Why was Silk Fire so bad? | RANT REVIEW

[@chelsey8737]

I'm getting really really tired of books using sexual assaults and rape and things of that nature to progress the books or give their character's dimension without actually giving them any dimension. It's like all of these authors heard "we need to talk about assault and rape" and said "yeah I'll put that in my book. Look at me doing good!" Without actually doing any good

[@ladyredl3210]

OMGs, this. I’m so tired of it! It’s not like female authors write a bunch of men going off to war, and go “this is character development,”

[@taylorgayhart9497]

It’s not from a book, but I will never forget the rage inside of me when Sansa told the Hound she was happy she was abused and raped because it made her stronger and a better ruler.

[@ladyredl3210]

@@taylorgayhart9497 yeah G.R.R. Martin is not a feminist. Are we all over that phase where we thought he was one?

[@disgruntledmoderate5331]

@@ladyredl3210 Unfortunately I have seen women authors use rape and sexual assault as well. Less often then men, but still. I am so over it.

[@ladyredl3210]

@@disgruntledmoderate5331 yes they do unfortunately

[@Topdoggie7]

As a trans man hearing the author is also one takes me back to being a teenager and having misogyny because feminity was so forced upon myself. As a book editor and writer I have grown to realize that I love feminity in characters and the diversity there is and females are not me and a threat. I am deeply disappointed he didn't grow out of the internalized misogynistic thoughts due to dysphoria and hope he gets euphoria and support but this book is still bad!

[@VincentEdelstein]

Transman here too, I totally agree!

[@PirateQueen1720]

The Ursula Le Guin story 'The Matter of Seggri' is the best take on matriarchy I've seen yet. Interestingly, the first off-world observers THINK it is a patriarchy, because it looks like the men (a tiny fraction of the population) just get to play sports all day and have sex while the women do all the work. BUT it soon becomes clear that the men have no political power, they are not allowed to be educated, they can't get married (which is seen as a thing between women) or participate in raising children... The women see them as important and valuable for the continuation of the species, but also as potentially dangerous creatures who are best kept separate. And then we get to see what this does to the men psychologically, including those who are not interested in competing to have sex with women, as well as those who actually would to have (and in their mind also be) a wife. It works because it isn't just a 1:1 swap. It is built out of the odd sex ratio and the types of ideas that start to emerge from things like the average physical size difference between men and women, with the result being that some of the stereotypes applied to men are kind of the same as in our world (ie that they are physically more dangerous, that they are only interested in sex) while others are the the stereotypes patriarchy applies to women (ie that their hormones make them kinda stupid, that they are more interested in looking attractive).

[@aud7593]

ursula k le guin continues to win tbh

[@kaibaiarrio1299]

Gonna be honest finding out the author is a trans man killed me a little and it sounds like the author fell into the mra/turning dysphoria into misogyny trap Unfortunately as a teenager i fell into that trap, seeing women as a threat because of my dysphoria and getting those feelings affirmed by other men. The most helpful thing for me was cutting off my ex entirely (because they were the main source of confirmation, always painting women as evil) and realizing the world is way more complicated than my brain can comprehend and ive felt so much better about it

[@Topdoggie7]

I struggled with this so much and it's taken years but I think all trans people need to understand they're not going to be threatened by another person being a girl or boy. It's something trans people don't get enough therapy for and really needs to be helped.

[@6Shots_ofEspresso]

im glad (as another trans male) that you got out of that. i never fully fell into that trap, but before i realized my dysphoria for what it was, i was a dreaded not like other girls. i would never wish the pit of misogyny onto any one, especially trans males. for me its kind of a "dont forget where you came from" kind of thing.

[@sugarpearl9781]

That synopsis was a lot. I think I forgot every other sentence as you were reading it. It’s about a male courtesan from a matriarchal planet (city?) and he doesn’t want his dad to get political power because war(??) and then he got dragon powers?? That’s all I got 😭

[@ReadswithRachel]

RELATABLE

[@PegasusAnarchy]

It irks me when people try to use someone’s gender identity to justify something they did/do, bad writing isn’t gender specific.

[@ReadswithRachel]

And some things are just really hard to write well. Anybody from any walk of life can write a bad fictional matriarchy. It’s hard! Several cis women have done terrible jobs at it! Anybody can mess it up, and most do.

[@rose_and_thorns]

How many lizards has this person had crawling around on their body that they know exactly what their footsteps feel like?

[@TuberoseKisser]

I don't think even a lizard owner can properly describe a lizard foot.

