TBH I didn't even finish it. The book just didn't hold my interest. The author kept hinting at bigger forces at work but everything seemed needlessly complex.

I stopped reading at 30%. This is the 2nd book I’ve read that claimed to be “feminist” literature and I’ve been greatly disappointed. I thought this book was going to be about women claiming their own power, but it’s mostly rape and misogyny.

The Woman's War is marketed as a feminist fantasy volume, and I agree but it is also so much more than that. It is a dynamic high fantasy with amazing world-building and interesting, multi-dimensional characters. There are a few kingdoms, and there are plots involved in each one that eventually circle around and are connected by the great "event". Alysoon and the Women's Well are my personal favorite; she is a character whose growth is seamless, even while she fights against her friends, family, and subjects for a burden she initially doesn't want.

I absolutely loved this book and tore through it in the matter of a couple of days. Glass paints an interesting picture into a world where women are used (just like they have been for most of our own history) as pawns in men's games of politics and power. When a certain, carefully crafted spell gives women sexual power over men, the whole world is set to change.

I think that if I didn't know that this was a trilogy that I would have been somewhat disappointed with the pacing, as the shift of power between men and women doesn't come easily, nor should it, if the story is to be told in a way that seems true to the world and its characters. It's no easy feat to transform a deeply patriarchal world into one where women are on equal footing and Glass doesn't gloss that over, which I appreciated.

I'm really looking forward to book two in this series! Thanks NetGalley and Del Rey for a review copy of this book!

Interesting world-building. I had a slow start with this one, but it is worth persevering. Dystopian in scope, it does remind me of The Handmaid‘s Tale. Recommend.

The Women's War is set in a time when a woman's only importance is to produce an heir. Men are the magic users. Men have all the power.

Three women decide to change that. Even if means their deaths.

I loved this book. I went back and forth between 4 and 5 stars, but even if I'm in the minority, I felt it deserved the 5. A fantasy where the women rise up and take a stand? I'm in! I love political intrigue in fantasy, and this book has plenty. I thought the magic system was unique and interesting. And I loved the characters! Quite a few trigger warnings, but it makes their fight even more important.

I am excited to read more in this series.

I finished this SO fast compared to my recent reading pace, which should tell you how much I enjoyed it. It's political, it's dark, and it really draws you in.

The heroes face incredible odds, but there's also a really incredible sense that their world changing around them so anything could happen. I love that feeling of possibility, and of course the possibilities for revenge that permeate the story.

The magic system is interesting. It's a little scientific-sounding, but very simplified. That works well for making the magic parts of the book easy to follow, although in the sequel I'd love to see more about what makes someone a good magic user besides how many elements they can see. What's really great is that the magic system's divisions into masculine, feminine, and neutral elements play into the worldbuilding. It shows that patriarchal standards have been applied everywhere, the same way that different professions are valued or undervalued depending on if they're associated with men or women.

There was more romance than I was expecting, though in retrospect it makes sense and provides some of the hope in the book: there's a lot of terrible men, the book says, but also plenty decent men you can actually have a mutually-fulfilling and respectful relationship with. I did think that one romance subplot was resolved a little too easily, in that it could have caused more emotional stakes if it hadn't been tied off semi-neatly and instead the character been forced to confront if it was the best choice.

In some ways, this reads to me like a grownup The Will of the Empress, or a toned-down The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Warnings for, uh, a lot. Violence, death, rape and misogyny, mostly. Some scenes are truly horrible, but they're well-written. The villains are (terrible and) human. The heroes have to make the hardest choices.

My biggest issue is probably that for a book so concerned with women and feminism, there is... literally no intersectionality. No lesbian or bisexual characters, even though you'd think a book so focused on women's desires, and whether or not they desire the men they're supposed to, would be ripe for wlw characters. No trans characters, even though in such a patriarchal world a trans woman character would arguably have the most intense storyline. No discussion of race or racism — while character descriptions are general enough that any or all of them could be women of color, there is nothing about characters' race or ethnicity in this world.

