The book involves only a few female characters: Is it justified?

Use this forum to discuss the October 2020 Book of the month, "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.
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Re: The book involves only a few female characters: Is it justified?

Post by Faithy_Goody_Star »

I noticed this! And I was a tad disappointed and I feel I would have enjoyed the book better if there were many female characters. However, the author developed the major male characters well and they were really interesting to read.
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Post by NovaFly »

In my opinion the book would definitely have benefited from some strong female characters, and the medieval setting is not an excuse for the lack of them.
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Post by Ndiviwe »

In my opinion, the reason does justify the lack of female leads and I does mind that there aren't any females in the first or second installment of the series. However, I would be very offended if they didn't introduce any females down they line.
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Post by Pistorious »

That was a critical observation you made, thank you. In my opinion, the series has just started and the plot will develop deeper. I believe the author has used very few female characters purposefully. Although they are the minority, the female characters are unique in the role they play in the story development.
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Post by EReid »

I think the book would have been better with more female characters. That being said, I feel the author went with quality over quantity for his female characters. The females in the story were very strong characters, I thought.
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Post by Olgamiell »

I'd love it if the series had more well-developed, strong female characters. I've read two volumes so far, and unfortunately, most women are briefly mentioned, and usually not in the best light. Or they are portrayed as a background for men's often barbaric behavior. I don't find the setting of the books to be medieval as such, but rather merely inspired by those ages, so I don't think that's the reason. Nevertheless, I love the author's writing style and I find his male characters to be coherent and well-developed, so I hope that there will be at least some more important female characters in the rest of the series.
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Post by Rayah Raouf »

It doesn't bother me much, but it would be nice to see a balance. If there was a female character among the trio, I think the relationship between the boys would be different. The comfort they have now would not be the same if there were a female.
Other than that, it would be nice to see females in different aspects.
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Post by Vivian Jabeya »

aaurba wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 05:08 When I was reading the book, I noticed that there are no major female characters involved in the storyline. The protagonist, the protagonist's friends, Voulhire's leader, Riva Rohavi's leader, Hillport's leader, and the magical antagonist are all males. Many people say that given the book's medieval setting, it is only common that the book also follows medieval norms: decreased roles for women and bigger roles for men.

What is your opinion on this? Does the above explanation completely justify the book's lack of female main characters?
I totally agree with you. This book has very few female characters. There are only four female characters: Beth, the servant in the palace, Charlotte and her daughter. However, these females play a significant role. The servant in the palace is portrayed as a strong survivor. Charlotte is an amazing woman who wanted to work hand in hand with her husband, Lord Eldus, to improve Hillport. We learnt about Voulhire's history through the questions that Charlotte's daughter asked. Beth's situation clearly depicts the there is a relationship between the physical world and magical world.
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Post by iammiape »

aaurba wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 05:08 When I was reading the book, I noticed that there are no major female characters involved in the storyline. The protagonist, the protagonist's friends, Voulhire's leader, Riva Rohavi's leader, Hillport's leader, and the magical antagonist are all males. Many people say that given the book's medieval setting, it is only common that the book also follows medieval norms: decreased roles for women and bigger roles for men.

What is your opinion on this? Does the above explanation completely justify the book's lack of female main characters?
I agree that there were significance difference in the number of male and female characters in this book. But, although there are only two female characters that we'll see in the next books, their characters are very crucial since they, Beth and Beverly, are knowledgeable about Caromentis. Also, I'm unsure if it's because they are only the two among three female characters that I find their persona striking.
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Post by Mason Garrod »

I don't feel that it was very justified, because even the few female characters that were in the story, received almost no attention. Charlotte didn't get a single scene from her perspective and was given nothing to do on an individual level, and Isla was consistently sidelined and underused while all the narrative attention and characteristics were spent on Marshus instead. Beverly is interesting but as of the first book, she was barely explored at all, and Beth has only just really entered the narrative. I wouldn't have minded the lack of women as much if the ones we did have were given as much attention as the men
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Post by Josephe-Anne »

The book's setting isn't strictly medieval. There are modern and steampunk elements mixed into it as well. So, that explanation doesn't fully convince me. Maybe it was simply an oversight. Or perhaps the strong females will come into play later, in another installment of the series.
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Post by Abi McCoy »

aaurba wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 05:08 What is your opinion on this? Does the above explanation completely justify the book's lack of female main characters?
In my opinion, it doesn't. It's also a work of fantasy with magic, so we should be able to make believe that females can have important roles in a pseudo-medieval society!
I disliked the paucity of meaningful female characters. And the female characters that were included were either incidental or were hypersexualized through phrases like "...her potential was practically leaking down those long legs." It definitely detracted from the story for me.
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Post by Akshobhya B »

Yes, unfortunately, there aren't a lot of female characters. It was sad to see Lord Eldus' wife and daughter getting killed by the Riva Rohavi. But, there is a strange girl who appears from Caromentis "the magic universe" in front of Merdorath while he's imprisoned at Lorcia's Isle.
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Post by Aashu Chaudhary »

I think you are right about the fact of being most of the leaders as female. But just like Eldus daughter and wife, the head servant plays a very curious role in the storyline. And we definitely but ignore Beth. I mean she is the only character(both in males and females) who can cross from one world to another.
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Post by Mayang Bature »

Given the time of the story, I think even in the real world, there was a little female involvement. Personally, I don't find that odd but let's see what the author has in mind.
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