[@maddiedoesntkno]

Hot, hot, prickly lizards

[@Topdoggie7]

It feels like a little patch of sandpaper and pressure. So I'm not sure they're okay.

[@isaiahcameron7897]

I haven’t started the video yet, and let me tell you, this comment is wild out of context.

[@chelonianmobile]

Lots of people have pet lizards.

[@Nine_Crows_Down]

A great fictional matriarchal society I've seen is the Nora, from Horizon Zero Dawn. The Nora as a whole have their flaws like any society do. But it was really interesting to see how their core beliefs are the love of a mother to a child. The heads of the Nora are the Matriarchs. You become a Matriarch by being a great great grandmother. Aloy the main character asked "So you rule when you have a bunch of kids" and a Matriarch said "Is there any other way?" Genuinely puzzled by Aloy's question. I thought the Nora was well thought out (with their customs, politics, and religious practice; their goddess being the mountain range that cradles their home land.) as well as the other tribes in the game.

[@nosyDetective]

Tbh it sucks because a lot of the critiques on "misandry", like testosterone being deemed as making men "moody" or men being expected to give their essence to their families could be a good critique of men's expectations under patriarchy, but especially trans men's experience and how TERFs fear monger on the effects of testosterone on the body.

[@bluester7177]

Was testoterone making men moody seen as misandrist? Because that seems weird to me, hormones can make anyone moody, at least in my opinion, what makes the "women are emotional" sexist is because it's seen as less than, but hormone fluctuations can fuck up any one from any gender mood.

[@aurora.lis956]

6:00 “even in a fictional matriarchy, men still have the audacity” OMG PLEASE also, ‘becoming a god whilst also getting boned’ was something i never thought i’d hear in my life oh my goodness what even is this book????? (i’m editing this as i watch so please enjoy my commentary) 12:42 okay essentially a brontosaurus is really *really* big. the average brontosaurus is measured to be about 20 metres (about 66.5 feet) and weighed somewhere around 31-38 tons. so, pretty large. 26:11 something that i despise is when authors include sexual assault without handling it with the sensitivity and care it needs. it’s such a terrible thing that so many people go through and when authors throw it in with absolutely no regard for their readers who have been affected by it it’s so icky. bonus points if it’s barely brought up again and adds nothing to the plot.

[@bebella9005]

now I need a shirt that says "oh look, I just came and became a god at the same time" but in all seriousness, even after watching this video, I still have no idea what this damn book is about

[@applebonker141]

Hard same on the shirt

[@rose_and_thorns]

"You just wanted to show women being shitty" DING DING DING DING DING

[@TheresesNook]

I listened REALLY hard to this review and i STILL have no idea what it’s about. And it just genuinely sounds like the author wanted to hate on women??? Which I’m like?? You can do that in a patriarchy? Just stick to that lol

[@ReadswithRachel]

therese i read the book and i still dont understand

[@monicadepaul6223]

The matriarchy in this book is just patriarchy with extra steps.

[@natatatm]

I hate when authors (especially male authors) take the very real centuries long trauma that women have faced and flip it around as if that does anything besides make women seem like even more of a villain than people already portray them as. It's disrespectful and really doesn't do anything in the way of clever social commentary. Edit: also, actual matriarchal societies that have existed rarely function in as brutal a way as patriarchal society has, so it's even more disrespectful under that assumption that it's making

[@Katranga]

ok but coming and becoming a god at the same time is like, objectively hilarious. i'm only 10 minutes into the vid but so far the plot sounds like it would make for a better comedy/smutty story. like some courtesan going around hating his dad but head empty of thoughts on how to stop him. bumbling in and out of situations and getting by on pure luck, and accidentally using any of the secrets he's supposed to have. seems like it would've helped if he were a himbo

[@creamoftomatosoup]

Honestly, thanks for so much for explaining the pitfalls of fictional matriarchy. I had never considered them before and I found it really interesting.

[@ignaciorlimon1]

::whispers:: the brontosaurus has been reclassified as an apatosaurus. If the author is going to be pretentious and string together a bunch of nonsense said nonsense should be accurate at least. 😂 The book sounds like a lesser (and exotified) version of the Golden Key series Melanie Rawn did some odd number of years back. Melanie’s series followed three women and explored the structure of this society through them. I remember that being good…but I was in middle school when I read her series. I think I may try to slog through this book and reread Melanie’s series this summer if I have time.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Wow my lack of dinosaur knowledge? ABYSMAL IGGY if you read this PLEASE dm me every thought you have

[@iang6848]

