A feminist spin on the fantasy genre. What would happen if women could control their own bodies in a world were women are possessions and their only worth is having sons? This is the world created by Jenna Glass. Alys is the unwanted daughter of the current king. Her mother, now the abbess of the home for unwanted women who have been discarded from their homes and husbands and forced into prostitution - has created a spell that will allow women to control who they will have a child with. Once the spell is cast the race is on to counter the spell and change the balance of power back to what it was. In a neighboring kingdom, Ellin, now finds herself the only heir to throne after the death of all of her family. She must now navigate a world where she is expected to marry and then give the throne to her husband. Only she doesn't want to.

A slow moving book to start with it was initially hard to get into. It also deals with unpleasant situations in its treatment of women. However, it also shows how women start to gain control and turn their world around despite what is expected of them. Looking forward to the next book to see what happens next.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

This book has a wonderful premise: in a world where men have been in charge and women are their accessories/inferiors/possessions, what happens when this status quo is suddenly and shockingly reversed?

I enjoyed the various perspectives from women of all walks of life and the magic system, but it felt a little long and dragged in the middle. I didn't feel any passion from any of the women, even the ones treated terribly over and over again. Maybe they're so beaten down that they can't muster any, but the world has changed! This is your time! And it's definitely a strange oversight that there's no LGBT representation.

I think it was a unique fantasy that mixed feminism. I just found myself exceptionally bored going through it and I genuinely believe that it was a situation of me and not the book.

3.5 stars

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This is a pretty good new fantasy series focused on what happens when women previously treated like chattel in a male dominated world are given the power to alter and improve their lives.

The story focuses on three women - a widowed woman with two children that had been disinherited by her king father, a young girl that is unexpectedly thrust upon the throne when a tragic accident kills the king and everyone ahead of her in the line of succession (she is expected to marry quickly and then surrender her throne to her husband), and lastly, an abbess of an abbey where nobel "unwanted" women are dumped after their husbands have divorced them, or their family has shunned them. They are forced to use their magic to create potions to make money for the crown, as well as work in the pavilion - the kingdom's version of a brothel.

After a powerful spell that struck the entire world has life-altering consequences for women, they find themselves with power that had long been denied them. When a caravan of exiled women find a new source of magic that only women can wield in a previously uninhabitable part of the desert, the exiled womens' power grows and they begin to form their own principality to govern themselves. This causes tension among the kingdoms, possibly leading to another war.

This is a pretty good book, but could have used a bit more editing. Clocking in at 560 pages, I feel like a good 200 pages could have been cut without affecting the story. The story moves pretty slow, and while there is some world building, there isn't nearly enough to justify the length of the book. There is no explanation as to why women have such a subservient role in society, or why women are so easily thrown away to the abbey, even young girls, with no recourse. While the reader is told that the kingdoms once had a devastating war, there is not much explanation as to why they had the war, what happened, or why tensions are still so high.

Overall, I liked the book and it's well written. I just think it was too long for what it was and could have been just as good as a shorter book.

The Women's War would be great for fan's of Naomi Alderman's "The Power". The plot revolves around a magic spell that gives women control over their own fertility, thus challenging the structure of their male dominated society. An epic feminist fantasy with well developed characters, good world building, and a compelling plot.

A promising story about issues about female control and dominance. Unfortunately, the plot was the only thing that kept my attention. I skimmed through the book after Part One knowing what was going to occur throughout the rest of the story. The ending wasn't necessary in my opinion. Since I technically read the book to the end, I won't give it a DNF, but that's the only good say in this review.

4.5 stars. Feminist high fantasy!
In my reviews of many other high fantasy novels, I've often expressed disappointment that in this day and age, rather than use the limitless possibilities of fantasy to imagine a world devoid of sexism from the get-go, so many authors instead still feel the need to depict deeply sexist societies in order to, hopefully, subvert them by presenting a woman or women whose exceptionalism is meant to imply that the underlying sexist oppression is bad. While this book might seem to fall into the same broad category, the difference is in how the author's intention is clearly to imply that all women are exceptional. The ridiculousness and arbitrariness of sexism are the entire point of the book, which is at its heart a classic "What if?" story. What if the women of a sexist, traditional high fantasy world, recognizable to all genre fans, suddenly controlled their own reproductive destiny?

