The Power
This was an interesting book that makes a very specific and somewhat disheartening argument about human nature, while managing to leave plenty of room for the rich tapestry that is human nature. It occasionally felt more like an argument than a novel, which is one of my favorite things. Reading it gave me a lot to think about and has, I think, caused a few subtle shifts.
The frame story takes place in a future so far-flung, they barely remember the world as it is now. Then it backs up to our near-future and the events that triggered the massive cultural shift. That event is the teenaged girls of the world developing an organ that produces electricity, allowing them to suddenly have the upper hand in most physical altercations. The power spreads out, with all new baby girls being born with it and most older women acquiring it from someone younger.
Ultimately it changes everything and nothing. Women gain this physical power and they use it to gain other types of power, to seek vengeance, to have fun, to show off. Violence increases and religions shift and the whole world-order flips. And ultimately humans land more or less exactly where they started, only in a matriarchy rather than a patriarchy. But a matriarchy that is every bit as violent and oppressive as the current patriarchy.
I'm not sure whether the author is trying to make an argument that power and violence are inherently linked, that this is a part of human nature rather than a masculine trait, or if they're only linked because of how the changes came about. It seems to paint a rather dismal picture of humanity as unable to ever escape this cycle, but that could also just be commentary on fighting fire with fire. Maybe power corrupts. Or maybe the corrupt are better at gaining power.
The frame story takes place in a future so far-flung, they barely remember the world as it is now. Then it backs up to our near-future and the events that triggered the massive cultural shift. That event is the teenaged girls of the world developing an organ that produces electricity, allowing them to suddenly have the upper hand in most physical altercations. The power spreads out, with all new baby girls being born with it and most older women acquiring it from someone younger.
Ultimately it changes everything and nothing. Women gain this physical power and they use it to gain other types of power, to seek vengeance, to have fun, to show off. Violence increases and religions shift and the whole world-order flips. And ultimately humans land more or less exactly where they started, only in a matriarchy rather than a patriarchy. But a matriarchy that is every bit as violent and oppressive as the current patriarchy.
I'm not sure whether the author is trying to make an argument that power and violence are inherently linked, that this is a part of human nature rather than a masculine trait, or if they're only linked because of how the changes came about. It seems to paint a rather dismal picture of humanity as unable to ever escape this cycle, but that could also just be commentary on fighting fire with fire. Maybe power corrupts. Or maybe the corrupt are better at gaining power.
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