Scorpica

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Scorpica was recommended to me by another fantasy book blogger, but I am so sorry I don't remember who exactly it was! But regardless — this book was highly spoken of, and when I got the chance to request an ARC of the sequel, Arca, I leapt at it. I borrowed Scorpica from my library, and dived right in.

The world here is different from our own in one very specific way — this entire world is matriarchal. The women hold all the power, the men are basically reduced down to playthings, lovers, and pretty faces. My biggest beef with this is — why is it when we write matriarchal societies, we just turn the women into men? Why isn't there some version of this where the sexes are equal, and no one gets reduced down to baby makers who don't think? ANYWAY – that clearly doesn't happen here. Instead, we see queens and other women hold all the spotlight. Men are rarely mentioned, and when they are, they are either barely on page as lovers, or quickly killed. I understand what the author was going for, but it just rubbed me the wrong way for most of the novel.

Despite me whining about that particular point, the rest of Scorpica is actually really well done. The plot holds up nicely throughout the entire book — no girls are being born. Every child born is a boy, and for a strictly matriarchal society, that spells ruin. It was interesting to see how some of the different queens were handling the situation, or what they thought was happening, or what they believed the cause to be. The mystery here is revealed by the end of the book, and while you do get the answer, it's only semi-satisfying. I wanted something bigger than what we got, basically.

When it comes to the characters, they are all vastly different from one another in really fantastic ways. (One character was a little hard to follow, but that's because she gets a name change and gets adopted by another culture.) There are about...four or five POV characters in the book — and for the most part, they're easy to keep track of. No one is named similar to anyone else, thankfully. Having this many POVs in one book actually gives us a fantastic look at how the world works. Needless to say, Scorpica has excellent worldbuilding — especially in the warrior queendom of Scorpica, and the magical queendom of Arca. I do wish we had seen more of the other queendoms, but I'm willing to bet they will come into play in later entries in this series.

Overall, I'd give Scorpica a solid three and a half stars. Enough that I'm diving right into the next book, but not enough that I'm going to demand that you read this one.

CW: child sacrifice

This was definitely a vanity request first and foremost because I love covers with gold color palettes and this one with its intricately designed dagger was a beauty. I was also quite intrigued by this world of queendoms and immediately requested an arc. And this was such a ride.

The world building was a major draw for this book and I'm glad it didn't disappoint on that level. We never do get to know why the women in this world are so powerful except for it being their god's will but I loved the history of how the Great Peace came to be and the unique ways each queendom differs from each other. Their specific characteristics together make for a very coherent whole and I loved how the author managed to create them. The pacing is also pretty steady, never too fast or slow, but with its own reflective moments, covering more than a decade of the story. The writing is straightforward and easy to follow, with not too many flourishes, but I think it suited the slightly harsh circumstances of this world.

This is not a spoiler because it's mentioned in the blurb but the idea of what will happen to a matriarchal world when girls stop being born is a fascinating premise and I was really excited to see the issues arising with this play out. I probably did want to see more of the political machinations and how the common people were dealing with the issue, but we never get to explore the societal wide implications. The author mainly focused on what it meant to one of the queendoms and how they decided to deal with it - I wasn't completely disappointed but I just expected more.

There are a whole number of women POVs to follow along here and it was nice to get such a variety. Tamura and Mirriam are both conniving queens in their own ways - Tamura hiding all her insecurities by leaning on her warrior side, with a thirst for blood and conquest; Mirriam on the other hand who can't trust anyone around her, paranoid to the core, all powerful magic user but all alone. Jehenit is a healer who takes her duty to her village very seriously but all that changes when she needs to protect her only daughter. Vishala is bound by her loyalty to her queen, more than to her homeland, and will do anything to protect her heir. Gretti is a reluctant strategist who is loyal to her people more than the Queen and will try her best to protect them all, but is not fond of conquest or bloodshed. Eminel is an unexpected prodigy who doesn't realize what she is capable of. And finally Sessadon - the resentful one, who wasn't chosen to be queen but will destroy the world to make it kneel in front of her. All these women are dynamic, their personalities shining through the pages, and I loved getting to know each of their strengths and vulnerabilities and guessing what they might do next. There is so much tension in their relationships and life altering consequences to their actions, and it was fun exploring it all.

In conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book and I loved savoring the book a bit slowly than I usually do. The world is fascinating, the magic is cool, the ensemble of characters is brilliant (whether I actually like them or not is a different matter) and the plot is a convoluted in some ways, but thrilling in others. I liked how this first book is almost self contained with an interesting conclusion, while leaving lots of possibilities for the sequel. I'm definitely looking forward to it.