Tag: The Power

Animal Power

On By coilerxiiIn EssayLeave a comment

Like WW3 1987, I might be doing re-reviews, only in this case of books that have nothing to do with a Fuldapocalypse. At least one worth revisiting is Naomi Alderman’s The Power, which got a TV adaptation after I got it and was one of the first diversified reviews on this blog.

The plot summary: Women gain comic book electricity powers. Because men have been JUST SO CRUEL a critical mass become “Magnetos” and not “Xaviers”, so society devolves into a power trip (pun intended) with the timeskip showing a cruel bizarro-Gor.

The gold standard for this kind of “see how power [pun also intended] corrupts and how oppressed become oppressors” is of course, Orwell’s classic Animal Farm. But whereas that was an allegory of revolution (and not just the Russian one, the name ‘Napoleon’ is very deliberate), this is kind of like if a radical vegan wrote Animal Farm and the message was how animal husbandry is inherently vile. Instead of the pigs becoming humanized, they’d turn into, I don’t know, Beastmen of Slaanesh depraved sadists, because HUMANS ARE THE REAL MONSTERS.

Unstructured Review: The Power

On By coilerxiiIn Review, Unstructured ReviewLeave a comment

Ok, now I’m really stretching things with Fuldapocalypse. I’m reading and reviewing something that’s social-commentary supernatural fiction. Even if it does involve a war.

The book is Naomi Alderman’s The Power.

So, the premise of the book is that women gain the ability to fire blasts of electricity (the way Alderman explains the origins of this power reminded me of old comic books, and I really wish she’d kept it more deliberately mysterious than she did). The most oppressed are the first and most determined to lash out, and they end up taking over the world and showing that power corrupts (hence the title).

The geopolitics are weird (A Saudi-focused Moldovan civil war?) and clearly bent to fit the story even by the standards of a world where women can become she-Electros. The depictions of every conventional armed force are cringeworthy in the limited research, even if forgivable given the author’s background. There are interludes that serve as combination infodumps and “ok, do you get it now? DO YOU GET IT NOW?” reinforcements of the point. Worst of all, the prose manages to be exceedingly dull and exceedingly pretentious at the exact same time, plodding on with every chapter feeling the same.

I can’t fault the book for wanting to have a message or make a statement. The basic messages of “people who are pushed down will push back if given the chance” and “power corrupts” are true and worth sharing, even if they’re not exactly the most profound or unknown. But it’s just so blatant and so clunkily executed that I was soured by it.

Which is a shame, because both of the concepts (women suddenly gaining a physical advantage and/or superpowers emerging regardless of the context) would make for good serious speculative fiction if done right.

(For a somewhat different opinion on this book, see author Kate Vane’s review here )