A review by leoniepeonie
Cwen by Alice Albinia

4.0

I loved how rich this was in myth and meaning, and in being this glorious feminist, inclusive fever-dream. I did think that was a bit at odds with the style of the book, moving through the courtroom drama in the long, drawn-out way that it did, and I thought that hemmed things in a little bit - thinking of how Vigdis Hjorth did similar kinds of battles in Long Live the Post Horn!, I wish there had been a bit more of that energy here in the way the structure worked. The energy and passion was still there, but it felt a bit more constrained, and the collective action it described felt a bit more two-dimensional for it. Zoe and Eva's relationship blossomed within the framework though, and the characters shone and developed really beautifully.

In spite of my complaints about the organisation of it, I just thought this was a really wonderful and moving look at what it might be like to really tackle patriarchy, and I loved how otherworldly it felt even while being very deeply of this world. Plsssss let's have some of this as wholly our world soon.