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Jalav, Amazon Warrior #1
The Crystals of Mida
Jalav is the war leader of the clan of the Hosta, part of the female warrior nation called Midanna. When the Crystal of Mida which the Hosta are guarding is stolen, Jalav takes most of her warriors and chases after the thieves. The chase leads to the land ruled by men, and finally brings everyone, warriors and males alike, a very unsettling message.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1982
17 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Sharon Green
148 books109 followersBorn and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Attended New York University and graduated with a B.A. in 1963. Married in 1963, had three sons, divorced in 1976. Raised the sons, Andy, Brian and Curtis, alone in New Jersey. Worked for AT&T as a shareowner correspondent, then as an all-around assistant in a construction company, then sold bar steel for an import firm. Left that job as assistant sales manager. I've been writing full time since 1984.
Hobbies: knitting, crocheting, Tae Kwon Do, fencing, archery, shooting, jigsaw puzzles, logic problems, math problems, not cooking.
Don't do my own research, since if I did I'd stay with that and never get any writing done. I usually can finish a novel of about 120,000 words in about three months.
Hobbies: knitting, crocheting, Tae Kwon Do, fencing, archery, shooting, jigsaw puzzles, logic problems, math problems, not cooking.
Don't do my own research, since if I did I'd stay with that and never get any writing done. I usually can finish a novel of about 120,000 words in about three months.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 19, 2021
The Quick Take
Anything positive that can be said about The Crystals of Mida is undermined by unbelievable characterization, terrible big-picture plotting, and dangerous rape apologism. And rape apologism is inexcusable.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
The Real Review
If the books I read weren't decades old, I'd swear authors were lining up, telling each other to hold their beer while they penned a somehow more vile novel than the one I just read. Take this as all the trigger warnings, but especially those for rape and abuse.
Jalav is the war-leader of the Hosta, a warrior tribe of women. They're fearsome and live by a strict code and goddess-centric religion. The Hosta are quite content with their simple, violent lifestyle, but everything changes when unknown brigands steal their sacred crystals and murder several of their tribe. Determined to avenge their fallen and their goddess, they ride to war even if it requires entering the unfamiliar and contemptible cities of men.
That premise is plenty appetizing, and I was excited by the first few pages. Sharon Green's voice is potent, captivating, and impressively consistent despite the characters' somewhat archaic and unusual language. I also loved how Jalav felt unreasonably stern and haughty, yet feminine. She's not a generic malevolent hellion. She's a violent, arrogant, badass, no-nonsense woman. Emphasis on woman.
I started to worry when Jalav captures a man suspected of stealing the crystals. He's quickly proven innocent, yet the Hosta don't turn him loose. Instead, they rape him repeatedly and even drug him with this world's herbal equivalent of Viagra.
It's quickly made clear that the Hosta abandon their infant boys at the nearest city, and thus there are no men in their society. Grabbing men that wander into their land is their only source of copulation and reproduction.
Just in case my words fail me during this review, let it be known that I believe in enthusiastic consent as the baseline for sex. Anything short of that is a problem, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, etc.
But here's the thing. The rape of women is so common in fiction that it desensitizes us. I can't count the number of books I've read and reviewd for my blog that threw in a casual rape or a significant threat of sexualized violence for no reason. Sometimes when I write a review, I forget it even happened and fail to include it as a trigger warning for the book, or pause and wonder if it's a "bad enough scene" to warrant calling out.
How awful is that?
Do you know those guys who recreate ads featuring sexualized women to underscore just what ridiculous shit we accept as normal? The rape of male characters almost felt like that: a reversal to highlight just how unacceptable similar depictions of women are.
Much of The Crystals of Mida comes across as a caricaturish reversal of traditional western gender roles and stereotypes. The Hosta view men as soulless, vain, and preoccupied with physical comforts. They consider men emotional and prone to incomprehensible outbursts. Men are to be used and doted upon with bright gemstones but kept strictly under control until the Hosta tire of them. Then they are to be driven away.
