A Spell for Chameleon

A “hmm” book. On the one hand, this is a very good effort of imagination; a world where everything is magical, from the animals to the rocks. On the other hand, it is spectacularly misogynist. Granted this was written at a time when attitudes were different, but it still seems incredible that every female character is largely defined by her appearance (and the rape “trial” beggers belief). At several points it is explicitly stated that women are not as capable as men. At times I was left wondering if this was meant to be satirical, but, no, it appears this is meant to be taken at face value.

There is a certain curiosity value to the book, which is the only thing that kept me reading until the end, but I wouldn't look down on anyone for jumping ship once they had felt they'd had enough.

I'm giving this 3 stars, since the basic story is good and, if it wasn't for the skincrawling sexism, would easily be a 4 star book. I can see this being popular with unenlighted 15 year old boys. If you have an academic interest how not to write female characters, give it a try, but don't feel guilty if you bail once you get the gist.