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The Kingdom

Jess Rothenberg

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Jun 24, 2019 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: x2019-read, auth-f, sf-f-h

This is "feminism lite", but based on everything I see around me, there is still a deep need for a book like this that asks us to think about what we expect from the perfect woman: servility, beauty, and constant, unquestioned compliance.
This book shares some of the same ideas as Girls with Sharp Sticks, though it comes at the same questions from a slightly different direction. Instead of an elite school for beautiful young women to be groomed to be the perfect wives of successful men, here we h ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2019 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

The Kingdom is an enormous fantastical theme park where bio-engineering restores extinct animals and brings all sorts of creatures to life for the entertainment of guests. That includes the seven "fantasists", bio-engineered "perfect" human-looking women who are marketed as the faces of the Kingdom. We follow the story from one of the fantasist points-of-view, Ana, as she meets an intriguing park employee that she develops a friendship with, and a jump forward in time when she's on trial for his The Kingdom is an enormous fantastical theme park where bio-engineering restores extinct animals and brings all sorts of creatures to life for the entertainment of guests. That includes the seven "fantasists", bio-engineered "perfect" human-looking women who are marketed as the faces of the Kingdom. We follow the story from one of the fantasist points-of-view, Ana, as she meets an intriguing park employee that she develops a friendship with, and a jump forward in time when she's on trial for his murder.

I'm strongly reminded of the recent Girls with Sharp Sticks which has a superficially similar premise. In both books we have a cohort of young women who have to project the elements of a "perfect" young woman according to all the worst elements of patriarchal society. In this book that translates into idolizing beauty and traditionally female traits. There's a chilling "rate your fantasist" checklist in one of the chapters that includes features like "face", "gown" and "smile" as well as "kindness", "sweetness" and "obedience" (and almost nothing else; the list is conspicuous for what's not on it). This is while the same fantasists are strapped down in the evenings, imprisoned in the park itself and brainwashed continuously. And also like Girls with Sharp Sticks, there's sexual assault only slightly off-camera.

It's not hard to see where this is all coming from. Both books are about control, and in particular control over women and their bodies. You'd have to be willfully ignorant of current politics in 2019 not to see the relevance of this sort of conversation and why it's worth talking about. But there's also a strong theme of awakening and striking back against this sort of repression, particularly for and with sisters.

Overall I thought this was quite good, with a clever structure (although with a fairly obvious twist) and an interesting premise. While the scenario seems monstrous, it's worth remembering just how monstrous people can be when they don't think of their charges as human. Also, just look at that cover! ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2019 Tyler marked it as to-read

Jan 18, 2019 Susy marked it as to-read

Jun 24, 2019 Navi marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2019-releases

Dec 11, 2020 Leticia marked it as to-read

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