This game is bigger than you
Kameron Hurley's new book, The Light Brigade, is currently making waves as an amazing book. After reading The Mirror Empire, it's really not hard to see why. She's one bloody amazing writer.
Oma, the dark star was creeping back into orbit
...and shit is about to hit the fan.....
I've read reviews that say the plot is confusing and the writing a bit meh, but that's not what I found when I read it.
In The Mirror Empire, Kameron introduces badass women with political scheming and fuck-all attitudes that you can't help but marvel at. She doesn't drop the ball in engaging the reader with whatever machinations the characters are up to, and I fully believe if you're looking to get out of the whole, same old same old fantasy trope, this book right here, this book, is the one for you. No questions whatsoever.
When I pick up books written by women in this genre, this is what I want to see- female characters who are unapologetic in their being.
More than how amazing the plot is, Hurley has created unapologetic characters with their sexuality and gender. We have gender-fluid characters, characters who get to choose their genders, where sexual relationships are explored. It's not the typical heterosexual relationships you find in other books. This is a big win for me because Hurley doesn't shy away from it; it's there, bold, and above all, beautifully normal.
This is what I wish the most fantasy for authors who decide to put in, whether its family relationships, sexual or even conversations about gender, that they would go more out of what the "normal" construct for these relationships is or as normal as what the larger society needs them to be in any case.
You find that most fantasy authors, even though they create worlds with unique magic systems, worlds from nothing for the most part that could be linked to our reality, are still so stuck on the biases you find in society today. So you'd read a fantasy book that is out of the world (literally) that could never happen in this world. However, then they would still be stuck on women not being able to rule and fight, and it baffles me that authors can create these amazing, amazing worlds and cultures but still be so stuck on these biases.
😂😂😂 I got all carried away with my yay for equality preaching. But honestly, The Mirror Empire hits all the spots, and I went into it with blind faith.
There may be a tendency to ex the book when you start because it gets a tad confusing, but I told myself, "Ṣadé, you started Malazan without knowing jack shit about that world. Erikson basically started that book like everyone knew what was up, and you loved it. So really, how hard can understanding this book be?"
All in all, if you're looking for something amazing and different from your usual fantasy reads, give The Mirror Empire a go.
Anyways I loved it, loved it, loved it.
