Scorpica

De: G.R. Macallister

Narrado por: Shiromi Arserio

A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe.

Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.

Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Narrator Shiromi Arserio skillfully balances multiple perspectives in an epic fantasy world ruled by women. When no new girls are born for several years, the five queendoms are thrown into upheaval. Arserio’s narration captures a variety of distinct characters who find themselves in emotional situations: warrior women desperately fighting for their lives, other women fiercely protecting their loved ones, and a resentful sorceress scheming behind the scenes. This wholly engrossing audiobook will absorb listeners in the politics and traditions of a world on the verge of war. Arserio’s careful pacing allows the story to unfold slowly and lets listeners focus on the world-building and the unfolding mystery."

A refreshingly original and well told tale

I really enjoyed this book. The characters and world building were rich and unique. I love the way the author brought to life a matriarchal world ruled by Queens. In Scorpica, when boys are born they’re immediately sold to other kingdoms, while girls are raised and trained as warriors. Much tradition, war, magic, and tragic deaths. Well worth a listen, the narration is just right.

Fantastic start to the series.

Well written and narrated. Look forward to the other books in series. This is my first time with this author.

Scorpica is a great book

Great characters, plot, and world building. Loved it. Cannot wait for the next installment. This woman should write the Xena Warrior Princess reboot.

Shallow and silly

I understand I think what this book tried to accomplish. It’s a book fashioned after the hetero male dominated fantasy literary canon, but with women. Women in power. Women as the brave. Women as the warriors. Women as “complex” characters, meaning they are exactly their male counterpart tropes. Men are sex objects, purr like kittens in the powerful women’s beds, and otherwise useless and story-less. Fine fine. But the world built by the author is weak, shallow and silly. The storylines have too many gaps and loose threads. The women don’t feel real, for all their prowess and “masculine” traits. And the dialogue is never surprising or deep or interesting. Everything everyone does is predictable. And there’s so much about women being women it’s really quite dull. Also “queendoms”? Really? And I’m just always thinking about the men. Like really, there’s now a huge population of men that are being born and they’re not rising up and taking power? Their only use in the storyline is as dumb boring concubines? K. Totes. Laaaame. A “feminist” fantasy we didn’t need.

Feminist fantasy

This was a great and bloody opening to the five queendoms series. If you like high fantasy with political intrigue and violence, you will like this story. I can’t wait for the next book!

Without spoiling, I’d like to answer a few questions prospective readers might have: some POV characters die, so be prepared for that. Men are mostly an afterthought with only a few who contribute to the storyline and not majorly. There are heterosexual and lesbian relationships with only one explicit sex scene and there is polygamy in one of the queendoms. As for non-binary or trans characters (the biggest question I always have with stories that seem so focused on gender): with only 1 minor non-binary character, it remains to be seen how representation might change in future books though it is a possibility in this world.