OK so I was watching and enjoying the review and saw this comment. This is a complex subject. Diplodocid paleontology is a contentious topic RN. (for OP's sake--diplodocids are a group of sauropods (long-necked dinosaurs that walk on all fours, they have a distinctive hand shape and adaptations for heavy-bodied life) that have long necks and tails, a narrow gait, slender build, and low skulls with small nostrils and tightly-packed peg-like teeth at the front of the snout) For about a century, the species originally named Brontosaurus excelsus was subsumed into the genus Apatosaurus (becoming Apatosaurus excelsus). However, a recent paper suggested that the species should be separated out into Brontosaurus again, along with two other poorly-understood species from around the same time and place. There were methodological issues with the study, however. basically, if you're one of the weird nerds known as "paleontologists" who like to spend our time either sweating our asses off in some desert or freezing our asses off on Ellesmere Island hoping that the designated polar-bear-looker-outer doesn't miss a polar bear (they stalk people, and they will hunt and eat you), this is like a war. Imagine team jacob vs. team edward but it's a bunch of theoretically serious people (who each spent a dozen years getting a fancy piece of paper and a title with the employment prospects of an english literature major) throwing extremely detailed and pedantic analyses of minor elements of crushed 145-million-year-old bones at each other, bickering over what differences between the 145 million year old beat up bones are enough to separate the fragmentary specimens' classifications and on what level, and accusing each other of not doing the pedantic analyses right. I love it. I'm team Brontosaurus. Fight me.

[@ayajade6683]

best part but might get reclassified back to the original due to precedent with other species and research. if you ever want to watch a fight go to a niche research field panel/conference paleontology, evolutionary biology, and animal behavior are great due to the pettiness of Dr. x per my response to your paper this is incorrect aka I @ed you bitch.

[@tananario]

@@iang6848 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@alisaurus4224]

@@ReadswithRachel apato/brontosaurs are comparable in size to a jumbo jet. Very long tail, very long neck. The “bronto” part of their original name means “thunder” because surely something that big would shake the ground when they walked!

[@MsMvsc]

13:29 Funny you mention that bc the characters in my story use both of those. I love the "bad powers, good people" or "dark is not evil" tropes

[@ReadswithRachel]

Same I LOVE shadow magic used in by people for good. It’s part of my favorite series, the imperium trilogy.

[@ariartsy9220]

I'm trying to do that too! I have two things that are considered "Dark Magic", which isn't allowed to be taught in schools. One is magic that is considered illegal, such as spells that kill, torture, raise the dead, or mind control. The other is shadow magic, such as creating shadow creatures, cloaking yourself in shadows, or making a room too dark to see. Neither type is inherently evil or wrong, shadow magic especially, but a lot of the villains have turned towards Dark Magic. However, there are villains that don't use it, and one of the main characters learns it in secret.

[@lua_ferraz]

The dream metaphor 😂😂😂 You're singlehandedly making it worth writing terrible books because this series is GOLDEN! And your explanation at the end is, as usual, perfect 💜

[@ReadswithRachel]

this is a high high compliment

[@Eloraurora]

Re: 13:39, pre-mortem necromancy immediately makes me think of _The Last Unicorn_ ("I can feel this body dying all around me!") and the fact that hair cells and the outer layers of skin are literally dead. You could do some cool combat necromancy with that information.

[@dylanholm1509]

I found you because of your Puppet and Pawn review and genuinely created a KZbin channel specifically to subscribe because I watched so many of your videos. Your descriptions and humor are everything to me! Thanks for all your great videos

[@ReadswithRachel]

This means so much to me! Thank you Dylan!

[@dnatsrednUouYoD]

The fuq... is this blurb an entire book itself? I kept thinking it was over and it wasn't 😂

[@ReadswithRachel]

It was such a long synopsis yet made no sense

[@arjay1016]

The one thing that I keep sticking on is the father walking the groom down the aisle. If you are doing patriarchy flipped, shouldn't the mom be walking him down the aisle as the head of household to give him away?

[@cloverboyblue]

sometimes, I think, the device of "oppressor and oppressed switch places" (such as the matriarchy here) is intended as sort of an eye-opener to ignorant people, a sort of-- these things happen to women every day, so they're normalised, but here's an example of them being done to men so that they seem jarring and make you think about it. I don't know if that was the intention with this book, and it doesn't make the matriarchy make sense, but it is a possible explanation behind that device.

[@melodye14]

It seems like from those excerpts the author just tried to flip sexist things women face now and attribute them to men, without considering the fact the current patriarchy provides the sexism that both men and women face. I wonder if the author even researched other examples of fictional matriarchies before writing or looked into real matriarchies. Doesn't seem likely.

