I purchased this book after I read an effusive review on Tor.com, and it was indeed as special as the reviewer claimed. It's a neat subversion of standard portal fantasy tropes to have the protagonist be the *second* person to visit the fantasy world, and to have to clean up the first person's mess. Unlike with, say, Lev Grossman's The Magicians, there's nothing snide or nasty about the way Meadows plays with classic fantasy tropes; any it's heart this is a very traditional story about heroes having to band together to overthrow an evil king.
What makes this book such a great read is the amount of effort that Meadows put into building her world. There are more than enough little details, from slang to food to clothing, to make this world feel real. But what really shines is how carefully Meadows seems to have thought through the sociological implications of what makes her world different. It's a matriarchy, and it's more sexually open, but that doesn't mean it's a feminist paradise. The world still has prejudice and injustice and bad people. Meadows has built a world that feels like it developed organically from a different set of base assumptions than our world did; but it's still a world of imperfect humans.
None of that worldbuilding would matter of course if the story and characters weren't great, and they are. The plot moves along at a brisk clip, with just the right balance between action, dialogue, description and exposition. The characters are vivid and differentiated. The main protagonist is easy to sympathise with, and her reactions are believable (which is often a problem in portal fantasies *cough*Thomas Covenant*cough*).
There are a few problems with the book; minor niggles really. There are some egregious cases of infodumping, especially near the start. It's kinda justified in-story, but they still feel like "As you know Bob..." moments. Some of the characters are written to sound much older and MUCH wiser than they are supposed to be. Also, the way Meadows tries to address some problematic tropes and work social justice issues into the dialogue or thoughts is inelegant. All of these problems, especially the last one, are easily to overlook because the book wears it's heart on its sleeve from the first page.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for some classic fantasy adventure in a new and unique world.
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