Aaaand, it’s done. Female Writers’ Month is complete.
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, a brief summary; I recently realised that I had read way, way more male authors in my reading career (vis; my entire life from when I was about 5 years old and literate) than I had female ones. In order to redress this balance, I decided I’d spend an entire month this summer, one where I was away and thus had lots of free reading time, reading novels written only by female writers. In the end, Female Writers’ Month went from the start of July to the end of August (become two months because logic) and in that time, I’ve read books, reviewed some and even got my blog noticed by Helen Lowe and Aliette De Bodard, who are two actual writing people! Actual writing people who actually write!
In total, I read 11 books, which were:
- Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City by Gwendolyn Leick
- The Obsidian and Blood Tril0gy by Aliette De Bodard
- Spirit by Gwyneth Jones
- The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
- Theirs not to Reason Why: A Soldier’s Duty by Jean Johnson
- Heir of Night and Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe
- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
- Frankenstein or: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
And for the top 5 shortlist, my favourite books were:
5: Spirit
Despite some confusing and slightly obtuse worldbuilding techniques and a slow start, Gwyneth Jones’ science fiction novel was ultimately a highly compelling tale of redemption and pacifist retribution. There are some very interesting ideas in the novel, especially when it comes to travel and alien species, its subverting of the tropes based around a quest for revenge made it a very interesting read.
4: The Voyage Out
Normally, I don’t usually go in for ‘old’ novels, and at times the prose in Woolf’s first novel, written before she started her more experimental writing, got a little too dry for my tastes, but it had a cast of interesting characters who were involving enough for me to become invested in; even with the somewhat meandering story, I still found it a highly compelling read.
3: The Heir of Night/The Gathering of the Lost
For a full review of Heir of Night, you’ll want this post here. If you want a full review of The Gathering of the Lost, you’ll want this post over here. If you can’t be bothered to read them, my thoughts can be summed up as thus; all of it’s fantasy stuff that you’ve seen before, but excellently written and damn near perfect.
2: Frankenstein or: The Modern Prometheus
Mary Shelley’s world-famous story of a mad scientist and the iconic monster he creates, I found this gothic tale-within-a-tale-within-a-tale to be absolutely delightful to read, layered with atmosphere and richly detailed. The highlight for the novel for me was, without a doubt, the tragic and pitiful figure of Frankenstein’s eloquent monster, the second-most compelling anti-hero I’ve ever read, topped only by Saga’s The Will.
1: Obsidian and Blood
A full review of the Obsidian & Blood trilogy can be found here, but in brief: It’s fucking awesome. It has great characters, a brilliant and original world that is constructed excellently and fascinating storylines packed with mystery, intrigue and politics. Even with some of the tough competition, the Obsidian & Blood trilogy stands out as indisputably the best thing I read throughout Female Writers’ Month(s).
Verbal Fisticuffs 