This was something else.

I love good sci fi so much. I love a good "what if" premise. Here we have "what if women developed physical advantages over men". How would heavily patriarchal societies like Saudi Arabia respond? What about more egalitarian ones like the States? How would religion change? How would perceptions of gender roles shift? What conspiracy theories would emerge?

The pros: the book is crafted in a really cool way. Alternating chapters that follow different characters are framed by an exchange between the author and the writer she stole the manuscript from. Sketches of ancient artifacts are sprinkled throughout. It felt very fresh and explored the above questions in fascinating ways.

The cons: certain middle sections dragged on a bit and I felt myself losing interest in some of the character's stories. The balance of the book made me feel some themes were under-explored while others were over-explored, but I suspect that this is a very subjective personal preference.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys good sci-fi/alternate history that addresses some of the "what ifs" above.