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spiringempress's review
2.0
One of my favorite things to do at old bookstores is to find weird and miscellaneous fantasy novels for a bargain price; the more obscure the better. This is how I found Sharon Green's Jalav series in down town Las Cruces in New Mexico at a bookstore called Coas. Being a fan of Red Sonja, the premise sounded promising but there is a lot of questionable and problematic choices in this book.
Jalav is the war leader of the Hosta clan, a band of Midanna Amazons, who are ferocious fighters. At the start, thieves steal the Crystal of Mida from the tower and slaughter the guard. Jalav, sworn to protect the crystal, sets off with her clan to find and return them to the Midanna. However as the clan reaches civilization and the slavery infested cities, they run into a number of problems. Quickly, Jalav and some of her companions are taken captive, sold as slaves to two men and are used repeatedly as they stay in their company to try and find out the location of the crystals. That's the majority of the story.
My main issue with this story is Green's premise that men are physically stronger than women without a weapon. Jalav and her Hosta clan continuously proclaim their deadly prowess with a sword and then they are subject to the whims of the men in this story because they lose their swords. I find that ridiculous, especially when Jalav is very strong-willed/stubborn and her tenacity should have given her the power to somehow outwit her male peers.
Warning ahead for discussion of sexual assault. I also feel very conflicted and dubious about the lack of consent and subsequent rape scenes in this book. Mostly because the female characters don't see it as a violation. In Jalav's culture, men are often taken captive and then 'used' for their pleasure. The Hosta even brew a special drink that works as a stimulant and use the men repeatedly until they let them go. This is rape and acknowledged by the male characters, who are angry and feel violated. However, this is the way of the Hosta and it becomes an even bigger problem when the reverse happens.
Eventually, the men take Jalav and her compansion captive and 'use' them but the women view it as their basic right because they are captives (and because this is the way in their culture) and end up actually liking it/falling in love with their captors. It's hard to negotiate and make sense of these rape scenes since the culture presented in this world does not really see it in that manner, but I feel that it is basically sanctioned sexual assault. I also don't want to force my perception onto characters, where this type of violation does not exist in their world. However since Green exists in our world, I found this extremely problematic since she made it 'sexy' and ruined the overall story for me.
Jalav is the war leader of the Hosta clan, a band of Midanna Amazons, who are ferocious fighters. At the start, thieves steal the Crystal of Mida from the tower and slaughter the guard. Jalav, sworn to protect the crystal, sets off with her clan to find and return them to the Midanna. However as the clan reaches civilization and the slavery infested cities, they run into a number of problems. Quickly, Jalav and some of her companions are taken captive, sold as slaves to two men and are used repeatedly as they stay in their company to try and find out the location of the crystals. That's the majority of the story.
My main issue with this story is Green's premise that men are physically stronger than women without a weapon. Jalav and her Hosta clan continuously proclaim their deadly prowess with a sword and then they are subject to the whims of the men in this story because they lose their swords. I find that ridiculous, especially when Jalav is very strong-willed/stubborn and her tenacity should have given her the power to somehow outwit her male peers.
Warning ahead for discussion of sexual assault. I also feel very conflicted and dubious about the lack of consent and subsequent rape scenes in this book. Mostly because the female characters don't see it as a violation. In Jalav's culture, men are often taken captive and then 'used' for their pleasure. The Hosta even brew a special drink that works as a stimulant and use the men repeatedly until they let them go. This is rape and acknowledged by the male characters, who are angry and feel violated. However, this is the way of the Hosta and it becomes an even bigger problem when the reverse happens.
Eventually, the men take Jalav and her compansion captive and 'use' them but the women view it as their basic right because they are captives (and because this is the way in their culture) and end up actually liking it/falling in love with their captors. It's hard to negotiate and make sense of these rape scenes since the culture presented in this world does not really see it in that manner, but I feel that it is basically sanctioned sexual assault. I also don't want to force my perception onto characters, where this type of violation does not exist in their world. However since Green exists in our world, I found this extremely problematic since she made it 'sexy' and ruined the overall story for me.
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