[@rose_and_thorns]

I also get amorous when I'm around mud and rubble.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Nothing sets the mood quite like it

[@irinameri3492]

Melanie Rawn has an unfinished series about a harmful matriarchy. I haven't reread it in decades because she's never going to finish it but I recall it being pretty thoughtful.

[@molliethomas2585]

I read her Exiles series a long time ago, too. I loved it and to this day wish she would just go back and finish the damn thing. That cliff hanger she left us on should be fucking illegal!

[@irinameri3492]

@@molliethomas2585 for real!!!! She's written other stuff since but it's not as interesting imo.

[@ashmusing6118]

@@molliethomas2585 IIRC, she can't go back to that world due to bad associations with an horrific depressive episode she had. Which, I get!! Her mental health > writing a book. But oh, that cliff-hanger.

[@LocDBooktician]

Your description of patriarchy was 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@ReadswithRachel]

Thanks Bre 💕🥺

[@sofiastj]

The only reason I know how large a brontosaurus is is because we sang a song comparing brontosauruses (?) to a bus and that has been the only thing I ever took with me

[@goldglitterglam]

Thank you for this video, you are a trooper for even getting to 64%

[@ReadswithRachel]

It was as close as I’ll ever get to running a 5k lmao

[@BookmarkChronicles]

This is by far my favorite series that you do

[@ReadswithRachel]

I am best served salty

[@leyacer]

Okay, so, I bought this book myself this summer. I had never heard of it and didn't know anything about the drama that apparently surrounds the author. I just thought the premise sounded neat. I tend to give stories a LOT of leeway, and while reading Silk Fire, I was often confused and noticed I had to do a lot of work myself in figuring out how the world works and what's even happening in a given moment. However, I always thought to myself "Eh, I probably wasn't just paying attention, I'll figure it out eventually". That never really happened, but I kept coasting along, letting everything just kinda wash over me, occasionally raising an eyebrow but expecting it to make sense at some point. Then I checked the goodreads reviews, particularly some negative ones which picqued my curiosity, and when I continued reading the book I went "Oh, this IS badly written, actually. It wasn't just me not paying attention." I did manage to finish it (the climax was a MESS) and put it on my shelf of shame, never to be read again. It's mostly good for mocking at this point, and hearing you talk about it like this is a funny look back at it.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Lol I’m happy to be of service 🤣

[@ariwhite2548]

Recently found your channel and love your thoughtful and insightful reviews. I really enjoyed this video, and I think you made a lot of great points. As a trans gay man, I think I can clear up some of the weirdness of this book (based solely on your review; I haven’t read it lol). So, before you mentioned that the author is a trans man, I figured that this was actually a niche genre erotica in the trappings of fantasy. Female domination and role-reversal is for sure a kink, one that the uncritical and unpolished portrayal of matriarchy could play to. The interplay of religion and religious iconography with sexuality is also a big kink. And the most damning, I think, is the idea of “essence” being shared through sexual acts, which is incredibly reminiscent of erotic mlm visual novels (if you know, you know). Learning that the author is a trans man made a lot of other pieces fall into place. That knowledge makes this read a lot more like a cathartic exercise in emotional expression, where it’s just the raw feelings, unprocessed and unexamined, poured onto the page. The portrayal of the matriarchy as a simple 1:1 swap of patriarchy could very much be the author’s feelings on how he was treated as someone AFAB, how femininity and gender stereotypes were enforced by women, and experiencing patriarchy primarily as something wielded by women against those who don’t conform to conventional femininity. This is unprocessed emotion and trauma, and it’s wrapped in the familiar and comforting - visual novel tropes, fantasy, dinosaurs, etc - all applied haphazardly and without nuance just to make it approachable for the author. It’s a method of allowing the author to broach the subject at all in a way that feels safe for him. That may also be why a lot of the ideas and descriptions are disjointed and don’t make sense - this is a personal piece, almost like an unconscious exercise for the author to begin reconciling with past trauma. It is, in other words, a cope. I don’t think this ever should’ve been published. Like, props to the author for being able to bare his soul so honestly to the world, but it’s clear that his journey is long from over, and he really shouldn’t be putting something like this out publicly. It’s unfair to himself, and it’s definitely unfair to readers who expect a fantasy book and end up with a hardback traumadump. That’s my two cents on the matter, anyway. Again, haven’t read the book, just basing this off information in the video, so I could be totally off-base. I have a lot of empathy for the author - it sounds like he’s really struggling with some complicated emotions, but a novel like this is not the place for it, at least not in this form.