I generally don't believe in "guilty pleasures," but despite Green's voice and technical prowess, The Crystals of Mida certainly felt like one. Most of its power rested in how it came across as a big middle finger, a rebuttal to the classic fantasy-adventure novel with the muscle-bound protagonist fucking his way to his goal.
And then everything fell apart.
Jalav and a handful of her warriors enter a city on a recon mission. Instead, they are captured and sold into slavery. Worse, the men who purchase them have a vendetta: they were previous "guests" of the Hosta and intend to return the favor and then some.
Jalav and her warriors are raped, degraded, and abused. This treatment is vile and dehumanizing. Not only are the women collared and chained, but they're also tied tight into kneeling positions when not being actively ordered about to teach them their proper placement at the feet of men. They're only allowed to eat from the hands of their masters, as the master deigns fit. They're to drink from water bowls on the floor as if they were dogs. And much like dogs, they're beaten if they disobey.
It's worse than that, though: these men want to "break" the Hosta. To accomplish that, they must play games of manipulation and abuse to make the women do that which is against their nature. This might be something like taking a woman out into the cold forest at night, with only pelts for the man, to sleep. If the woman grows dangerously cold, she must decide between cuddling up to her rapist or freezing to death. And, of course, if she gives in and admits to both herself and the man the power he has over her by seeking his warmth, that's one psychological barrier removed. She's that much closer to being his mindless victim.
It's teeth-grindingly awful.
"But," you might say. "The book started with the Hosta raping men. Why are you so upset that the pendulum swung in the opposite direction?
Good question. As I've said, I am vehemently opposed to rape in all forms. Any gender raping any gender is awful.
There is a difference here, however. And that difference is intent.
Yes, the Hosta capture and rape men. They don't try to break the men psychologically, though, nor do they intentionally torture them. They also release them after a few days. They are so vehemently opposed to "ownership" of other humans that when one of their sister-tribes decided to keep men as slaves, the Hosta rode against them. And as punishment, the Hosta delivered their bound sister-warriors to the city as slaves.
(Okay, so maybe that last part is a bit ass-backward, but the Hosta aren't portrayed as geniuses.)
It's still inexcusable but a wee bit different from life-long rape, degradation, and multiple forms of torture.
The men's intent is extra heinous, too, because they begin to claim that they abuse the Hosta because they love them. Sure, they want these fearsome warrior women to wear silks and perfume and be decadent and submissive and nothing like the women they truly are, yet they "love" them.
And the real kicker here is that
I don't like books with rampant sexism, like Taurus Four . And I don't like books that use violence against women as a joke, like The Duchess of Kneedeep .
But I loathe books like The Crystals of Mida and Song of the Pearl that rationalize away or sympathize with men's violence against women. They're dangerous and cruel.
If you're wondering why I finished the book ... I wondered the same thing when I finally slammed the book shut. It's in part because Jalav and her warriors are always getting the upper hand on their abusers, only to lose it again. I was always on the hook of "maybe this time they put some heads on pikes!"
At one point, after too many rape scenes in a row, I did decide to call it quits. I flicked to the last few pages and started skimming, trying to see if Jalav's abuser ever gets what he deserves. Instead, I caught some talk about
And if that's not enough to complain about—and it is—I have plenty more. Despite being a character-driven novel, Jalav is inconsistent. She lets her warriors put themselves in stupid and compromising positions while on a dangerous mission, and shrugs and considers it a lesson when bad things happen to them. She completely ignores the fact that these actions put every other warrior in danger while compromising their holy mission. And yet she's supposedly a brilliant strategist?
And for a while, when Jalav is first enslaved, she's cunning and uses everything at her disposal to fight back against her oppressors. Then as soon as she's sold to the men who own her the rest of the novel, she gives up, constantly thinking "if only I had a sword..."
Argh!
I could go on, and on, and on, but this is long enough. Anything positive that can be said aboutThe Crystals of Mida is undermined by unbelievable characterization, terrible big-picture plotting, and dangerous rape apologism. And rape apologism is inexcusable.
Add this to the pile of books that shouldn't exist. I can’t believe there’s a whole freaking series that follows this novel.