I enjoyed it very much while reading, but when you step back and look at it, you see there's several dimensions missing because the story only acknowledges straight, cis, racially ambiguous characters. It makes what was such a vibrant reading experience seem lacking in depth and scope.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shelby – ☆☆☆☆☆
I was very excited to read The Women's War, the blurb hooked me, but the story really blew me away. Imagine a male-dominated world full of mystery, magic, and politics. Now imagine women taking power over their fertility and flipping the entire world on its axis...

Alys is stuck in a terrible position: she's been disinherited by her father (the king), her mother has been completely ostracized from society and resides in the abbey, and she's a widow and raising two children. She may be in a tough spot, but she's no wallflower.

Ellin finds herself an orphan: she's a young adult but the only remaining member of the Royal Family. She's in a precarious position, as a queen is allowed to rule only for a short time until she marries and her husband takes over.

Both of these women are much stronger than they appear at first and are in positions to revolutionize the role of women in the world.

I wasn't prepared for the story I read! This book sucked me in and has yet to let go. I find myself thinking of Ellin and Alys, and what they would do in situations. I wonder what happens to the town of Women's Well. Will women prevail? Will the entire world change for the better? I'm patiently waiting for book two!

This book is Awesome. I read the reviews calling it "feminist epic fantasy" and I wasn't sure what to expect. I don't often enjoy those angry-woman-in-the-streets, kill-all-men, kind of "feminist books". Luckily, this book is Not that.
This book is an epic fantasy in that it has multiple POVs, complex moral dilemmas, world-altering plot themes, a unique magic system, and a long timeline for the story (there will definitely be more books, can you say cliffhanger!) It's feminist in that all of the main characters are women, of different ages and different backgrounds with different interests and needs (and none of them are warriors). They live in a typical medieval state of oppression with arranged marriages and no rights beyond what their fathers/husbands give them. This isn't very different from most fantasy books and isn't different from the conditions women faced in our real history.
So, when several women sacrifice their lives after a century of planning to create a spell that gives women the ability to choose whether or not they will get pregnant, it causes a physical and social upheaval that challenges the power of men around the world. Without the guarantee of getting an heir unless you make your wife happy, the power base of kings and nobles is threatened. The thing I loved most is that not all of the women were Happy about this change, and not all of them benefited immediately! They each had different reactions to their new power and some accepted their new control over their lives unwillingly. The complexity of their lives was realistic and compelling. They each had to learn to accept their new responsibility and rise to the challenge.
Also, we didn't have some trope of evil men ruining the story. There were evil men, good men as supporting characters, and lots of in-between men with complex motives and emotions (like you'd expect in any well-written fantasy. I thought both the main characters and supporting characters were well developed and sympathetic.
I did find it very feminist, as it depicted women taking their lives into their own hands, accepting responsibility for their own fate, and pushing themselves to do more and be more than they had ever thought they could be. They suffered when they made mistakes, lost the security and simplicity of their former lives, and in some cases lost much more than that. However, they accepted the cost and continued to fight for equality (without becoming warriors). It's not a radical idea for a fantasy story, except that it happens because women magically gain control over their fertility.
I really couldn't recommend it more. I liked the unique magic system, I loved the characters, the plot kept me fully engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'll be looking for the next one. What a cliffhanger!