[@ReadswithRachel]

I appreciate this!

[@asherscott3151]

Its funny how when people criticize works like Ninth House (that are sitting on shelves in target) they get told "this book wasn't written for you", but the same doesn't apply to a clearly highly niche work like this one. The second I heard the author was trans, the matriarchy concept immediately made sense as the author's personal experience of discrimination by cis women. Getting told to act more feminine is the textbook trans man experience

[@marymauney3235]

All the representation in the world can't make shitty writing better. I too have felt the pain of reading something that had all the stuff I SHOULD love in it but done so bad. A special sort of hell.

[@user-kt3zv1cm5j]

I love your style of reviews ❤ each to their own of course but for me the fact that you don't quote the text that much is heaven, like I'm way more here to listen to you be funny and thoughtful about the book, than I am to get second-hand embarrassment over bad writing 😂 And I just have to get real deep for a second, because this book is like... EXACTLY the vibe of the (nasty and inexcusable) phase I went through as a teen / young adult, starting to understand myself as a trans man, where everything became rejecting femininity while unknowingly projecting all these raised-as-female experiences onto male characters. Every single piece of writing I did from the ages of about 16 - 22 was unknowingly obsessed with the 'manhood' I aspired to, being made to experience the fears and indignities of the 'womanhood' I'd grown up in. And it's sexism all the way down babyyy

[@MrRorosuri]

Was looking forward to it. And Then I received a netgalley arc. I dnf 10 pages in.

[@CalvinChikelue]

Lol I have actually experienced the exact situation you mention of waking up to see your spectacular dream journal notes are just outright nonsense. In Zane’s case it seems that dream was highly erotic on top of being absolute gobbledygook

[@christiegreenwood2642]

As someone who remembers the 90s, I can tell you that fantasy usually made sense. Anecdotal evidence, but still.

[@NEKO-mw9id]

19:02 am I crazy or did that actually imply that it’s better to assault your cat then be gay?

[@charlieh1427]

WAIT I THINK SO WHAT

[@adrianghandtchi1562]

I do appreciate the insights on complex power structures.

[@eldrichnemo9312]

A story about a courtesan who decides he's going to cluelessly charge headlong into politics for the sole reason of stopping his dad from getting a job could be a hilarious story. It's too bad Ellor was too invested in dumping all his half-formed ideas into one book instead of taking time to world build.

[@tenmiceinacoat4804]

im dying over how this book is so pretentious but also references an imaginary dinosaur (the brontosaurus is not a real dinosaur. the only remains ever identified as such were in actuality apatosaurus remains, so the species never even existed lol) also this review is kinda old but wowiwow i love it you articulate so many difficult concepts well i love the way you discuss the patriarchy and how very rooted in history it is and how it exists to serve a specific kind of person. you do well what this book didnt by bringing nuance and historical context into the conversation its really wonderful. will absolutely be checking out that book you recommended

[@n3mo1123]

ahh the unfortunate "misogyny as gender affirmation" phase that so many of us trans men go through... pray it doesn't last long enough for a sequel

[@9gagHasMySoul]

Why is his name the ancient greek word for women/daughter??

[@ReadswithRachel]

Great question

[@Waifu_Domo]

Is this author trolling or what? These quotes from the book oozes trolling to me and I also burst into hysterical laughter from them

[@ReadswithRachel]

Unfortunately he’s absolutely serious

[@Waifu_Domo]

@@ReadswithRachel 😬 yikes

[@natesmith6871]

Man, that synopsis sounds like a short story you'd write in middle school

[@cozy_kelpie]

@12:43 Old review, but to answer your question, a brontosaurus is about the size of a bus. Only taller. I don't know why I remember that.

[@jacobbesler3214]

Each separate sentence of the synopsis has enough twists and world building for a better author to make a whole book

[@BoReads]

This author smoked a suitcase full of crack before his fingers hit the keyboard..

[@BE-ew2pt]

I'm convinced this book is a prank. What do you MEAN there are dinosaurs?

[@ReadswithRachel]

I wish I had an explanation for you lmao

[@SymphonicElectric]

My head hurts just from those excerpts, I don't think I would've made it even halfway through this book jfc

[@ELoouise323]

I went to regular ass public school and I couldn’t tell you how big a brontosaurus is!

[@fathleen3441]

I just found your content, but I love it.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Thanks for watching!

[@saintable22]

The only book series I've read with a convincing and solid matriarchy was the Aes Sedai in the wheel of time. Definitely an interesting probe into how power dynamics would work in a world where women are literally most powerful.

