Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: feminist speculative fiction
Review: This book is what you would get if you combined the gender-segregated society of Sheri S. Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country with the capital extravagnce and high stakes competition of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. Which is to say that this book is more than a little derivative. Is it still worth reading? Yes.
Corban takes the ideas behind these two books and runs with them, adding in descriptions of the jungle setting that are beyond lush. Reina's naivete at the beginning of the book was troublesome to me, but Corban places her in situations that force her confront her own lack of knowledge and gives her the motivation to overcome it. Reina's growth is realistic and believable in a way that many authors can't pull off. And we learn that her ignorance isn't entirely due to her sheltered upbringing or her own passivity. There are things in her society that are just not talked about, and which will probably turn out to be its downfall. We'll have to wait for the sequel to find out, though.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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