by Gabrielle Korn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The concept and ideas in Yours for the Taking, of how humanity might respond once Earth became (largely) inhabitable is well done here. The set-up and political intrigue of a purely feminine (identifying as or born as female) community is intriguing. In Yours for the Taking we span 20+ years to see how things might develop and what it might be like for a new generation to grow up in an indoor only environment.
The issues crop up when it comes to the set-up of the Inside (as it’s called) construction. While the plot, societal commentary, and characters are solid; the actual set-up of the Inside seems quite flawed for me. If you can overlook many of the logistical challenges of how the Inside is maintained then there is lots to like here. However, if you might get caught up on how the Inside manages to have endless fresh water and clean air, or how specific nutrients (like Vitamin D or UV from the sun) and other elements that humans need from the outdoors (not including food as that is addressed) are garnered then you may be frustrated by the lack of details. I had to get over lacking explanations about certain logistics of the indoor space (and its existence for 20+ years.
That said, I was able to largely ignore the bad scientific explanations and instead focus on the social commentary because the philosophical discussions and focus are very engaging. I especially liked that this is the first dystopian book I can think of that actually addresses how the trans community might adapt (or ‘qualify’) in a selected society. As well as handles the range of different sexual preferences in humans. With a large focus on the lesbian lead characters you almost forget there are heterosexual women in this little community (which kind of brings up another issue of where they get their pleasure from; but that’s just another oversight in the end). For me, as a bisexual woman, I could adapt to this environment; although I do wonder what a straight woman might say about living in this environment (or the idea of it at least).
At the end of the day I did enjoy this read. It starts a bit dull but definitely ramps up and intrigued me throughout. I’d have liked the narrative to go back to the plight of the women who could not bear a child (same as myself) but understand there is a lot that could have been analyzed here but might have bogged the overall key story down. If you love dystopian social commentary this one is definitely for you. It focuses on the corruption power can have, and that we need more than one person’s ideological set-up to be truly successful. If you want some extreme feminism ideals, and have ever imagined a world of only women (biological or identifying as) then this might be an interesting read for you. I’m glad to have read it and will recommend it out for some who will find the sociological context interesting; but it’s definitely not going to be for everyone.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The concept and ideas in Yours for the Taking, of how humanity might respond once Earth became (largely) inhabitable is well done here. The set-up and political intrigue of a purely feminine (identifying as or born as female) community is intriguing. In Yours for the Taking we span 20+ years to see how things might develop and what it might be like for a new generation to grow up in an indoor only environment.
The issues crop up when it comes to the set-up of the Inside (as it’s called) construction. While the plot, societal commentary, and characters are solid; the actual set-up of the Inside seems quite flawed for me. If you can overlook many of the logistical challenges of how the Inside is maintained then there is lots to like here. However, if you might get caught up on how the Inside manages to have endless fresh water and clean air, or how specific nutrients (like Vitamin D or UV from the sun) and other elements that humans need from the outdoors (not including food as that is addressed) are garnered then you may be frustrated by the lack of details. I had to get over lacking explanations about certain logistics of the indoor space (and its existence for 20+ years.
That said, I was able to largely ignore the bad scientific explanations and instead focus on the social commentary because the philosophical discussions and focus are very engaging. I especially liked that this is the first dystopian book I can think of that actually addresses how the trans community might adapt (or ‘qualify’) in a selected society. As well as handles the range of different sexual preferences in humans. With a large focus on the lesbian lead characters you almost forget there are heterosexual women in this little community (which kind of brings up another issue of where they get their pleasure from; but that’s just another oversight in the end). For me, as a bisexual woman, I could adapt to this environment; although I do wonder what a straight woman might say about living in this environment (or the idea of it at least).
At the end of the day I did enjoy this read. It starts a bit dull but definitely ramps up and intrigued me throughout. I’d have liked the narrative to go back to the plight of the women who could not bear a child (same as myself) but understand there is a lot that could have been analyzed here but might have bogged the overall key story down. If you love dystopian social commentary this one is definitely for you. It focuses on the corruption power can have, and that we need more than one person’s ideological set-up to be truly successful. If you want some extreme feminism ideals, and have ever imagined a world of only women (biological or identifying as) then this might be an interesting read for you. I’m glad to have read it and will recommend it out for some who will find the sociological context interesting; but it’s definitely not going to be for everyone.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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