Jack
This book was the first that's gotten me properly engaged in a while.
Of all the books I've read that dabble in Gender Role Reversal (GRR) dynamics, this easily has the most interesting take. Egalia's Daughters exists to be a satire of our current society, its story existing as a vehicle to make a point about the real world. A Brother's Price tells a traditional bodice-ripper tale, with the GRR being an interesting twist and set dressing, but it falls into the idea that it must justify itself via the women-outnumbering-men thing (not to say this isn't handled in a great way), which falls into the idea that society could only have formed in a patriarchal way. Veil of Sighs rejects this and provides a world fundamentally the same as our own, but society has simply formed to benefit women instead of men. It doesn't feel the need to weaken men physically, because their physical strength is nothing compared to the political power of the women.
The character development of Luken is incredibly satisfying to witness, and it doesn't stagnate at any point. The whole plot flows wonderfully and uses its 300 pages to its maximum potential to tell a compelling story that takes place over a long period, but perhaps could've used more pages for other things.
I only have a few complaints. I wasn't a fan of the occasional glimpses into the future when describing environs (“Luken would remember the sunset long into his later years,” etc.) because it kind of pulls you out of the moment. It reminds you you're reading fiction and that the whole story is on rails.
The descriptions feel crammed in occasionally when they could've been spaced out to feel less overwhelming. The initial introduction to The Abode is a good example. I would've liked more imagery altogether. Maybe this is a cultural thing, but I have no clue what an Ando is after reading this (and Googling it), and it makes me wonder if it would've been better to have just been a dress, because I couldn't imagine it as anything else.
From time to time, our third person stops narrating things from Luken's interpretation to give what feel like author notes, which sometimes feel a little self-gratifying. When Isuan remembers Luken's family but not his name, the narrator explicitly points this out, and it feels like Obern trying to prove how smart they are, which I'm not a fan of. It happens a few more times here and there, and I'd much rather these things be left to interpretation.
Finally, the world-building. I hope we'll see more of the world as we go, because this book was very confined to the sphere of nobility. The concepts that the book proposes are amazing, but I'd love to see how these gender roles are represented in the peasantry — we really don't get to see much of the lower classes, despite them being mentioned frequently enough.
A minor aside that had no bearing on the review: I'm unsure if August Books are a publisher or printer, so I'll say that if this didn't have an editor, the author did a great job working out a lot of typos, and I think it would be unreasonable to imagine it being any better for a one-person job. If there was an editor, then they did a poor job, and I hope Obern didn't pay too much for their services.
TL;DR: great book with some minor hiccoughs. Can't wait to read the next one!
This book was the first that's gotten me properly engaged in a while.
Of all the books I've read that dabble in Gender Role Reversal (GRR) dynamics, this easily has the most interesting take. Egalia's Daughters exists to be a satire of our current society, its story existing as a vehicle to make a point about the real world. A Brother's Price tells a traditional bodice-ripper tale, with the GRR being an interesting twist and set dressing, but it falls into the idea that it must justify itself via the women-outnumbering-men thing (not to say this isn't handled in a great way), which falls into the idea that society could only have formed in a patriarchal way. Veil of Sighs rejects this and provides a world fundamentally the same as our own, but society has simply formed to benefit women instead of men. It doesn't feel the need to weaken men physically, because their physical strength is nothing compared to the political power of the women.
The character development of Luken is incredibly satisfying to witness, and it doesn't stagnate at any point. The whole plot flows wonderfully and uses its 300 pages to its maximum potential to tell a compelling story that takes place over a long period, but perhaps could've used more pages for other things.
I only have a few complaints. I wasn't a fan of the occasional glimpses into the future when describing environs (“Luken would remember the sunset long into his later years,” etc.) because it kind of pulls you out of the moment. It reminds you you're reading fiction and that the whole story is on rails.
The descriptions feel crammed in occasionally when they could've been spaced out to feel less overwhelming. The initial introduction to The Abode is a good example. I would've liked more imagery altogether. Maybe this is a cultural thing, but I have no clue what an Ando is after reading this (and Googling it), and it makes me wonder if it would've been better to have just been a dress, because I couldn't imagine it as anything else.
From time to time, our third person stops narrating things from Luken's interpretation to give what feel like author notes, which sometimes feel a little self-gratifying. When Isuan remembers Luken's family but not his name, the narrator explicitly points this out, and it feels like Obern trying to prove how smart they are, which I'm not a fan of. It happens a few more times here and there, and I'd much rather these things be left to interpretation.
Finally, the world-building. I hope we'll see more of the world as we go, because this book was very confined to the sphere of nobility. The concepts that the book proposes are amazing, but I'd love to see how these gender roles are represented in the peasantry — we really don't get to see much of the lower classes, despite them being mentioned frequently enough.
A minor aside that had no bearing on the review: I'm unsure if August Books are a publisher or printer, so I'll say that if this didn't have an editor, the author did a great job working out a lot of typos, and I think it would be unreasonable to imagine it being any better for a one-person job. If there was an editor, then they did a poor job, and I hope Obern didn't pay too much for their services.
TL;DR: great book with some minor hiccoughs. Can't wait to read the next one!