Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Power

Yet again, I find myself asking why I even finished a book. This premise had potential, but the book is vile.

Imagine Lord of the Flies but on a worldwide scale. The absolute worst humanity has to offer. Every character is a sociopath (to varying degrees). It says people are essentially bad. Specifically women are essentially bad.

I know hyperbole is used to make a point, but this was just disgusting. Like, some possible morals of this story are power corrupts, or feminism is about equality and not supremacy. I guess.

In this story, apparently when women gain physical power over men, they lose all sense of morals, get significantly more stupid, and suddenly super into cults and cocaine. You can argue, "not all women" in this story. It does mention that not everyone is into the sadistic hellscape that's created. But like, obviously enough women that earth turns into a sadistic hellscape.

Also, offensive that women are in power for a mere five years or so before they blow up the entire planet. We made it through decades of the cold war with "men in charge." It perpetuates the hateful idea that women are "too emotional" and not to be trusted with diplomacy or rational thought.

Would some people abuse a power like this? Yes. The revenge stories ring plausible. But to switch all the way over to being "as bad as men" have ever been (IN FIVE YEARS) is pessimistic garbage. Author obviously has no faith in humanity. Depressing, nihilistic bs.

Like...women don't all secretly hate men. In reality, many women have healthy relationships with men either as friends or lovers. Women aren't just pretending to like men because they're being subjugated or whatever. I cannot fully express how detestable Alderman's vision of women is.

There are multiple rape scenes, one of them explicit. Again, I get that a point is being made, but it's vile.

I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt re: the voice in Mother Eve's head. Girl is schizophrenic and not being visited by a higher power. The implications otherwise are just really nasty.

And finally, I believe there is a balance to be found in profanity. For maximum effect, it should be used strategically. "But that's how people talk" --I don't care. In fiction, characters don't always talk the way real people do. And having the f word repeated willy nilly honestly lends a childish tone to the book. Like the author is a kid that's so excited to learn a new swear. Grow up. Learn nuance.

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aemowers's review

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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super_ge3k's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

3.75

This was a rough one for me. The book is really good, but the violence and body horror had me pausing at times. I think it begins a really interesting conversation on society and womanhood, I remember having those debates in high school of if women just ruled the world instead would things change for the better? I am not saying this book is alluding that if women ruled the world it would be worse, but with all the hardships women and women of color specifically go through in every country; like how in every government it's decided to regulate what women wear and their reproductive rights…It’s not surprising that there is a blatant distrust for men. Gaining power and not wanting it to be taken away so you are never powerless again is so valid and real. There are also just fucked up people no matter the gender so the prospect of some women gaining power and being horrible humans proves that they were horrible before. Also, I think it was a very accurate depiction of how men would react if all of a sudden women had electricity powers and they didn’t….especially the women-hating Reddit feed.

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cjblandford's review

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ultimately this book is about the corruption people endure when they hold power. There were some interesting concepts here, but because of the way it was written, I never fully connected with the characters. They felt a little shallow. I think this is a product of the book being presented as someone in the far future's research manuscript. I always felt like I was one or two steps removed from the characters and someone was describing their actions, but not their full emotional spectrum. So I never truly felt invested in them as people. I came the closest to caring about Roxy on a deeper level, but I still never felt truly invested in her story.

I liked the concept of the victors writing the history, and how prehistory is nothing more than circumstantial evidence and hypothesis. The old cliche about those who control the past also control the future rings true here. But back to the main point of the book: absolute power corrupts absolutely. I felt that it was a bit heavy-handed with the violence, but as soon as women gained more power than men in this novel, all of the violence that men did to women in the past, were revisited to them, only more so. The book was not subtle about making its point. Its just too bad the execution of this concept wasn't as solid as it could have been.

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