[@foxesofautumn]

I mean the Aes Sedai have literal power, as in magic, while men don’t but they’re also mistrusted, the non-Aes Sedai women are certainly not elevated socially and the gender dynamics are mostly “boys are daft” and “girl... you know how they are!” I’m going to say having an insular group of women with power, but limited political influence and even weaker social influence, is not the same as a matriarchy.

[@frostykzink]

THANK YOU for the bit about racism toward the end. All too often, I see Americans try to have a nuanced discussion about global racism, but they do it from a purely American perspective. And while we are far from the only country that has a racism problem, racism in America is not the same as racism in many other countries (beyond the broad strokes that define what racism is). Even in other white-dominant countries, racism is a different beast. Discussing all racism as if it's the same as racism in America is really a huge disservice to victims in other places because it doesn't address the problems unique to their countries or experiences.

[@polymphus]

There's a TV show called Creamerie set in a dystopian matriarchy that's really good, and it's good because it's actually been thought out what that means and would look like rather than just flipping patriarchy on its head. All the men died in a plague and a trio of women run a dairy farm. A matriarchal cult have control over the local supply of uh ... baby batter, and they get to choose who can become pregnant, which means they can enforce their desired social norms, which are built around fitting in, being a good team player, you wouldn't want to let your *friends* down would you? There's an early scene where an official from the cult interrogates one of the farmers, who is less traditionally feminine, to see whether she has any subversive ideas she might've been communicating to the other women, and it plays out half like the opening of Inglorious Basterds and half like Mean Girls, and the Mean Girl-ness is kind of the secret sauce that makes it feel real? This is how women would oppress other women, this is how they'd enforce hierarchy, through exclusion and belittling, through whispers behind hands, through coded insults said with a smile. It's an Empire of "sorry honey, you're not invited." Silk Fire never had that thought, it just went "what's happening now, then flip it and reverse it"

[@danielbroome5690]

It's a fine line when creating a matriarchy, I think Robert Jordan did a good-decent job of it. I don't disagree fully with what the author said (and you agree in the video), but it wouldn't just be a straight up inversion where everything was identical except swap the genders, it has to be done more subtlety, for art's sake alone if nothing else. But the basic point he addresses is fair in isolation because some people do legitimately think that it would be inherently better. I feel like based on the description that this author just made it WAY too 1:1 directly compared and laid it on way too thick. Jordan was good in this regard because it was more of a light touch on it. Women being more represented in institutions, casual sexism displayed by all the female characters about how infantile men are and how they need to be guided to the correct decision etc. Just overall a much better and more nuanced approach. Not to mention, there was a very good and logical cultural/historical reason that it happened that lead to that sociological development, the breaking of the world specifically being a male-centric event where they all went mad, and society built upon those prejudices over 3000 years and granted generational institutional power more to women than to men.

[@mrspreminger]

I kind of hate the idea that “oh the author is a trans man so you can’t get mad at him” because even though he experienced misogyny when he presented as a woman, he is a man and toxic masculinity affects trans men too.

[@MrRorosuri]

If you don't see me gushing about books on Twitter. I either have not read it or I HATE it

[@sleepy.timaeus.arts.]

12:52 i didnt grow up in a Christian creationism school and i dont even know what a bronto is 😭 i dont even really know how big any dinosaurs are supposed to be

[@teddyblu5745]

Idk if you've had many comments about this, but the thing about women choosing to conceive when they want confuses and annoys me. Are you saying that even without a condom women can just go, ' no, I don't really feel like having a baby today, so let's just not', is this an abortion thing? I'm, not tracking.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Right?! I’m so weirded out by him writing that and I just don’t get it

[@ledafrost]

Great video, especially your closing comments!

[@ReadswithRachel]

Thank you ♥️♥️♥️

[@samantaluna3870]

You ripping these Tiktok books apart makes me hope one day you might rip me a new one too. 😂

[@ReadswithRachel]

Who me?! 😈

[@mysteriousdicegoblin751]

The only good matriarchy that I've seen in media was in Horizon Zero Dawn. The game took the time to develop the logic behind it and related it to the plot as a whole with life/women/motherhood/familial lines/parental relationships. It was clever about the pros and cons of the society as well. It wasn't just an uno reverso card.

[@TheRPGNerd]

I mean yes, courtesans were very highly regarded, being very trusted figures, but... Fun fact the other most trusted figures in monarchy were *court jesters* sorry I just find that insanely funny. Best ways to get info is to be funny or have sex??? ALSO YEA POLYAM REP IS AMAZING. I see a trio of characters that all have chemistry and go "for me?"