Anything positive that can be said about The Crystals of Mida is undermined by unbelievable characterization, terrible big-picture plotting, and dangerous rape apologism. And rape apologism is inexcusable.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
The Real Review
If the books I read weren't decades old, I'd swear authors were lining up, telling each other to hold their beer while they penned a somehow more vile novel than the one I just read. Take this as all the trigger warnings, but especially those for rape and abuse.
Jalav is the war-leader of the Hosta, a warrior tribe of women. They're fearsome and live by a strict code and goddess-centric religion. The Hosta are quite content with their simple, violent lifestyle, but everything changes when unknown brigands steal their sacred crystals and murder several of their tribe. Determined to avenge their fallen and their goddess, they ride to war even if it requires entering the unfamiliar and contemptible cities of men.
That premise is plenty appetizing, and I was excited by the first few pages. Sharon Green's voice is potent, captivating, and impressively consistent despite the characters' somewhat archaic and unusual language. I also loved how Jalav felt unreasonably stern and haughty, yet feminine. She's not a generic malevolent hellion. She's a violent, arrogant, badass, no-nonsense woman. Emphasis on woman.
I started to worry when Jalav captures a man suspected of stealing the crystals. He's quickly proven innocent, yet the Hosta don't turn him loose. Instead, they rape him repeatedly and even drug him with this world's herbal equivalent of Viagra.
It's quickly made clear that the Hosta abandon their infant boys at the nearest city, and thus there are no men in their society. Grabbing men that wander into their land is their only source of copulation and reproduction.
Just in case my words fail me during this review, let it be known that I believe in enthusiastic consent as the baseline for sex. Anything short of that is a problem, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, etc.
But here's the thing. The rape of women is so common in fiction that it desensitizes us. I can't count the number of books I've read and reviewd for my blog that threw in a casual rape or a significant threat of sexualized violence for no reason. Sometimes when I write a review, I forget it even happened and fail to include it as a trigger warning for the book, or pause and wonder if it's a "bad enough scene" to warrant calling out.
How awful is that?
Do you know those guys who recreate ads featuring sexualized women to underscore just what ridiculous shit we accept as normal? The rape of male characters almost felt like that: a reversal to highlight just how unacceptable similar depictions of women are.
Much of The Crystals of Mida comes across as a caricaturish reversal of traditional western gender roles and stereotypes. The Hosta view men as soulless, vain, and preoccupied with physical comforts. They consider men emotional and prone to incomprehensible outbursts. Men are to be used and doted upon with bright gemstones but kept strictly under control until the Hosta tire of them. Then they are to be driven away.
I generally don't believe in "guilty pleasures," but despite Green's voice and technical prowess, The Crystals of Mida certainly felt like one. Most of its power rested in how it came across as a big middle finger, a rebuttal to the classic fantasy-adventure novel with the muscle-bound protagonist fucking his way to his goal.
And then everything fell apart.
Jalav and a handful of her warriors enter a city on a recon mission. Instead, they are captured and sold into slavery. Worse, the men who purchase them have a vendetta: they were previous "guests" of the Hosta and intend to return the favor and then some.
Jalav and her warriors are raped, degraded, and abused. This treatment is vile and dehumanizing. Not only are the women collared and chained, but they're also tied tight into kneeling positions when not being actively ordered about to teach them their proper placement at the feet of men. They're only allowed to eat from the hands of their masters, as the master deigns fit. They're to drink from water bowls on the floor as if they were dogs. And much like dogs, they're beaten if they disobey.
It's worse than that, though: these men want to "break" the Hosta. To accomplish that, they must play games of manipulation and abuse to make the women do that which is against their nature. This might be something like taking a woman out into the cold forest at night, with only pelts for the man, to sleep. If the woman grows dangerously cold, she must decide between cuddling up to her rapist or freezing to death. And, of course, if she gives in and admits to both herself and the man the power he has over her by seeking his warmth, that's one psychological barrier removed. She's that much closer to being his mindless victim.
It's teeth-grindingly awful.
"But," you might say. "The book started with the Hosta raping men. Why are you so upset that the pendulum swung in the opposite direction?
Good question. As I've said, I am vehemently opposed to rape in all forms. Any gender raping any gender is awful.