The premise of this book was beyond intriguing. A spell has been cast in this fantasy world that finally gives women the power over their own bodies. You follow several different women in the aftermath. I’m so happy to have read this book, and I got a lot more than I had originally anticipated. Obviously, the title is literally “The Women’s War”, so I knew that there was going to be a war and likely some intrigue. But the amount of intrigue and court politics in this book was amazing. Every chapter added another complication to the story. The tension kept building up until the very end. I must say though, that the ending was unsatisfying. It ended in such an emotional place, but without much closure. There better be a second book or I might riot. I need to know what happens with the characters. The story follows a long path, showing you the lives of many different people from the moment the spell is cast. Each story is very separate in the beginning, but as the story goes on they all start to weave together. You get attached to several characters, and no one is really how they seem. You also get to see the incredible, and sometimes less than incredible, relationships between characters. My only real qualms with the book was that it was incredibly long and a little hard to get through. There isn’t much real action until you start to near the end, and even then it’s not a lot. If you are expecting a full, gory war, you aren’t going to get one. It’s much more of a political war, and while there is fighting, we don’t really get to see a lot of it. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to other people. It discusses a lot of really important topics, which deserves a read all on its own.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

CW: rape, sexual assault, violence

Who could turn down the opportunity to read a book labeled as "feminist fantasy"? Overall, I liked this book, but unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations. My major issue w/ this book is that I felt like the events, actions, characters, plots, relationships, etc were not allowed to take root. This was especially true w/ the romantic relationships. By this statement you would think that this book would have been too fast paced. Wrong! After 25% I felt like the plot slowed to a snails pace. Once I hit the 80% mark, I almost only read the dialogue and by doing so my interest in this novel went up exponentially.

Reasons why I enjoyed this novel:
-possible hate to love trope
-women being liberated from their oppressive societies and expectations (politically, sexually, etc)
-women POV of different age ranges (18-40+)
-discussion of different types of women oppression in different cultures within this fantasy world.
-the most oppressive culture was described as having fair or pale skin with blonde hair which was quite refreshing; typically these cultures are always depicted by POC cultures or parallel w/ our Western view of Middle Eastern cultures.

Reasons why I didn't enjoy this novel:
-the feminism/misogyny was too heavy handed for my liking. Things were typically either overtly feminine or overtly masculine.
-character's behaviors were inconsistent. For example, a character that is shown being hot-tempered, misogynistic, abusive, and self-serving "feels bad" for taking some relatives captive. "SPOILER* Only later to behead one of them out of spite for their mother that he hates* *END SPOILER*
-world building was inconsistent as well: you are constantly reminded that men are not able to do certain things especially involving magic and politics, but 90% of the male characters intro disgusted w/ women using magic or holding any type of power especially politically. However, almost every male character that was introduced to us had no issues w/ supporting their female counterparts. I'm not saying that every male character had to hate women and wouldn't have progressive views in this society. However, the fact that most of the characters had no issue whatsoever with the women taking power felt manufactured and convenient,
-fade to black sex scenes; I am not asking for full blown erotica, but this is an adult novel so please don't leave me hanging!

Trigger warnings for basically everything bad that could ever happen to a woman. Seriously, the sexual assaults, physical assaults, rape, misogyny...it will choke even the strongest.

This book is part The Handmaid's Tale, part Game of Thrones. This is a world where women are nothing more than heir bearer's, and if a woman can't produce a child, or displeases her husband, or is just unpleasing in general, she's sent to an Abbey (get thee to a nunnery), which is forced prostitution.

But also this is a world of magic. Magic that involves spells but also plucking elements out of the air, and it's unseemly for a woman to do magic, so the abigails make the potions and sell them and give the money to the crown because they're men.

The Abbess, who was formerly the queen until the king decided she was inconvenient, casts a massive spell that kills her, her daughter, and her granddaughter, but releases some major feminine mojo into the world. Women can no longer be forced to bear children if they don't want to. Also, they get a Kai if they're raped, which is basically like a death element that...is confusing because it's not like they get to....kill people with it?

There are a lot of main characters here. We have Alysoon, Ellin, Jinnell, Graesan... Freaking fantasy spellings. But also Shelvin and Chanlix and Delnamal and Zarsha and HOLY SHIT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE TO KEEP UP WITH.

Seriously, this book is massive and it's only book one. I know fantasy is known for being massive and bulky, but this book should have been split. Maybe only into two, but there is far too much happening in this book, and the pacing is completely off because we can only spend so much time with this many people.

