352 pages
Expected publication: March 5th 2019 by Thomas Nelson
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
To Best the Boys brings into a world where women are expected to be housewives and monsters such your soul out. Let me back up.
Rhen is a girl who wants to make a difference in a society where women are oppressed. She excels in science and to find a cure for an illness that is slowly killing many, including her mother, she enters a competition (I won’t say how) and vies for a scholarship to the best university so that dream of finding a cure can be realized.
WHAT I LIKED: I loved the premise of the book. I loved the writing, and I loved Rhen. She, despite the odds against her, raged against the patriarchy and you know I love me some raging. The dialogue was witty and the characters finely sculpted. I particularly like it when girls are obsessed with the macabre. Especially dead bodies and dissecting and such. I’ve been reading quite a few of those, and I hope there’s more to satiate me.
The labyrinth portion was a fun little romp of death and magic.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: What I did not expect was to go almost halfway through the book with nothing of consequence truly happening. I get that we needed the build the world, but it seemed like overkill. The world seemed a bit thrown together, with all the strange creatures and such. I couldn’t get a grasp on it.
Overall, the book was fun and the second half made up for the first. Strong female characters and woman empowerment galore.
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