[@Kaynighthood]

10:30 you made me literallly laugh out loud 🤣 Ive done this so many times

[@roselover411]

You know with the nuance you understand patriarchy, i am so curious what your take would be on the Drow culture in the DND world.

[@annalisaslibrary]

Excellent explanation!

[@ReadswithRachel]

Thank you so much! I’m glad I made sense lmao

[@vinnyoz4709]

Oh hell yeah you read in OpenDyslexic! More reading apps need to use it. 😢also I grew up in a science family so I went to so many museums growing up. I also have no idea how large a brontosaurus is.

[@ReadswithRachel]

I LOVE opendyslexic it helps me so much. I wish my Bluefire reader app had it!

[@cam4636]

I came here for roasting stupid books but I stayed for the rant about sexism

[@MrRorosuri]

The language and naming don't make sense . It looks and reads like keyboard smashes

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

My recomendation to anybody that doesn't know how big a brontosaurus was, is to go to a museum and see the skeletons. Dinosaur lovers will read a variation of "brontosaurus were the biggest animals to ever walk over the Earth" hundreds of times during their lives, but most of us will only understand the real meaning of those words once we see the remains of a brontosaur in person... It's a magical experience (Also I'm not sure "brontosaurus" is still considered the correct name of that species, because if I recall correctly, the first skeleton the 19th Century archeologists found was headless so they put the skull of a different dinosaur in it)

[@sarahouillette1357]

As someone who has a little brother who is SUPER into dinosaurs, I can assure you Rachel that Brontosaurus *does not even exist* (sorry if that came out as rude). It actually was an Apatosaurus who had a Camarasaurus scull (both are long-necked dinosaurs) that was made by a very hasty paleontologist. Hope that clears part of the dinosaur thing up!

[@ruplayinggame3080]

aaaaah! this sounds immensely frustrating (but I did immediately add In the Ravenous Dark to my TBR, Ițm always looking for some good non monogamy rep). I think the only matriarchy that I read and worked for me (it was years ago, I have grown as a reader and feminist and so I never know fully) was the one in NK Jemisin's Ten Thousand Kingdoms, the specific kingdom the main character came from. But last year I also read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's short story The Visit, which was rather terrible. It was a simple gender flip, which made absolutely no sense, Adichie just switched out the gender roles and called it a day, no exploration or examination, just like: what if men, who still had the same bodies as men, had to deal with all the stuff women deal with, but because of no reason, cause I want to.

[@shammydammy2610]

I guess ecumenopolis is too big a word to use in this book? And what brilliant names for the districts. How very original.

[@GrayYeonWannabe]

re: the matriarchy aspect- as a trans man, i may have some insight into why he wrote it the way he did. i grew up experiencing misogyny directed at me, but internalizing it in a way that women dont. for example: i experienced a lot of shaming & bullying bc of facial hair & hairy arms & legs as early as elementary school. i feel disgusted by the idea of myself having facial hair & am grossed out by body hair on men. does that make sense? i'm not saying he did a good job, just trying to be helpful in maybe explaining why he would do "patriarchy, but flipped" for a matriarchy

[@SarahAbramova]

I did not grow up in a religious school and even watched Dinosaur Train. I literally don't remember how tall a brontosaurus is, I just know they're really tall. Google says 28 ft, but because they had really long necks, could reach lengths from 72 to 85 feet.

[@noelkempster]

You know what other phenomenal sex worker character deals in secrets? Finnick Odair.

[@84yourface]

Omg the mansplaining guy on tiktok! I love him! Also this book sounds horrific and I thank you for your service 😅

[@ReadswithRachel]

Thanks for watching! 💕

[@WillParkforcheese]

Hey I just stumbled upon your channel and I have a recommendation for a well written matriarchy. It’s Sci Fi and I’m not sure if that’s your thing. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I highly recommend listening to the audio book because it’s an experience.

[@ReadswithRachel]

I'll check it out! I love scifi

[@NEKO-mw9id]

15:03 omg imma begin comparing stuff to liards footsteps, that’s amazing, I can’t 😂

[@danielbroome5690]

Ya, that outfit description was pretty rough, the only bits i'm stuck on is the aluminum rays/wedges, but I assume they mean ray as in ray of sunlight which indicates some sort of aluminum wedges hanging down off the skirt providing protection, similar to the stereotypical frilled Roman Tunics you see. The rest made sense though, but I feel like the average reader wouldn't know what the fuck Electrum is, I only know because i'm a fucking nerd.