The chapters are not devoted to one character, or one setting. There are often three different viewpoints and three different settings in just one chapter, and there's no flow, the three people aren't discussing the same event or the same information, they're not getting information learned through the previous POV.

There's no flow to this. And with a chunker of a book like this, pacing is everything.

Now for the sexual assault aspect. Women are treated like garbage here. There is a Hollywood trope wherein a woman must be assaulted, physically or sexually, and then she's a tough badass who fights against injustice. There's also the trope of a woman being assaulted and/or killed to make a male main character stronger, but luckily we haven't had that happen. Yet.

The power these women are granted is because of their mistreatment. And that aspect is what made me want to read this book. A woman given power by a terrible man's actions. But that's...that's not really what's happening here. The violence is so graphic, it's really hard to read. And the "power" that comes from it isn't really power.

Ohhhh, you better be nice to your wife, or she'll never be able to bear children! Um, k, I'm going to beat and rape her repeatedly and threaten worse if she doesn't consent to giving me a child. Or I'll send her to live with the other whores, where other men will beat and rape her. NBD.

What?

And see above re: the Kai element, which I saw used to make men completely flacid, which is great and all, but that's...what?

Also, we're dealing with woman empowerment, but we have literally no diverse representation. The "bad guys" are super pale and that's disappointing, and their ways are more oppressive than these OTHER oppressive people, but other than two instances of complaining about them being "colorless" with pale hair, we don't get anything about darker skin, or richer tones.

And also, why is there no gay representation? Or asexual? These women are living in an abbey where they are violated multiple times a day, but we don't get any POVs about how maybe they don't want to have sex at all and that's why they're Unwanted?

Not that I needed more POVs, but we could've gotten rid of QUITE A FEW to make room for some actual diversity.

No. Just no. The further I got, the less I wanted to read because it is so long, so rambling. If this book had been split, we could've focused on the different settings and different people and felt entirely more invested in the story.

So disappointing. Much, much disappointment.

The Women's War by Jenna Glass is the first in an epic high fantasy trilogy that takes place in a patriarchal society that gives its women little to no power both in their day-to-day lives as well as in the magical arts that the realm depends on. Everything changes after three women sacrifice themselves to work a curse that gives all the women in the realm full control over their reproductive choices. The story follows several men and women as they experience the fallout from that curse.

I found this book to be an incredibly engrossing read. I don't normally go for slow-burn, character driven plots, but this book had me hooked from the start. The characters are extremely well written and fully formed, even the minor characters. I especially enjoyed the care with which Glass crafted the world her characters inhabit; she even went so far as to work out a complex system of magic that is almost scientific in the way spells and potions are worked. Over all this is a beautifully crafted world and story that is sure to grab readers at the start and keep them fully engaged right up to the end.

If you're looking for a slow-burn, character-driven read that blends a Handmaid's Tale-type dystopia with Games of Thrones fantasy-style political intrigue and machinations, then this is definitely the book for you.

Unfortunately, I DNF this book at 26%.

The Women’s War by Jenna Glass is the first book in a new epic fantasy series. It’s a feminist story and begins with women being treated like property and having no say in anything in their life by men.

The book with Alys who is the king's illegitimate daughter. She became illegitimate when the king divorced her mother when he wanted a new young wife. Alys takes weekly visits to go see her mother in the place where unwanted women go, her mother has been there since the divorce. During one visit, her mother gives hint that things are about to change soon. We then meet Ellis who lives in another kingdom and suddenly finds herself in line for the throne - a rare occurrence in this world. Another POV is the prince, and half-brother of Alys, who is angry at everything and everyone for no reason I read.

If you do not like political intrigue, you will not like this book! I thought this book was okay but I never connected with the characters or really cared for the world. I think some people will like this book but it wasn’t for me. Rape was used at one point to move the story and I’m not okay with that. Also if this is a feminist book, I would think that there would be some diversity, either sexually or race-wise or both but not from what I read.

