use sign language among themselves and communicate often and in a very detailed way, so I don't feel super confident about those military secrets being kept.
So it's absolutely brutal, but it's all slightly softened because a woman wrote it. Men so often will write a rape scene A) for the male gaze, and/or B ) as an event that furthers the story of a man, so I generally try to avoid books by men that contain any rape scenes. I would hope that a woman's perspective on a rape that takes place as part of a story would help us to better understand things from her point of view, which is the more common experience I've had with reading non male authors. And yes, I suppose this did that. But to make this entire order of priestesses as sex slaves? And to make that fact so integral to the plot? I dunno. It's too much. And too terrifying. And too brutal. And too hugely necessary for the plot -- so... why write that plot?
Why?
Also, now that I think about it, this might be an entire whole full sized book about an order of priestesses that STILL didn't pass the bechdel test. I mean maybe it did, but the fact that I'm still trying to remember any conversation between two women that wasn't about either a specific man or about men in general... nope, I don't think it did. Huh.
Also, why?
This was set in a futuristic world with space travel and an interesting military structure. Women are in the military, with ranks high and low, without anyone treating them as weaker or incapable in any way. The military also is trained from childhood, and there's a kind of parallel there with the sisterhood. There's an element of colonialism, with an oppressed culture that doesn't have the same level of tech that the oppressors use. This could have been interesting to explore further. The novel examines the complicated nature of family power and dysfunction and defining oneself in adulthood as separate from your origins, and could've done more with that. Seems like the author was able to envision a world where women were not objects. But then, there's the sisterhood of sex slave priestesses as the main plot.
Why.
Anyway, some of the world building is super interesting and I would love to read a different book with some of the same elements, but I won't be reading the rest of this series and I wish I could get my time back.
(Also I've noticed that I tend to spend more time on reviews of books I disliked than books I loved, and I don't know how to feel about that.)
In a sense this review *might* be spoilers, but I'm not giving away major plot points. I will merely reveal some details that I believe the author means for the reader to discover gradually. But you, Dear Reader, deserve a Strong Content Warning!
In some ways this was inventive and an interesting world, but I couldn't at all say I enjoyed it. The first sister is part of an order of priestesses who are also sex slaves. While not uncommon historically, it's certainly not pleasant to imagine. Told by a female author, it feels less like the women are objectified for the sake of the male gaze. But still, I think I'd rather not read about such a brutal and terrifying situation. They're raised from children to become sex slaves, and fairly horrible abused while growing up. They have no choice in who they have sex with unless they get a powerful man to choose to "own" them. Unless or until they are owned by one man, their job is to hear the confessions of soldiers and then fuck them. The fucking is neither optional nor rare; it's an integral part of the confession/absolution. And they take confessions at apparently all hours of the day or night, often many times a day. They also are physically unable to talk -- ostensibly so that they don't give away the military secrets of their rapists (not that they ever use this term) -- but they use sign language among themselves and communicate often and in a very detailed way, so I don't feel super confident about those military secrets being kept.
So it's absolutely brutal, but it's all slightly softened because a woman wrote it. Men so often will write a rape scene A) for the male gaze, and/or B ) as an event that furthers the story of a man, so I generally try to avoid books by men that contain any rape scenes. I would hope that a woman's perspective on a rape that takes place as part of a story would help us to better understand things from her point of view, which is the more common experience I've had with reading non male authors. And yes, I suppose this did that. But to make this entire order of priestesses as sex slaves? And to make that fact so integral to the plot? I dunno. It's too much. And too terrifying. And too brutal. And too hugely necessary for the plot -- so... why write that plot?
Why?
Also, now that I think about it, this might be an entire whole full sized book about an order of priestesses that STILL didn't pass the bechdel test. I mean maybe it did, but the fact that I'm still trying to remember any conversation between two women that wasn't about either a specific man or about men in general... nope, I don't think it did. Huh.
Also, why?
This was set in a futuristic world with space travel and an interesting military structure. Women are in the military, with ranks high and low, without anyone treating them as weaker or incapable in any way. The military also is trained from childhood, and there's a kind of parallel there with the sisterhood. There's an element of colonialism, with an oppressed culture that doesn't have the same level of tech that the oppressors use. This could have been interesting to explore further. The novel examines the complicated nature of family power and dysfunction and defining oneself in adulthood as separate from your origins, and could've done more with that. Seems like the author was able to envision a world where women were not objects. But then, there's the sisterhood of sex slave priestesses as the main plot.
Why.
Anyway, some of the world building is super interesting and I would love to read a different book with some of the same elements, but I won't be reading the rest of this series and I wish I could get my time back.
(Also I've noticed that I tend to spend more time on reviews of books I disliked than books I loved, and I don't know how to feel about that.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, and Physical abuse