From this "What if?" question comes a ton of impressive palace intrigue, international politicking, new magic within and expanding upon the extant magic system, new relationships between key players, new roles for players who would never before have been key, and all sorts of opportunities for this impressive cast of characters. As with many high fantasies, there are several different POV characters, but unusually, they are all female but one, and that one, who is more or less the book's Bad Guy, is given a certain amount of understanding.

I was very impressed with this and definitely plan to read the next one in the series.

So why not the full 5 stars? Well, I did round up, but I have two reasons for the missing 1/2 star. (And neither reason involves the triggery scenes, though I should mention that there are some really intense ones!) Firstly, I was bothered by the binary presentation of gender. There's male and female, masculine and feminine, for the magic system as well as for the characters, and it's all very heteronormative. A nod to blended gender via the creation of spells that use both, and an even subtler nod to the idea of individual people having personality qualities expressing both, don't cut it. Why not introduce the concept of the explicitly nonbinary or genderqueer? Why not have gay characters? I get that the book is more 'traditional' feminist than queer or intersectional, but it's missed opportunity. Secondly, the book could also have introduced the concept of non-monarchical governance. Even given the chance to found a new town, run by exiled women and called "Women's Well" for the well of magic present there, there's a quick turn towards proclaiming a sovereign queen. Wherefore monarchy when they could build something new?

I wonder if any of this will be addressed in Book 2. It's out in a couple of months, and I'm excited.

Intriguing premise and detailed fantasy world with a unique magical system. I see many poor reviews due to disturbing events and treatment of characters. Yes, there is severe misogyny, rape, suicide, murder and more. Yes, these things happen to women. For readers of epic fantasy with brutal political power plays, these triggers won’t be shocking. Same for anyone who reads and cares about the violence perpetrated against women today. For those who simply want a “Yay! Girl power!” sort of novel, move on. This looks to be the first in a series, so all these horrible actions by men against women, is at first the norm that leads to rebellion later.

Are there issues with the story? Yes. The most glaring is the omission of any queer or other diverse characters. That was really disappointing and frankly bewildering, considering this is an entire world with various kingdoms. No diverse characters...at all? It also would have been better had survival after rape and the subsequent trauma been explored at least a little. That was a big opportunity passed over, which in a feminist novel turns into a big glaring omission. However, there is enough promise that I would like to see where the author takes the story next. I hope some of the constructive criticism will be taken into account, though, and some of the more grievous issues fixed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Made it 7% into <i>The Women's War</i> before calling it quits. It was the 10th mention of how tidal waves work in chapter three that did it for me. Hopefully an editor gets to this before it's officially published, someone who can remove the repetitive information and the repetitive word usage. There's tons of information dumps in the first three chapters too, not much is 'shown' rather than 'told'. It's too distracting and prevents me from getting into the story.

Also, writing what appears to be an emotional death scene in chapter two doesn't help. I don't know these characters and haven't formed any emotional bonds to them, so their deaths don't mean anything to me.

The language is something more often found in young adult books, which didn't mesh with an adult protagonist with teenage children. The magic system appears interesting and will appeal to many fantasy lovers. This feels like a fantasy, alternative universe version of <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> fan-fiction. I really wanted to like this. The description sounds like my jam .... but the execution feels like I'm being pandered to, which pisses me off. There's a market for this book, but unfortunately I'm not it.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I heard about this book and some people said it was amazing and other did not think that much of it. I love the magic aspect especially that there is a new magic that only women can use. The women in this book were pushed to the point they knew that had to change things. It was a good journey to get to the end but it is only the first book in this series. I am assuming there is more to come for the characters.

I found it be engaging most of the time. Certain points did make me bored and tempted to quit but those were few. Interesting magic system. It did seem weird there was no lesbians or bisexual however. Maybe the sequel will be better and have more sexuality diverse characters. It is a fairly smart book Not a book those who cannot tolerate rape and highly detailed violence. This is a feminist book and still even the vilest men of just enough humanity for one to feel a bit of pity. A shaky book that likely will have a sequel. Hope the sequel irons out the filler.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy to review.

TW: suicide, rape, beheading (off-page), torture (off-page), miscarriage, violence against children

My Thoughts:

There are some books that are marketed as the new blank and since you love blank you go and read it thinking that it will make you feel just as happy but it pales sorely in comparison. Well, The Women's War should have been marketed as the book to fill the Game of Thrones and Handmaid's Tale hole in your heart. Because that is exactly what it is.