If the synopsis of this book sounds up your alley, I would recommend that you read it and see what you think!

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
TW: Rape, sexism

When I first read the premise of this book, I was blown away and I was so sure I was gonna fall in love with it. And when I actually got approved for the ARC, my joy had no bounds. However, I’m quite unsure about how the experience turned out to be. So, let me share my thoughts.

I definitely went into this book expecting a very fiery feminist fantasy world where the women are finally ready to take down the patriarchy, but I got was a very understated version of it - which is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a highly misogynistic world where women have very few rights and there are levels of apathy towards women based on the kingdom where they live. So, when women finally gain the power of conception/fertility due to a devastating spell, it’s not a dramatic shift of power. The men are nowhere near ready to give up everything they’ve grown accustomed to and most of the women still need to outgrow everything that they’ve been taught since their birth. What we see happening is a group of women who slowly realize the other magical powers they can access now, and how to navigate this new world. This is a very slow process and they rely a lot on other men in their lives to get what they want. While it was wonderful to see a couple of men in this sexist world truly support the women in their quest for power, I think it would have been more effective as a story if the women were more independent thinking - they certainly are very capable. The pacing is also consistently slow throughout, there is more of the day to day lives of the characters and lots of political intrigue, but hardly any action at all. There is also no diversity at all in the book (or the author deliberately leaves the descriptions very vague) and despite many women going through deep trauma due to rape and assault, we never get to explore how they are affected or their stories of survival. While all the characters were quite good, Ellin is the one I felt most fascinated by and I think she has some of the best and important scenes in the book. Jinnel is also such a thoughtful and selfless young woman and I would have liked to see so much more of her.

While this book was not what I really expected, it has a well realized world and magic system that I really liked. I would still recommend this book if you don’t mind a slow paced book with more intrigue and no action and which felt more like a setup for the sequel. I enjoyed it enough that I might be interested to know what happens next.

I am glad that this is the first of a series as book one ended on a real downer. Set in a world where there is women's magic, male magic and some that is both women are only property. The upper class feel that their only use is to provide male heirs. Then three women use their magic to change the game. Women are suddenly in control of when and with who they have children. There is some really complex world building throughout out the plot along with backstory to support the story line. There is also a large cast of characters both male and female that keep the story moving. The entire plot kept me reading as I wondered what would happen next. Along the way there were stops in several of the characters heads. As I said the ending was a real downer and it left so much up in the air. This build the world and set the state leaving a lot for the next book.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Womens War by Jenna Glass

Release Date is: March 5th, 2019

I recieved this Netgalley eARC on behalf of Netgalley and the author and publisher
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine
Dal Rey - in return for my honest opinion.

Description:

In a feminist fantasy epic, a revolutionary spell gives women the ability to control their own fertility—with consequences that rock their patriarchal society to its core.

“A compulsive read, riveting characters, and life or death stakes from beginning to end."

In a feminist fantasy epic, a revolutionary spell gives women the ability to control their own fertility—with consequences that rock their patriarchal society to its core.

When a nobleman’s first duty is to produce a male heir, women are treated like possessions and bargaining chips. But as the aftereffects of a world-altering spell ripple out physically and culturally, women at last have a bargaining chip of their own. And two women in particular find themselves at the liberating crossroads of change.

Alys is the widowed mother of two adolescent children, and the disinherited daughter of a king. Her existence has been carefully regulated, but now she discovers a fierce talent not only for politics but also for magic—once deemed solely the domain of men. Meanwhile, in a neighboring kingdom, young Ellin finds herself unexpectedly on the throne after the sudden death of her grandfather the king and everyone else who stood ahead of her in the line of succession. Conventional wisdom holds that she will marry quickly, then quietly surrender the throne to her new husband. Only, Ellin has other ideas.

