≡ PDF A Brother Price Wen Spencer 9780451460387 Books

A Brother Price Wen Spencer 9780451460387 Books

Download As PDF : A Brother Price Wen Spencer 9780451460387 Books

A Brother Price Wen Spencer 9780451460387 Books

Fascinating fantasy/post-apocalyptic SF novel where, due to a gender-linked plague, fertile male humans are a rare, precious commodity, and a female-dominated society with reversed gender roles is the result. Told mainly from the POV of the brother mentioned in the title, a teenage young man whose duty is to marry well (like a gender-flipped Regency romance) into a polygamous family whose wives will share him (NOT like a Regency romance!). POV shifts are typically to either one of the female co-wife heads of household from the protagonist's birth family, or those from the royal sisters proposing to share him as their consort. Some violence, some lust, but nothing too explicit or gory. Without the gender-role flip of the society depicted in this book's setting, this would be a typically exciting (but not necessarily memorable) fantasy adventure novel. When the gender-role-flipped society is factored in, this book becomes . . . intriguing, although perhaps a bit difficult to wrap one's head around. For older teenagers (esp. if parents are willing to read this also and discuss it with their son or daughter) and adult readers.


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A Brother Price Wen Spencer 9780451460387 Books Reviews

It's an interesting premise, kind of a riders of the purple sage meets dystopia 101, and gender flipped. It reads quickly and falls into the sweet romance category. However, there is something sociologically off about the text. The story is a bit ham-fisted about making the point of our cultural misogyny, by turning it into misandry. However, the world building was little more than a shuffling of Ottoman harem into a cultural setting that couldn't quite decide if it was Recency England or the Wild West. The only problem was the pieces didn't make a completely believable whole. Yes cultures aren't rational, but they have an internal consistency. This one didn't, and the holes it left in the plot and character development were wide enough to pilot a paddlewheeler through. Less time spent preaching, and more world building would improve the book to a 3.5 or even a 4.
The book's basic premise is that males are scarce commodities in this society. Sisters band together to form extended family groups. They share one male among the sisters. The male is cherished and protected from the outside world, and is subject to kidnapping by other women. Some males are sold into brothels were they service women looking to bear children, (preferably a scarce male child). The author tries to create a believable world where the male/female social mores and roles of our world are reversed. The women are brave, they wage war, and work outside the home. The men are delicate, decorative flowers to be cherished. Their duties include taking care of children and maintaining the household. The problem is that the male hero keeps acting like a typical male in our world. As a result, I never bought into the basic premise of the story (role reversal). The book felt like the author was trying to make a political statement. As a result, the story is preachy and not that enjoyable. I like this author, but I wish I had passed on this book.
In a world where males are rare, society has evolved so that men are precious possessions and kept sequestered for their protection. Men are kept by families of females, so men are expected to be husbands for many wives that are sisters. Families that have males sell them so that they in turn can buy a husband for their clan. The main character is a young man that rescues a young woman and only later does he find out that she is a princess. The princess and her sisters need a husband and they like their rescuer.

I like the twist of the story that males are to be pampered and protected, but have no freedom.

I did have a problem that my copy had some pages missing.
This book is set in a world vaguely resembling a cross between the Wild West, Victorian England, and the world of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmade's Tale"...but with gender roles flipped. Now it would be easy to mechanically flip gender roles across the board, but there are places where biology does make a difference. The author puts some effort into constructing a scenario where the flip makes sense. For instance, an epidemic of STDs makes an obsession with male chastity more logical. Men are rare so people are desperate for them, but STDs are rampant so a man who's "virtue" is questioned is dangerous. The main character is about to be sold to raise money to buy a husband for his sisters. He is generally OK with the concept in principle, but terrified he will be sold to the "Poor White Trash" possibly incestuous neighbor family. Then...he meets a princess. A plot ensues that could come straight out of a Regency Romance novel...but with more gun fights. Actually, at times they play the "helpless damsel" role more "straight" then most "damsels" I've encountered in contemporary fiction (which sometimes let modern feminist values creep into pseudo-Mediavil settings more then is probably realistic)
Fascinating fantasy/post-apocalyptic SF novel where, due to a gender-linked plague, fertile male humans are a rare, precious commodity, and a female-dominated society with reversed gender roles is the result. Told mainly from the POV of the brother mentioned in the title, a teenage young man whose duty is to marry well (like a gender-flipped Regency romance) into a polygamous family whose wives will share him (NOT like a Regency romance!). POV shifts are typically to either one of the female co-wife heads of household from the protagonist's birth family, or those from the royal sisters proposing to share him as their consort. Some violence, some lust, but nothing too explicit or gory. Without the gender-role flip of the society depicted in this book's setting, this would be a typically exciting (but not necessarily memorable) fantasy adventure novel. When the gender-role-flipped society is factored in, this book becomes . . . intriguing, although perhaps a bit difficult to wrap one's head around. For older teenagers (esp. if parents are willing to read this also and discuss it with their son or daughter) and adult readers.