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just_one_more_paige 's review for:
Ahe'ey
by Jamie Le Fay
I got this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. So I'm going to be honest.
There were a lot of good intentions here, but this book was just plain bad. I love fantasy, high fantasy, the creation of whole worlds and characters. I was really interested in this book based on the description and the rest of the reviews being so positive. So when this is what I got, I was really disappointed. And I don't think I have been this close to DNF-ing a book in years. Like I said, there were good intentions - the ideas were there (even if they still would likely have been a bit too cheesy) and the plot was fairly thought through/developed and the scope was wide and ambitious. Perhaps too ambitious for the author to actually be able to tackle. This was supposed to be a parallel world, rock solid feminist, romance, high fantasy novel. It can be done, I think, even if things stayed a little cheesy, but it wasn't done here.
I spent the first third or so of the book (32%, according the Kindle) being completely confused by the Ahe'ey world and society and class breakdown because it took that long for the author to explain it. And even after that, it was like she kept changing rules and structures and personality traits to fit what she thought was necessary for the plot advancement, so nothing was really ever fully clear or understandable. The character development was so poorly done, there was no consistency in feelings/reactions/relationships at all and I never really got to a point where I cared what happened for/to/between any of the characters. And from a romance angle, the main relationship's consummation was not even written well. Everything was over-explained and overdone and I've never read so many tropes in one place.
Nature vs nurture was discussed ad nauseum (and not well - like so overtly that if I actually read the words "nature" or "nurture" or "genes" of "slave to your genes" or "defy your genes" one more time I might have thrown my Kindle). Every relationship was strained or emotionally abusive, manipulative and hypocritical, and the amount of procreation among family members was really disturbing (I don't care what "science" or "gene manipulating" was made to make it ok, it's still didn't feel ok reading about it). It's a weird bastardization on the female power story, like the one we see in Wonder Women, and everything is just absurd to the point of ridiculousness.
And the part that makes me the most sad is that this is a book supposedly written about and in support of women's rights, but honestly the best parts for that just added up to be a whole lot of long winded and pompous speeches (more like lectures) that really didn't even make ME feel like I wanted to women to win or be in control. I mean, sure the land of Ahe'ey was led by all women, but they handled it as poorly as the men in charge of our own world handle it, which isn't really a ringing endorsement of female competence and power. And the literal grab bag of hot button equality issues (race, gender, sexuality, class, and more) just made each one that was addressed less impactful because it was too much and too in your face and, as I mentioned, all handled with pompous and condescending monologues and arguments mostly outside the actual plot. Also, in the end, our main character more or less abandons her causes in our world (America/NYC) in order to "support" her love interest (who SPOILER in the end she is genetically compatible with, in a twist that I literally saw coming from about a quarter of the way into the book, and the whole thing is a moot point and really makes you question the point of the entire attempt at a feminist dialogue to begin with). I wanted, so badly, to support the general feminist ideals that were technically espoused here, but I feel like the main character herself couldn't get a handle on her thoughts/feelings in that regard and it was executed so poorly that I just couldn't.
And one last complaint, on a personal annoyance level, I just don't understand why it was necessary to throw in like 6 basic Spanish phrases. It was completely gratuitous, like the author wanted to prove she passed her first semester of Spanish class in college... Ugh.
In any case, don't let the description fool you. This book tries really hard but doesn't achieve anything it wants to. I've never written a review this...scathing...before. And I feel bad because I know how much time and effort goes into writing something like this (and this long), but honestly it would not be truthful for me to try and find something nicer to say. I was just very disappointed and definitely feel like reading this was a waste of my time.
There were a lot of good intentions here, but this book was just plain bad. I love fantasy, high fantasy, the creation of whole worlds and characters. I was really interested in this book based on the description and the rest of the reviews being so positive. So when this is what I got, I was really disappointed. And I don't think I have been this close to DNF-ing a book in years. Like I said, there were good intentions - the ideas were there (even if they still would likely have been a bit too cheesy) and the plot was fairly thought through/developed and the scope was wide and ambitious. Perhaps too ambitious for the author to actually be able to tackle. This was supposed to be a parallel world, rock solid feminist, romance, high fantasy novel. It can be done, I think, even if things stayed a little cheesy, but it wasn't done here.
I spent the first third or so of the book (32%, according the Kindle) being completely confused by the Ahe'ey world and society and class breakdown because it took that long for the author to explain it. And even after that, it was like she kept changing rules and structures and personality traits to fit what she thought was necessary for the plot advancement, so nothing was really ever fully clear or understandable. The character development was so poorly done, there was no consistency in feelings/reactions/relationships at all and I never really got to a point where I cared what happened for/to/between any of the characters. And from a romance angle, the main relationship's consummation was not even written well. Everything was over-explained and overdone and I've never read so many tropes in one place.
Nature vs nurture was discussed ad nauseum (and not well - like so overtly that if I actually read the words "nature" or "nurture" or "genes" of "slave to your genes" or "defy your genes" one more time I might have thrown my Kindle). Every relationship was strained or emotionally abusive, manipulative and hypocritical, and the amount of procreation among family members was really disturbing (I don't care what "science" or "gene manipulating" was made to make it ok, it's still didn't feel ok reading about it). It's a weird bastardization on the female power story, like the one we see in Wonder Women, and everything is just absurd to the point of ridiculousness.
And the part that makes me the most sad is that this is a book supposedly written about and in support of women's rights, but honestly the best parts for that just added up to be a whole lot of long winded and pompous speeches (more like lectures) that really didn't even make ME feel like I wanted to women to win or be in control. I mean, sure the land of Ahe'ey was led by all women, but they handled it as poorly as the men in charge of our own world handle it, which isn't really a ringing endorsement of female competence and power. And the literal grab bag of hot button equality issues (race, gender, sexuality, class, and more) just made each one that was addressed less impactful because it was too much and too in your face and, as I mentioned, all handled with pompous and condescending monologues and arguments mostly outside the actual plot. Also, in the end, our main character more or less abandons her causes in our world (America/NYC) in order to "support" her love interest (who SPOILER in the end she is genetically compatible with, in a twist that I literally saw coming from about a quarter of the way into the book, and the whole thing is a moot point and really makes you question the point of the entire attempt at a feminist dialogue to begin with). I wanted, so badly, to support the general feminist ideals that were technically espoused here, but I feel like the main character herself couldn't get a handle on her thoughts/feelings in that regard and it was executed so poorly that I just couldn't.
And one last complaint, on a personal annoyance level, I just don't understand why it was necessary to throw in like 6 basic Spanish phrases. It was completely gratuitous, like the author wanted to prove she passed her first semester of Spanish class in college... Ugh.
In any case, don't let the description fool you. This book tries really hard but doesn't achieve anything it wants to. I've never written a review this...scathing...before. And I feel bad because I know how much time and effort goes into writing something like this (and this long), but honestly it would not be truthful for me to try and find something nicer to say. I was just very disappointed and definitely feel like reading this was a waste of my time.