The tensions building in the two kingdoms grow abruptly worse when a caravan of exiled women and their escort of disgraced soldiers stumble upon a new source of magic in what was once uninhabitable desert. This new and revolutionary magic—which only women can wield—might well tear down what is left of the patriarchy. The men who currently hold power will do anything to retain it. But what force in the world can stand against the courage and resolution of generations of women who have tasted freedom for the very first time?



Advance praise for The Women’s War:

“Gloriously paced, plotted, and constructed with such elegance that it ceases to feel like a story and begins to feel like the truth.”—Seanan McGuire

“A thrilling and heartwrenching tale that explores the issue of body autonomy, with a middle-aged mom as the heroine . . . I couldn’t put it down.”—Kevin Hearne

“A must-read, with gripping action, a complex plot, and engaging characters . . . I thoroughly loved it!”—Melissa Marr

“The Women’s War is more than a story. It is a roar. And it’s magnificent! The wonderful fierceness of its women will steal your breath and your heart.”—Sarah Beth Durst


About The Author:

Jenna Glass wrote her first book--an "autobiography"--when she was in the fifth grade. She began writing in earnest while in college and proceeded to collect a dizzying array of rejections for her first seventeen novels. Nevertheless, she persisted, and her eighteenth novel became her first commercial sale. Within a few years, Glass became a full-time writer, and she has never looked back. She has published more than twenty novels under various names. The Women's War marks her first foray into epic fantasy.

Riveting, breath taking, and empowering!! I would not only recommend to every feminist I know, also girls and women of any age!! This is a timeless piece for women, at a time when our rights are being questioned and/or taken from us all over again.

The Women’s War is definitely an epic fantasy – it’s nearly six-hundred pages. This is a tome. Which I found interesting both for a debut novel and the first book in a series. This is a long book, and for a debut this long to be published, it usually means it’s something incredible. So I was excited for a lot of badass female characters. And, honestly, I was a little bit disappointed. This book had the potential for some really amazing strong female characters, but they just didn’t quite get there. Sure, they were strong, but they were strong in the context of the sexist world they were forced to live in. I just wanted them to be more. This book actually reminded me quite a bit of The Power by Naomi Alderman. In both books, I wanted the female characters to use their new power to do something great, and the kind of don’t. The synopsis says they threaten to tear down the patriarchy, and I didn’t get enough of that.

It did take me a while to really get into the story. I enjoyed the world building, but it was a bit disorienting for the first chapter or two. Once I got into it, though, I thought the world was really interesting. I do really like how Glass focuses women’s power on reproductive rights, because that’s a huge issue even today. All in all, the magic system and world building definitely kept me intrigued.

This book had a great premise, good world building, and interesting magic system, and decent characters going for it. But where it fell flat for me is that it just was too slow for a book with “war” right there in the title. I wanted some exciting battles, damnit. Women should be angry at being oppressed, and the women in this book were just not. It was honestly frustrating. I felt like this should have been a story exciting enough for me to fly through, but – and I hate to admit this – I was bored a lot. I wanted more action, more diversity, more feminist anger. This book had a lot of potential and didn’t quite reach it.

The Women’s War is one hell of a story. Based on a society where women are considered second-class citizens, if they are lucky, this is the story of revolution led by two extraordinary women.

Alysoon Rai-Brynna is a widowed mother of two and daughter of a king. When her father divorced her mother in favor of a more politically advantageous marriage, Alys and her brother were declared illegitimate. And her mother became an Unwanted, sentenced to life at the Abbey.

Princess Ellinsoltah of Rhozinolm will become queen when the two most likely male candidates to the throne would most like cause a war. The plan: after her year of mourning, Ellin will take a husband who will then become king. Or so her council thinks.

These two women will become the pivotal characters who react and overcome so many obstacles thrown at them in the aftermath of the world-altering spell.

