Mysterious Ways book review

By imh No comments

Strangely enough, after decades of not encountering one, this another book set in a matriarchal society, stumbled upon immediately after finishing its predecessor. Unfortunately it suffers from much the same flaw as The Empath and the Solider in the it styles itself a matriarchal society, but almost exclusively uses the framework of a patriarchal society with a more casual view on sex and more prevalent homosexuality. It’s not that Mysterious Way’s world building is bad (I actually quite like the more fantastical elements of it world build, with the three world and the prevalence of angles and demons among human society, but the societal side of it is bare bones, only really offering the inversion of sexism. It doesn’t engage with the concept itself, just with the sexism.
Aside from that, Mysterious Ways is quick paced and fun, scattered with plenty of humor. The plot makes strong use of its world-building, having our main characters travel between several of the plains/world (and those plains/worlds feeling fundamentally different from one another.)
The core plot takes a bit to get started as pieces are set up and characters are displayed, but it’s compelling, fun, and easy to emotionally invest in once that set up is finished.
Our main characters are decently complex, and fairly likable but nothing overly special.
All in all, a fun read.

Leave a Reply