Hi everyone! So sorry we haven't updated in so long, it's been super busy the past week or so! I promise we'll have a post up by the end of the week. Thanks for your patience.

~Femilit Team

Review of Starcrossed

I discovered the book Starcrossed, by Elizabeth Bunce, a long time ago- I think it might have been fifth or sixth grade? I found it on the Teen Readers shelf at my neighborhood bookstore, and I never thought much of it. That was at the point in my life when I had all the time in the world to eat up three YA novels a week. This was another one of those- a quick read, around three hundred pages or so, and action-packed. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Now, five years later, I consider it to be one of my favorite books.

The book follows the story of a young thief named Digger, a girl in a medieval-esque fantasy world, a thief under an almost totalitarian government, and, quite possibly, a sorcerer in a world where magic is banned. This world’s pantheon of gods is a wide and lively one- they worship seven stars, the leader of which is Celyse, the goddess of life. Unfortunately, however, since the current king took power, the people have been seeing more of Celyse and less of all the other gods. Especially her younger sister, Sar, goddess of magic, the worship of whom has been banned across the country. Starting the book, we know only a couple things about Digger: she’s a thief with a talent for language and forgery, she just had to abandon her partner in crime in a fight, and there is, as is common in YA novels, a deep family secret that she is desperately trying to flee. So, upon encountering thirteen-year-old noble Merista Nemair, and befriending her under the pseudonym “Celyn,” Digger opts to flee the city of Gerse where she has lived all her life and go to serve as Merista’s ladies maid until she deems it safe to return. However, when she reaches Merista’s family’s fortress, all is not as picturesque as she imagined. The Nemair are planning something with the other guests, who are there, supposedly, for Merista’s fourteenth birthday. And, on top of that, Digger is being blackmailed into digging up even more secrets, by Merista’s foster-uncle, lord Remy Daul, who seems to have it in for the Nemair.

I’ll get to the review part of this, and get to explaining why it achieved so much when it came to feminism, but I’m going to start with a rant about how underrated this book is. It is fantastic. The world that Bunce created is ridiculously complex and fascinating, the characters are colorful and alive, and the plot is simultaneously fast-paced, well-written, and hugely entertaining. It's what all YA fantasy novels should aspire to.

If I had to critique Starcrossed, I’d say the plot is generic. People forced to worship the wrong god? Magic is banned? This skinny white girl is a thief? She has a dark family secret that seems to involve a beef with her brother? A villainous and vaguely rapey antagonist that blackmails our poor MC and calls her “Little Mouse”? Please, we’ve all heard those ones before. The protagonist, too, is generic- Digger isn’t “pretty," but she’s thin and white and conventionally attractive. She’s sassy, and has problems with listening to authority. And she has a lot of secrets. Perhaps even more than you’d expect going into it. Digger isn’t quite a Mary Sue, but I wouldn’t call her particularly unusual.

Despite all this, there are a few things that make the plot not so generic after all. For one thing, there’s almost a complete lack of romance. Perhaps a small attraction to a handsome prince. But Digger is never swept off her feet by any tall, dark, and handsome strangers. She’s not the type. And, (shocking, I know), this doesn’t detract from the plot in the slightest. In fact, it just leaves more time for character development for everyone. Now, where Digger lacks romance, Merista Nemair does not. She is, throughout the book, carrying out a scandalous affair with a young mage she met in the woods. And the amazing thing about Starcrossed is that Digger never once begrudges her for it. Merista is some naïve little nob that Digger had initially intended to use only for her wealth. Digger helps her friend through these scary tides of romance, and through even the every-day trials of life as a young noble girl. And Merista, in turn, remains unshakably loyal to her maid and friend, "Celyn."

And with this, I can move directly into what made this book wonderfully feminist. These were the aspects that I didn’t notice the first time I read the book, maybe not even the second or third time. These were the things I discovered going back to it much, much later. What I’m talking about, of course, are the female characters and their relationships with one another. The book is centered almost completely around the development of a close friendship between to girls. Two intelligent, talented, interesting girls with a remarkable character foil that doesn’t make them hate each other, but makes them become even closer. And it doesn’t stop with Merista and Digger; there's Lady Lyllace Nemair, Merista’s mother, a talented healer and scientist, as well as a badass who’s almost singlehandedly plotting a rebellion and hiding wanted criminals in her basement while still remaining a lovely sophisticated lady and a loving mother. This, my friends, is what we call an Interesting Female Character. There is Marlytte, the courtesan from Gerse, Digger’s former acquaintance and now ally, who came to the fortress unwillingly as a certain lord’s lover, but who becomes so much more than that. A *gasp!* sex worker, who's still a smart, loyal, BAMF. There is Phandre, who fills the “bitchy blonde rich girl” trope, but who ends up possessing a more important role in the plot than we ever imagined. And there is Lady Cardom the rebel, the little mage girl in the woods, the Corless cook who’s Lyllace’s accomplice, Merista’s former nurse-maid and close friend, and so, so many more.

