Bethany Bee's Reviews > The Tyranny of Faith

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Hm. HM.

Okay. My feelings toward this trilogy are a bit complex, in that there's a lot of things I love in it, but the things I don't, or that I feel are missing, weigh more heavily in the balance of the rating than they did in the first book.

My main stumbling block, as it was in the first book, is that there is a lot said about how the Sovan Empire is pretty egalitarian as regards gender roles, but we don't actually see that in practice in terms of gender parity in the actual characters. If this is an example of Helena's POV being limited or unreliable, that's one thing, but it seems to be something we're meant to take at face value, despite the book being somewhat of a sausage fest. The meaningful roles in the plot are given to men, overwhelmingly so, and while there are more female characters in this book than there were in the first (that are named and have an effect on the plot), two of them are minor characters, and the other is...hm. HM.

Those are my complex feelings coming out.

I'm not sure why I'm harping on the gender roles in this series so much; in no way is Swan going out of his way to be sexist or exploitative regarding his female characters (one character who's used as a honey trap is given some depth and expertise, so she's not reduced to just a one-dimensional sex provider), but when a big tenet of the Sovan Empire is this equality, and we don't see it in the actual events playing out, it leaves a weird taste in my mouth.

I also have to ding the book for the very erratic way that Vonvalt and Helena's relationship evolves. It feels, all too often, like Helena just says "oh and now we're like this, and we both know it", but there's been no real lead-up, so I was left wondering where the heck the evolution came from, since it certainly wasn't on the page.

It's still got a crackling energy to it, and the [redacted] scenes are creepy, foreboding, and DELICIOUSLY awful. I want to beat Claver with a rusty hammer but I think that's how we're supposed to feel, so well done, Mr. Swan!

It's a good series, I just wish...the connective tissue was better. That we got more interiority, that Vonvalt would just shut up for once, that we got to see Helena with Heinrich, The Goodest War Dog Boy, that Helena would get five minutes to relax before something else goes wrong.

Now...to read the third book right away, or take a break and read something else...