I picked up this book on recommendation from a friend who promised a “feminist revenge fantasy” - and boy, it was that. Part of me was delighted to read this book because it picked my brain so much, and part of me was also horrified by the violence in it. It’s not really a light read, but definitely one that will challenge feminist thinkers and push readers to think about the nature of power and gender inequality.

Things I Liked

1. Range of Characters and Perspectives: This story is told from multiple perspectives, and I liked how those perspectives were not only globally-oriented, but examined a range of social situations. Tunde, for example, travels the world to document the gender revolution, which de-centers the narrative from America and the West. Roxy is more in tune with the criminal underworld of London and beyond, whereas Margot is embedded in politics and global leadership.

2. Archaeology: Between the sections of this book are drawings and descriptions of seemingly stone age-era artifacts depicting women in power or religious figures in which women are symbols of sovereignty. At first, I had no idea how they related to the story, but holy crap - when the climax of the story unfolds, it blew my freaking mind.

3. Letters: At the beginning and end of the book are letters, seemingly between the author, Naomi, and a male writer. These letters contain an exchange that may be familiar to female writers - the writing is criticized as being “too focused on gender” and questioning history and realism in a way that shows gender bias. However, what’s brilliant about these letters is that the gender bias is reversed so that Naomi shows a matriarchal attitude towards the male writer. I’m not sure if it was meant to highlight the bullshit that women put up with in the publishing industry, but holy crap did I read it that way.

4. Religion: The treatment of religion in this novel is at once fascinating and terrifying. One of the characters insists that the revelation of women’s physical power constitutes God relating another side of Herself - one that is female and maternal. As a result, there are a lot of interesting theological questions that are integrated into the story... until they turn cult-like and scary.

5. Question of Power: One thing that I like about this novel is that it inverts the gender bias so that women take on all the roles of men. They become violent, cause physical harm, and even treat men as property. It’s extreme, and may make some readers uncomfortable, but I think it poses an interesting question - would women behave as men do in our current world if given physical power over men? I think the novel might take a clear stance on this, but I found it to be more ambiguous so that I wasn’t sure if the novel said “yes, power makes any gender violent” or “no, I’m just inverting the power dynamics to highlight how ridiculous the patriarchy is.”

Things I Didn’t Like

1. Gender Binary: As I was reading, I kept wondering how the advent of the power affected people with chromosomal anomalies so that their gender wasn’t unambiguously male or female. Granted, the book does address this somewhat, but personally, I didn’t think it was enough. As a result, the world felt very much like a battle between two sexes/genders, and I think reality is more messy than that.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in feminism, feminist revenge fantasies, nature of power, gender inequality, superpowers, and dystopia.