This society only views women as wombs, not people with feelings, or people with the capabilities to make decisions. If a husband wants a divorce then he has every right to send his wife and even his daughters if he chooses to do so to the Abbey, where they will spend their days as second class citizens. And if a child is born into the Abbey then they will never be allowed to shed that mark. This is what happened to the Old Queen and through a series of events, her and her daughter and granddaughter, create a curse(?) over the land where only a woman who is willing to have a child can have one. And it is not hard to see how a society where women have the same rights as a dog took this news. And that's were the Game of Thrones part of the story comes in because the political games that were played were on that level.

The story is told from multiple points of view, though I felt that Alys, the daughter of the Old Queen and current King of Aaltah was the main character as I felt that the story seemed to revolve around her the most. There was also her daughter, Jellin, who seemed like your typical ditzy teenager but this girl was fierce. And then my favorite, Ellin, whose family died tragically in the beginning and is now the new Queen of a neighboring country, Rhozinolm.

Speaking of the beginning, it was so long. It starts off with the curse/blessing which causes an earthquake and changes all of magic. In my opinion, Glass spent way to much time focused on what happened afterwards. It must have been at least 75-100 pages (of a 560-page book) before that night and the next day were done. I understand that it was a big part of the book but seriously I didn't need to read all of that. It dragged the plot down. The plot moving forward was a lot better. It moved fluidly and with little resistance. 

The magic system was okay. I wished that it had been explained better. My biggest question with it was why don't the other countries, such as Rhozinolm, didn't share the same experiences with magic as Aaltah. Magic was hardly ever brought up in settings outside of Aaltah which is really annoying because each country has its own customs thus a different way of dealing with magic. 

Another issue with the book was the lack of representation that it has. There are no queer, disabled, or POC characters that are mentioned which is really weird because you know its a feminist novel.  I hope that Glass brings in some more representation into the next book. 

Overall, I had a fun time reading this book, or as much fun as you can have while your blood is boiling. I do plan on reading the next book and I hope that Glass brings in more representation and expands on her world more.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

DNF @ 5%

This book and I totally didn't click. The way things were going, I thought it was going to be too heavy handed with it's feminism themes and whenever this seems to happen, I tend not to agree with how it is done.

I'm not a fan of how it is written either as everything felt so drawn out. I prefer a bit more speed to my books. 5% in and I noticed I was skimming already, which wasn't a good sign.

It is an interesting concept though and people who like more details and explanations, might enjoy this one.

The Women's War is the first book in Jenna Glass' new epic fantasy series and it is set in a patriarchal society where women are seen as property, first of their father's and eventually belonging to their husbands. Women are definitely second class citizens in this world and it shows in every aspect of their lives, right down to the fact that it is forbidden for women to use magic. Women are forced to obey the men in their lives and for noblewomen if they disobey they can be sent to the Abbey of the Unwanted, a place of misery where they are basically forced into prostitution to survive.

The magic system in this world comes down to elements that can be combined together in different ways to create the desired affects. The three types of motes are masculine (which can only be seen or used by men), feminine (can only be seen by women) and neutral (that can be used by anyone with enough power to do so). Masculine magic is considered the most useful and used for nearly everything while feminine magic is seen as frivolous because it can only be used for things like healing. It is completely forbidden for women to use the magic unless they're living at the Abbey, in which case they're allowed to create healing spells, although any profits they make obviously go straight to the crown.

This story focuses on what would happen if women suddenly had all the power. After centuries of abuse three women created a spell that would turn things on it's head, suddenly female magic is more powerful but most importantly women have complete control of their own bodies and fertility. Forcing girls into marriage won't work so well if she can refuse to have an heir and it's far easier for them to take control of their own sexuality if they don't have to worry about unwanted pregnancy. Of course this isn't the kind of world where men are going to give up their power easily so things are bound to get worse before they get better but I'm absolutely fascinated to see how we (hopefully) get to a balanced society.

It's probably fairly obvious from what I've said so far that this isn't a pleasant world for women but I should include a warning that there are some scenes of rape and torture that were difficult to read. That's by no means the whole focus of the book but it is there so you should go in prepared for that. There are a lot of nasty male characters in this book that I just can't wait to receive their comeuppance but at the same time there are some strong male allies who don't like the way women are treated and there are a LOT of strong, fantastic women.

