Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Women's War by Jenna Glass Narrator: Robin Miles
Series: Women's War #1
Published by Random House Audio on March 5, 2019
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 20 hours, 19 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble
In a high fantasy feminist 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 crossroads of change.
Alys is the widowed mother of two teenage children, and the disinherited daughter of a king. Her existence has been carefully proscribed, 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 stumbles upon a new source of magic in what was once uninhabitable desert. This new and revolutionary magic—which only women can wield—threatens to tear down what is left of the patriarchy. And the men who currently hold power will do anything to fight back.
I really loved this! It has typical fantasy world where women have almost no choices. Their primary worth is to bear an heir for men in the patriarchal society. Men control the magic. Men can also choose to send women to a whorehouse for the “unwanted.” This includes wives who can’t have children, or if they want someone else, or even daughters. There the unwanted are bought for sex or toil in creating spells, where the earnings go to the kingdom.
The head of this unwanted whorehouse is the “divorced” first wife of a king. She is from a powerful magic bloodline and a seer. She is able to see more magic, both male and female than most everyone. She creates a spell to give women power over their own fertility. This has many consequences; none make men very happy. She leaves a notebook for her daughter Alys to learn more of women’s magic.
The primary characters of this story are women. Alys, the disinherited daughter of the king, her daughter, Janelle, and Ellin, grand-daughter of another king. The women are strong, smart and hard -working. They do the best they can with the hand they are dealt in life.
The men are less well-developed as characters. There are a few good ones who get more depth and figure into the story more. The bad ones impact the story but their characters are a bit flat with being more plain black, than showing many shades of gray. They tend to be greedy, believe they should have whatever they want, fail to worry about consequences to others, and don’t think they should have to work for anything either.
The Women’s War is well-paced, a riveting story, and likely to be a favorite of mine this year. There are the strong women, well-developed plot lines, and action I most desire in a book. I really can’t wait to see where it goes in the next book, because the war is just begun.
Narration:
Robin Miles is new to me, but I truly enjoyed her narration. The male and female voices were comfortable in tones. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:
About Jenna Glass
Jenna Glass (Jenna Black) is your typical writer. Which means she’s an “experience junkie.” She got her BA in physical anthropology and French from Duke University.
Once upon a time, she dreamed she would be the next Jane Goodall, camping in the bush making fabulous discoveries about primate behavior. Then, during her senior year at Duke, she did some actual research in the field and made this shocking discovery: primates spend something like 80% of their time doing such exciting things as sleeping and eating.
Concluding that this discovery was her life’s work in the field of primatology, she then moved on to such varied pastimes as grooming dogs and writing technical documentation. She writes paranormal romance for Tor and urban fantasy for Bantam Dell.
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
|
| Writing |
|
| Characters |
|
| Narration (Audio) |
|
| Overall: | |
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- Thrifty Thursday: HGTV Edition @VoiceofCass @RaquelleJaxson #ThriftyThursday #Challenge #Giveaway #KindleUnlimited - September 19, 2024
- 🎧 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman @richardosman #NicolaWalker @PRHAudio #LoveAudiobooks - September 17, 2024
- Sunday Post – 15 September 2024 @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality - September 15, 2024
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Releases
I really enjoyed this one, too. I’m not at all surprised that I did, as I love Jenna Black’s books. I love this very complex story and can’t wait to see where this story goes. Robin Miles was also new-to-me. I liked her narration. Great review.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
Thank you! I just loved it. I really can’t wait for the next one. Listening on audio, I have no idea if some of the names are spelled right.
The only downside to reviewing audiobooks. 😀
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
I’ve got a Jenna Black book on the shelf. She does seem to like to put her characters through the wringer. Neat seeing the Queen do what she can to empower the women through knowledge of their magic.
I’m not familiar with Robin Miles, but glad she was a good match for the story.
I’ve also read her Nikki Glass series and liked it. This one is superb!
Wow, what did I just read! This sounds amazing and your review is outstanding, Anne?
Thank you! I really loved it. You know me – men without shirts or women with weapons are my favorites. lol
Ahhhh! I’m so glad to see a positive review of this book. I’ve had it on my TBR for awhile now but it seems like not very many people are reading it. It sounds absolutely amazing though!
It is absolutely wonderful I loved it. I was a little intimidated to start it as it is a bit longer than average but it was so great it didn’t really matter. I hope you love it too.
Hmm, I don’t think I have tried this author and wow a fav of the year. I will add to my growing wish list!
This is more the fantasy genre and I read somewhat less of this than some genre. I have also read her UF series Nikki Glass. I thought this was amazing.
I don’t think I knew about this one but now I think I should try it
I always enjoy strong women so it really worked for me.
I like the idea of this one and have been wanting to read more of her books. Gong on my list:)
This one really hits a lot of pluses for me: Strong women, fantasy, magic. I really enjoy those things and the battle strategy. I hope you love it too.
What an intriguing premise! I wish the male characters and villains (hopefully not always synonomous?) were a bit more developed than it sounds like they are, but the female characters sound awesome.
There were some m,ale characters who were good guys who were developed. Most of the bad guys are male and only a couple of them are defined, but what we know about those is really, really bad.
Why haven’t I heard of this before?! This sounds like something that I would absolutely love. I am going to have to add this one to my wishlist.
Well I would encourage that because I thought it was awesome. I’m not sure how you didn’t notice it. I guess I am a fan as I have read other of her books and met her at NOLAStorycon in 2016.
Oooooh. This sounds like a great book with changes on the wind. 🙂
This will probably end up being one of my favorite books this year. And I’m dying for the next one.