[@mplbooks]

Oh, I wonder if this is the same Z. Ellor that I just read a forthcoming book by? (The one I read was on Netgalley; I did a review on my YT, but it's not out 'til December.)

[@ReadswithRachel]

I think he has a sapphic book coming out this year!

[@ALittleMagpie]

It's a shame because the premise sounds super good (at the very least, I would love to read how it's done) but it does sound SUPER TIRESOME.

[@degenerate66]

OH boy, having not read the book at all, and just going by your description of it... I am about 85-90% confident this is a book about a man's Dungeon's and Dragon's character .. in an actual DnD Lore and Magic system. The comment about it being from 90s, the dragons that shapeshift into human, but they're also dead and gone. The necromancy is a category of magic for wizards in Dungeons and Dragons, but ALSO a type of damage that other can inflict (necrotic) also, in general, the misandry that tries to hide by having a veneer of matriarchal structure REEKS of the stereotypical DnD bad player. (I know I'm months late, but I've been binging your videos since I had you randomly recommended 2 days ago)

[@taylorgayhart9497]

The fact that people don’t understand that women can be misogynistic, it’s so frustrating to me!!!!!

[@Drakochannojutsu]

I hate hate hate when people take the idea and make a matriarchy but it's just patriarchy with women instead....

[@bj71000]

A similar attempt at a role swap of oppressor and oppressed is the book Save the Pearls.

[@BlakliteLuminus]

Hi, Rachel! If you're still on the hunt for believable depictions of matriarchal societies in fantasy, might I suggest the graphic novel series Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. Warning: The content is quite mature and graphic at times.

[@mandicruz912]

I legitimately cannot stop laughing 😅😅😅

[@TheJediMazter]

I'm about 10 minutes into the video and so far it sounds like this author tried to sit down with Suzanne Collins and mansplain to her what Hunger Games was actually about but for some reason?!?! she just wouldn't listen so he wrote a book of it instead

[@01tripl3]

If you like necromancy, you should check out the Locked Tomb series if you haven't already! It's my favorite :)

[@ReadswithRachel]

i read book one and i like it!

[@WaitinInAmber]

3:25 Does anyone have the link to this TikToker she was talking about? I searched through the description and comments but I can’t find it

[@ReadswithRachel]

It’s this guy: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRn5sTwg/

[@sillyd0g]

a big problem i have with the way this book portrays a matriarchy is that it's entirely derivative of real-life gender roles under patriarchy, which makes no goddamn sense for a world where there isn't a patriarchy. the whole "be softer" thing especially bothers me because it implies being soft and delicate is a trait that's just like biologically inherent to women rather than something that stems from the patriarchal gender roles that women have had drilled into us for most of human history. it makes no sense and it also comes across like you were either too lazy or not imaginative enough to do the amount of worldbuilding that a high concept fantasy setting like this requires. plus whenever a matriarchy is written like that it just comes across to me like some mra shit and this book is no exception

[@lrae9519]

6:38 what's the book mentioned here?

[@ambrose6333]

Hey I’m new to your channel and I’m loving your vids! Just wanted to say you should totally check out the Locked Tomb series. It’s got butch rep, queer leads, necromancy, and is technically a scifi. Definitely a great read

[@ReadswithRachel]

So funny enough… I have read book one and gave it four stars. But if you asked me to tell you what happened I couldn’t tell you lol I just remember having a good time with it!

[@artemisvoltaire4743]

...He used one of only a handful of dinosaurs that never existed. Anyone who's Googled the Brontosaurus (as you assume an author might) or grew up a dino kid like I did would know that. During the Bone Wars, Othniel Marsh knowingly combined bones from two similar dinosaurs to be able to name and "discover" a new species before his colleague Edward Drinker Cope. We found this out and reclassified the majority of the fossil as an Apatosaurus in 1905. Marsh also destroyed invaluable finds to keep his rival from getting to them first, some species we've never found again in the century and a half since. So bringing up a Brontosaurus in your published book and not looking like an idiot is only possible if you want to have a conversation about awful people taking advantage of a young field of study to make themselves rich and respected, getting recognized much more than the contributions women made to the field of study, and talk about toxic entrenced patriarchy and why we talk about them today with anything less than contempt. Which I would be totally here for! But no, he just wanted to use the easy abbreviation "Bronto." 🙄

[@olayceesay2538]

This book doesnt focus on matriarchy but it does have a good one in ny opinion, its call the rage of dragons by evan winters and is based on african matriarchies before colonization

[@duddledeedo]

Me with my matriarchy based on drow society in DnD 👀