The three main stories we follow are of Ellin, a young woman who ends up being the first queen of her kingdom after a terrible accident kills her entire family. She has to deal with a plotting council who want to control her every move, including getting her married off to one of their members as quickly as possible. Then there is Alys, she's a 40 year old widowed mother of two and the daughter of a king but she was disinherited after her own mother was exiled to the Abbey. Alys' mother played a role in the curse that has changed the world and Alys has been given the impossible task of trying to undo it or watching her entire family pay for her mother's mistakes. Then finally we have Alys' daughter Jinnell, a young woman who is being used as a pawn by her uncle and who is trying to figure out a way to avoid marriage to a monster.

I'm not going to say anything about how these stories, and those of the women around them, play out but I will say that I really enjoyed watching them all learn to embrace their new abilities and starting to take control of their lives. The political intrigue was fascinating and I also really enjoyed seeing the women and decent men figure out what they were capable of when they chose to work together rather than against each other. There's a lot going on and I can't wait to read the next book to see how all their journeys continue.

I really enjoyed reading this angry feminist epic fantasy!

Deeply character driven, the story is about the socio-political consequences of a devastating spell that allows women to control their own fertility, and changes the balance of male and female magic and relationships across several warring kingdoms forever.

Complex and thoughtful, the story does not shy away from violence, though I appreciated that scenes including a mass weaponised rape, domestic abuse and corporal punishment, were presented in a nuanced way, without gratuitously forcing the reader to immerse themselves in the details.

We also see women learning to enjoy their own sexual power and autonomy, and traditional attitudes towards arranged marriages and dynasty beginning to shift in interesting ways. We see women who are vengeful, intelligent, thoughtful, brave, creative and pragmatic. And while there are certainly some monstrous men in the book (as well as casually terrible and/or flawed-in-their-treatment-of-women men), there are also good, honourable men who respect women and are willing to embrace the shifting power dynamic.

It's nice to read a big, sprawling multi-POV epic fantasy where the majority of the characters are female. The magic system is fascinating and beautifully conveyed. It's grim in places but overwhelmingly a story about hope. I'm excited to see where this series goes, as the political and dynastic implications expand beyond this first volume.

The Women's War isn't a perfect book -- in particular, there are no LGBTQ characters in the narrative which feels odd in a story about women redefining their relationships with men, and in particular when so much of the story revolves around an all-female enclave. Also, as with all fantasy that has a binary gendered magic system (ie men and women experience/perform magic differently) I always want to know how this affects trans or non-binary characters, and it's hard to have that question answered when we don't see any in the story.

Still, I was gripped from beginning to end, and I think this could be a good gateway book for future epic fantasy readers.

This was a book I just could not get onto it. I thought it would be a refreshing difference from other sci-fi books. It was not it felt like the books out lately and I just couldn't even finish it. I like an escape when reading fantasy this was just the perfect book for the me-too movement.

Guys I've been dreading posting this review but I am going to now. I just couldn't enjoy this book. It feels like every other fantasy novel on the market right now. I want to love it and maybe one day I will but not right now. It was too slow in pacing, at times felt boring because of it feeling like all the other books on the market. I am going to reread it at a later date because i own and I am hoping my review will change

A society in which women have no power and no rights is not so far in our past that the idea of such an environment still strikes fear into our hearts. After all, we are still fighting for birth control and abortion rights, and the #metoo movement shined a spotlight on the frequency of sexual assault and a society that blames victims more than it helps them. Now imagine what would happen if women had the ability to change such a society through one magic spell. How would men react? Jenna Glass explores this idea in The Women's War.While Crown of Feathers is much like the mythical beast on its cover - fiery and mesmerizing - The Women's War is a much subtler story of female empowerment. In this world, women never had power, so they have no history to compel them to act. In truth, most women, and almost all men do not understand the ramifications of the spell until much later in the story, and it is the dawning awakening of the women and increasing indignation of the men which propels the story. The women in this story may not be fighters, but they manage to grasp the politics of the situation and maneuver themselves into positions of power - all while fighting male disdain, anger, and violence. Jenna Glass does not draw upon a primal instinct but rather uses everyday experiences to capture the impotence women feel when men argue away their rights, treat them as objects, and ignore their ideas. The end provides a completely different sense of satisfaction - quiet, less obvious, but there nonetheless.

The Women's War is a fantastic book that women who love science fiction should read. I was engrossed in the story and just kept turning the pages till early morning. Fabulous writing and strong characters.

The Women's War opens a magical world, richly described and embellished. Very interesting story. Lots of trigger warnings for violence against women.