For once, the ladies out-do the gentlemen. And for this, I love Starcrossed more than the majority of what I read these days.

-Razi

Review of The Bone Season **This review contains spoilers**

The Bone Season follows the story of Paige Mahoney, a 19-year-old clairvoyant in the Scion citadel of London. Clairvoyance of any kind is forbidden, but Paige is an especially rare (and especially illegal) type; a dreamwalker. She can separate her soul from her body. She works for an underground mafia/gang called “The Syndicate” made up of other clairvoyants and run by Mime-lords and ladies- basically, crime kings. It’s not made clear what the syndicate actually does (or how it makes money, although the mime-lords seem to be rolling in it), but we’re told that it’s, like, really really illegal, and stuff. 

Before you read anymore, I’d just like to say that I actually did enjoy The Bone Season, and am going to be buying the next book as well as the hardcover edition of this one. Most of the angst in this review will come from the fact that I felt like it could have been a shitton better than it actually was- and I’m kinda disappointed. 

The Bone Season is, first and foremost, fun. It’s engaging and exciting and, even when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it constantly. It was also VERY confusing. As I bought the ebook edition, I couldn’t read the diagrams that Shannon had drawn, and had no idea what the hell any of the types of clairvoyance meant. Although she tells you in great detail about Paige’s personal life, it would have been nice to understand the basics of the world first. Shannon told us everything you could ever possibly want to know about the history of Scion and still managed to make the book confusing. And, dear lord, the infodumps. C’mon, Sam; you could do so much better. 

However, I don’t think it’s entirely the fault of the prose that The Bone Season was hard to understand. The plot was like reading a nearly 500 page first chapter. In order to have a successful series, every book has to stand on it’s own two legs as a story. This one was laying on it’s back in bed, maybe hungover or something.

Paige Mahoney was the only part of the book that I honest-to-god hated. The first half was almost entirely devoted to telling us how SPECIAL, PRETTY, and IMPORTANT Paige was. One-sided, annoying, stupid, and petty, Paige Mahoney should have been killed off. Nothing in the plot happened because of her- it happened to her, handed over on a golden platter. If you took her out of the story nothing would change. Hopefully, we’re gonna see some development from this point on (and maybe an apology from her to some other characters). 

In perfect contrast, all the other characters were fantastic. I could talk about Jaxon and Liss for days. Read the book for them, if nothing else. The relationship between Warden and Nashira was a genuinely interesting dynamic that made me want to know more, and Nick was an example of minority representation done right. The side characters get an A++.

Many of the negative reviews you see of The Bone Season complain about the hype. I hardly see how that’s it’s own fault, and not the publisher’s. True; it’s nothing like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and it shouldn’t have been compared to either of them, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate it cause some other people loved it. Plus, think about how stressful this must be to Shannon. Being called “The next J. K. Rowling” is a huge responsibility, and not one she picked herself. Give her a break. 

Now, since this review is for a feminist book review blog, a word on the feminist merits of The Bone Season: 

Paige Mahoney, as I have already mentioned, was a feminist nightmare. Most of the events she was involved in were entirely controlled by men, and many of the choices she made were based only upon how those men would react. She seemed incapable of her own thoughts. Side female characters such as Liss were strong and interesting, but she was taken out of the story before she even had a chance to really interact with it. As for intersectionality, Nick was a well-written gay character, and I was relieved when his sexuality wasn't the entire focus of his character. When we learned Nick was gay, there wasn't a long "He's gay, and we accept him. We accept gay people. Gay people? Accepted." rant put in by the author. Not only does that kind of 'acceptance' pull the focus away from the person and onto the politics, it's usually only there to prove how 'progressive' and author is, and give them a pat on the back for daring to write anything other than a cishet. 

The plot regarding slavery could have well been made into a metaphor for oppression, but Shannon seemed to want to focus more on Paige's interesting romantic life. From that I got the impression she wasn't really willing to step her foot out and write anything too progressive. A safely white, male, and cisgender gay character was the extent of it. I doubt there will be any more queer characters in the later books. Still; you get what you can, and I am grateful for the representation. 

For those reasons, I give The Bone Season a 2/5 stars for feminism.

The Bone Season is the start of what will hopefully be an excellent series, and, with any luck, my rating will only go up with the successive books. 

-Leon