The Power seems to say more about gender relations than it actually does. The point it seems to make goes very little further than “the gender with the physical strength advantage will also have the advantage in society in general and thusly treat the other gender(s) like utter crap”. Its story simply does the whole “persecution flip” thing and makes women the dominant gender but seems to make no further commentary about this or the dynamic between man and woman. It just shows sexism and changes the target. At times it feels no better than a deranged redditor hurling his way onto any online discussion regarding essentially anything and shrieking “BUT WHAT IF YOU REVERSED THE GENDERS THEN IT WOULDN’T BE OKAY?!?” before collapsing into some vaguely sexist rant that involves the word “SJW” half a million times.
In its favour, The Power simply does not have time for bullshit, as quite a lot of other books that are trying to “say something” end up doing. It’s clearly written with a story in mind first, and that for the most part it succeeds in. It’s entirely possible to avoid the hackneyed and puddle-deep commentary on gender relations and simply enjoy it for what it is. There are no long pretentious scenes of “symbolism”, no elongated discussions that serve no purpose except to reinforce the book’s themes that are immensely obvious to anyone with half a braincell, no long drawn-out scenes were absolutely nothing happens. Roxy’s story is a well-constructed gangster flick, complete with a genuinely unexpected betrayal need the end. The worldbuilding is, for the most part, consistently good. The last of the book’s chapters is fantastic, a great culmination of everything the book had worked up until that point that ends with a brilliant climax. A rape scene near the end remains one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve read in years.
But even as a story, The Power still has its flaws. Staggering the book out over a decade utterly ruins any momentum. Margot just abruptly seems to leave the narrative near the end. Despite all the constant allegations of Jos’s power being “different”, I was still utterly confused as to what the difference was actually meant to be.
For all the Power’s faults, I ultimately enjoyed reading it.
7/10
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