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

[pablo10]

I agree with your assesment. If there is one major criticism I have of this book, it's the lack of major women characters. Without spoiling anything, Tysz does rectify it in the sequels though.

[Jona00baka]

Great observation. It also came to my attention to find out that female characters have not been considered just as male characters have, except for Beth. But then, other books of 'we are voulhire series' introduce major female characters who have played big roles in this series. So if the critic was that the series make male characters a priority would be more arguable. I think every write has a stlye of their own so I've got no problem with the introduction of the series.

[RachelEmmanuel]

I'm happy to read that the series features more female characters down the line. Personally I feel like a romantic interest, even in sci-fi, always makes a book more interesting. And, of course, strong female warriors rock!

[a_r_egerton]

I'm not very familiar with LotR (never really got into it), but I do think it's quite important to take note of when the books were written as well. LotR was written in the early-to-mid 1900s, when women's rights were still not quite a thing. Yeah, the main 9 in the fellowship might have been all male, but I think there were some pretty strong female characters as well, such as the lady in Rivendell and Arwen (?), which makes the work very progressive for its time. I'm quite sure We Are Voulhire was written in at least the 2000s (unless Tysz had been conceptualising it since his childhood, in which case, I'll be very impressed!)

True. The LotR books were published in the 1950s, before the women's movementof the 1960s and 1970s got underway. The dearth of female characters was thus considered both normal and acceptable. Galadriel was a powerful character, but she wasn't part of the Fellowship, and her role was that of an advisor.

Things have changed since then. A Song of Ice and Fire demonstrated that writers can use female characters as prominent POV characters in fantasy medieval settings. Martin even used children as POV characters in his saga.

On the other hand, this is just the first book in a series that is supposed to have nine books in total. As such, it set the stage for the rest of the series. I am, for now, willing to wait for Tysz to introduce major female characters in later books.

[imet123]

Even though the book hasn't portryaed any female leads, the series does so down the line. And their characters are crucial for most of the pivotal scenes in the series. This book is just an introduction to the 9-book fantasy. So, I wouldn't worry about it much right now!

My thoughts exactly, it is a long read yet, if there aren't any cogent female roles in this first book, it must be for a good reason by the author, and there are more books yet to come.

[austenfan]

I totally agreed with the justification noted above. I am unpleasantly overwhelmed by the forced feminism in books these days and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The book was a great read without too many female lead roles. Anyway for all those who just have to have manly woman read book six

[SarahShebl]

I didn't notice this at first, but now after you mentioned it was difficult to remember any female character. I think the house keeping lady who was there during the reigns of both previous Lords will have an important role in the next books.

[Ediomis_Enwongo01]

The medieval norm shouldn't be enough reason for male domination in the book. There is the introduction of female characters as one reads along with the series.

[Lucille27]

I thought about this too. Personally, I do not think that it should not portray female characters just because it has a medieval-like setting. For authors, this should be a major area of development. They could have an opportunity to approach to these characters. However, by reading the comments I was hopeful. I expect than in the next books the roles that women have might change.

[emeraldlaurice012]

Yes! I read the first three books and no women in power, at all. I understand that that was how it was in the past but a woman doesn't have to be in power to be empowered. I just wanted something else other than the usual wives and servants

[mmm17]

I'm so glad you brought this up! I felt the same. It often disappoints me when an author fails to develop female characters, and I thought this was the case here.

[Caroline Anne Richmond]

I was a little disappointed with the first books in the series as there wasn’t any female characters but I was happy some are introduced further into the series. These being strong pivotal characters. I did find the first book a little bit male heavy but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment as it was setting the scene for things to come.

[Krista Ash]

I believe the plot of a story should always be original. As a story progresses, new characters are usually introduced or eliminated. Adding a character only because of its demographic sometimes takes away from the story, as the readers can sometimes tell when a character has only been added for acclaim. I care about a reading a good book, regardless of if there are mostly female or male characters.

I agree. If a story is engaging, I generally don't mind a lack of a diverse cast. I've read books where there are are only a couple female characters who have 1 or 2 scenes at most or a casual mention, and I've really enjoyed them. I've also read books where there are a wide range of characters where the base story or writing style just isn't interesting enough. Since this book was engaging, I didn't find the lack of female characters distracting.

[Mich Cyrus]

The book is based on ancient settings, there were more male leaders than their female counterparts back in the years. Since Matthew Tysz has his "We are Voulhire" series based on such ancient times, I think that the less female leaders in the book are justified.

[Yearly Joy Besoy]

I'm not worried about this because from what I understood after reading this book, this is just the prelude of a more captivating story to come. The other characters who play an important role are not yet introduced. So I'm not worried about this story not having female characters.