doesn't deliver

The Fortress by S.A. Jones
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Genre: speculative fiction
Review: Jonathon is deeply in love with his wife.  Truly, he thinks she's amazing and the best thing that ever happened to him.  But that doesn't stop him from participating in what amounts to a rape culture in his high-powered corporate world.  Did he himself ever actually rape one of the "poodles" (as female junior analysts are called) in his office?  It doesn't seem so, but he certainly engaged in activity where "consent" was not exactly voluntarily given.  And, as is pointed out to him, he doesn't do anything to stop other women from being raped either, even though he's fully aware of what's going on around him.  When his wife finds out, she kicks him out and agrees to take him back only if he does a year as a supplicant at The Fortress, a nation-state ruled by the all-female Vaik.

The Vaik play by their own rules, the most important of which seems to be that the men who live with them can never say no, to any of them, about anything.  Shockingly, Jonathon doesn't find it hard to "submit" to their will when they slip out of their diaphanous gowns, although he does struggle with the rule against asking any questions.  Somehow, the rules, and the hard physical labor are supposed to reform him into being the kind of man who doesn't objectify every woman he sees.  How that's supposed to happen when women are propositioning him regularly is unclear, but the system does make him submissive, even to the point of doing things that violate his own moral code, which may not be exactly what his wife had in mind.

Where this book really fails, though, is in helping the reader understand how these changes happen, or even how they're supposed to happen.  Jonathon moves rocks to learn to control his emotions, yes, and is able to move rocks in his mind to simulate the control even when there are no actual rocks to hand, and he wears a technically advanced piece of clothing that fits him like a glove and, we are told repeatedly, leaves very little to the imagination.  But the remainder of the Vaik's program is left to the reader's imagination.  We are told that it works, not shown how it works, which makes the results not entirely believable.

I wish I could recommend this book.  The premise is really interesting, which is why I read it in the first place.  Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in advance of it's US release in exchange for this review.