A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a fun story set in a world like a cross between Merry Olde England and the Wild Wild West, with maybe a smidge of steampunk, fairly advanced medicine, polygamy, and a complete gender flip. In Queensland, women are the privileged and superior gender while men are protected and oppressed.
And this was the fun part! I kept stubbing my toe on how fiercely a man’s virginity and reputation were guarded, and how unusual it was for a man to know how to read or shoot a gun or ride a horse. We don’t bat an eye when we read about women being treated like that, so that it takes the tables being utterly turned for us to see the density of this acculturation. And if I am to be completely honest, I am forced to admit a little spiteful satisfaction – “See? How do you like it?”
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and Spencer’s women-on-top world. It doesn’t appear that this is part of a series, and that’s too bad, but I’ll looking for her other novels. Thanks to my cuz for a great read!
99 Monkeys 