Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Queen of the Unwanted by Jenna Glass Narrator: Robin Miles
Series: Women's War #2
Published by Penguin Audio on May 5, 2020
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 23 hours, 3 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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In this feminist fantasy series, the ability to do magic has given women control over their own bodies. But as the patriarchy starts to fall, they must now learn to rule as women, not men.
Alys may be the acknowledged queen of Women's Well—the fledgling colony where women hold equal status with men—but she cares little for politics in the wake of an appalling personal tragedy. It is grief that rules her now. But the world continues to turn.
In a distant realm unused to female rulers, Ellin struggles to maintain control. Meanwhile, the king of the island nation of Khalpar recruits an abbess whom he thinks holds the key to reversing the spell that Alys's mother gave her life to create. And back in Women's Well, Alys's own half-brother is determined to bring her to heel. Unless these women can all come together and embrace the true nature of female power, everything they have struggled to achieve may be at risk.
The Women’s War series has the usual historical 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 the man wants someone else, or even daughters. There, the unwanted are bought for sex or toil in creating spells, where the earnings go to the kingdom.
In the first book, Women’s War, there were considerable battles and the primary characters were women. They were women of royal families. Their magic bloodlines were powerful and one created a spell to give women power over their own fertility. Men were not happy. One women leaves her kingdom and finds a new magic well and forms a new kingdom. Another woman becomes queen when her grandfather and parents are both dead. So now two kingdoms are ruled by women.
Queen of the Unwanted is more of a character study with much less action and battle. I kept expecting a big fight. Men were not happy and kept trying to undermine the women. Unfortunately for them, the woman were fairly successful in their politics and magic. We continue to get the story of Alys and her struggles with ruling the new Women’s Well, and Ellin, the ruler of Rosenam(?) has trade agreements and her own marriage to negotiate. The other women who are primary are two unwanted women from the Abbey in Khalpar who are set to work to find a cure for the spell. I alternated between liking and hating them.
The men are struggling with their lack of control and their anger at the women’s abilities and new power. They have no trouble being greedy, dishonest, and ruthless to get their way. Even the “good” guys have some difficulty. Two men from royal families are part of the arranged marriages, now negotiated by women, and while this is a normal event, they are really not happy. It’s odd because it would have happened to them even if the rulers were men. So their happiness seems a bit more because women are involved in the deciding?
The pace was more even with only a few scenes of action. I did enjoy the characters and the magic. The book is not a cliffhanger but there are some huge plot lines to explore in the next outing. I’ll be looking forward to it!
Narration:
Robin Miles is the narrator of this world for me. The male and female voices sounded appropriate. I enjoyed listening at my normal 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.
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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.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- COYER-20
This sounds like a fascinating series! Excellent review, Anne?
I think it’s an excellent series with lots of character development, world-building, complex magic, and some politics/action. It can be brutal for women though.
Oh I love the cover of this one and it sounds good too so I would love to try!
I’d start with the first one but I think it’s a great series.
Huh, I didn’t know Jenna Black wrote under another name. I do like the premise of the series, it seems very interesting.
It’s great on audio too!
This sounds really interesting and I like that it had character development and not just action. Good review!
yes this one had more character development. It had somewhat less action and triggering violence than the first book. But with this kind of series I want to read in order.
this sounds seriously good. And the cover is spectacular. Sure is a long listen though. Did it keep your interest throughout?
Yes. I had no difficulty keeping interested in the first one where there is more world-building to assimilate or this one. It felt like a lot more action in book 1 and more character development in book 2. But they are well-written so all the world and character development is great. There are very hard and bad things happening to women in both books. If this one felt slower it is probably all the internal thoughts of the women from the Abbey in Khalpar. They were both in the most horrible of situations but they were petty and vindictive at times rather than working for all women.
WOw! This sounds like an ambitious read. The world building you described makes my head spin. Glad you enjoyed. What a find!
This series is epic and has both the best and worst for women.
This sounds like a wonderful series. Every time I read a book set in a place that treats women so horribly, I can only think of how glad I am that I don’t live there. I am glad you enjoyed this one!
It was less brutal than the first one but things are still developing in this world. I feel some big changes coming and it will be interesting.