The story is complex and so many characters lives are intertwined it is impossible to represent all of that here in a review. So I will pick and choose a few characters…

Crown Prince Delnamel (half-brother to Alys and Tynthanal) is the villain to boo at every time he turns up. Occasionally, he seems to have a teeny tiny bit of heart, but don’t let that fool you. There is one horrible scene where Delnamel arrests three senior abigails and then allows his men to rape the women of the Abbey. My heart ached at the scene, but it a critical event that changes the raped women in such a way that those men will have cause to regret.

Tynthanal, brother of Alys and lieutenant commander at the Citadel, escorts the women of the Abbey to the wasteland to their new home. It is because of him that the women discover the new Well of magical elements. Thus Women’s Well was founded. Tynthanal is one of the few male feminists in the book.

Semsulin, is the lord chancellor and head of the royal council of Rhozinolm. He is the man who talked Ellin into taking the crown. His motives are not entirely clear, though as the book goes on, he seems to support Ellin more and more. I think he only wants what is best for the kingdom and that is a difficult thing to determine.

In a society where only men are allowed to use magic, it will come as quite a shock when those men learn that women are not only able to use magic in many ways, but they are also quite good at. If they don’t make room for women as equals, they will loose. Take as much of that as you wish as a commentary on any aspect of women’s history in our own world.

The cover by Elizabeth A.D. Eno, is beautiful and inciteful and truly represents the story. Ms. Eno must have read the book before she crafted her cover.

The Women’s War is 560 pages long according to the published page counts. You would think 560 would be enough to tell a story. It isn’t. Be prepared for a huge cliffhanger. The only characters whose stories are resolved are the ones that died. The description on NetGalley gave no indication that this was the first book of a series. The Women’s War gets 4 stars from me, losing one star due to the gigantic cliffhanger. (I may have thrown a fit when I finished the book. I don’t remember. It is all kind of fuzzy.) But if I was the type of reader who didn’t mind cliffhangers, I would give it all 5 stars.

Heartbreaking, hopeful, magical and emotional. The Women’s War truly is an amazing story.

Here is a quote from the book. It was said by Alys’s mother, right before the world upended:

Something is going to happen tonight. Something … momentous. Something that will change the world in ways I can’t entirely foresee.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

The description defined this a "high fantasy feminist epic," and that is dead-on. This is a secondary world setting where women are marginalized, abused, and maligned, and they finally start to fight back. That also means this is a difficult read at times, as it doesn't shy away from incidents of rape and abuse. That said, this IS a book from a mostly feminist perspective, and it doesn't let those horrors become the defining moment for those characters.

The book follows a largely female cast in various parts of "the Wells." This is a world where people can focus on their Mind's Eye and see elemental orbs that can then be combined to different magical effects. I found this very easy to picture because it seemed video game-like to me, and I loved that. Women, of course, are almost entirely forbidden from tapping this power. The very sight of a women using magic, her eyes going to all-white, is regarded as obscene. The only place where women are permitted to use limited magic is if they are exiled to abbeys--rather like government-run bordellos, where unclean women are forced to give out sexual favors or otherwise peddle wares in lowly ways.

A matrimonial line decided, in ages past, to break the very way magic functions in the world in order to give women a way to fight back. They essentially bred themselves to cultivate this ability. They carry this out near the beginning of the book, to immediate physical and magical results. I am keeping the particulars vague to avoid spoilers, but I will say this: the consequences are myriad and truly make you think about women and the power they carry over their own bodies. I enjoyed seeing this analyzed through the lens of magic.

A few criticisms. I was surprised that there wasn't more queer representation, especially within the confines of abbeys. I also wish the villain had more nuance, because yeesh, is he a nasty villain. He's almost too easy to hate. I felt like bathing in bleach after scenes in his perspective.

This is the first book in a series and it ends on something of a cliffhanger. The one peril of getting an early reviewer edition of the book is that I have an even longer wait until I find out what happens next!