There is a difference here, however. And that difference is intent.
Yes, the Hosta capture and rape men. They don't try to break the men psychologically, though, nor do they intentionally torture them. They also release them after a few days. They are so vehemently opposed to "ownership" of other humans that when one of their sister-tribes decided to keep men as slaves, the Hosta rode against them. And as punishment, the Hosta delivered their bound sister-warriors to the city as slaves.
(Okay, so maybe that last part is a bit ass-backward, but the Hosta aren't portrayed as geniuses.)
It's still inexcusable but a wee bit different from life-long rape, degradation, and multiple forms of torture.
The men's intent is extra heinous, too, because they begin to claim that they abuse the Hosta because they love them. Sure, they want these fearsome warrior women to wear silks and perfume and be decadent and submissive and nothing like the women they truly are, yet they "love" them.
And the real kicker here is that
I don't like books with rampant sexism, like Taurus Four . And I don't like books that use violence against women as a joke, like The Duchess of Kneedeep .
But I loathe books like The Crystals of Mida and Song of the Pearl that rationalize away or sympathize with men's violence against women. They're dangerous and cruel.
If you're wondering why I finished the book ... I wondered the same thing when I finally slammed the book shut. It's in part because Jalav and her warriors are always getting the upper hand on their abusers, only to lose it again. I was always on the hook of "maybe this time they put some heads on pikes!"
At one point, after too many rape scenes in a row, I did decide to call it quits. I flicked to the last few pages and started skimming, trying to see if Jalav's abuser ever gets what he deserves. Instead, I caught some talk about
And if that's not enough to complain about—and it is—I have plenty more. Despite being a character-driven novel, Jalav is inconsistent. She lets her warriors put themselves in stupid and compromising positions while on a dangerous mission, and shrugs and considers it a lesson when bad things happen to them. She completely ignores the fact that these actions put every other warrior in danger while compromising their holy mission. And yet she's supposedly a brilliant strategist?
And for a while, when Jalav is first enslaved, she's cunning and uses everything at her disposal to fight back against her oppressors. Then as soon as she's sold to the men who own her the rest of the novel, she gives up, constantly thinking "if only I had a sword..."
Argh!
I could go on, and on, and on, but this is long enough. Anything positive that can be said aboutThe Crystals of Mida is undermined by unbelievable characterization, terrible big-picture plotting, and dangerous rape apologism. And rape apologism is inexcusable.
Add this to the pile of books that shouldn't exist. I can’t believe there’s a whole freaking series that follows this novel.
December 23, 2022
One of my favorite things to do at old bookstores is to find weird and miscellaneous fantasy novels for a bargain price; the more obscure the better. This is how I found Sharon Green's Jalav series in down town Las Cruces in New Mexico at a bookstore called Coas. Being a fan of Red Sonja, the premise sounded promising but there is a lot of questionable and problematic choices in this book.
Jalav is the war leader of the Hosta clan, a band of Midanna Amazons, who are ferocious fighters. At the start, thieves steal the Crystal of Mida from the tower and slaughter the guard. Jalav, sworn to protect the crystal, sets off with her clan to find and return them to the Midanna. However as the clan reaches civilization and the slavery infested cities, they run into a number of problems. Quickly, Jalav and some of her companions are taken captive, sold as slaves to two men and are used repeatedly as they stay in their company to try and find out the location of the crystals. That's the majority of the story.
My main issue with this story is Green's premise that men are physically stronger than women without a weapon. Jalav and her Hosta clan continuously proclaim their deadly prowess with a sword and then they are subject to the whims of the men in this story because they lose their swords. I find that ridiculous, especially when Jalav is very strong-willed/stubborn and her tenacity should have given her the power to somehow outwit her male peers.
Warning ahead for discussion of sexual assault. I also feel very conflicted and dubious about the lack of consent and subsequent rape scenes in this book. Mostly because the female characters don't see it as a violation. In Jalav's culture, men are often taken captive and then 'used' for their pleasure. The Hosta even brew a special drink that works as a stimulant and use the men repeatedly until they let them go. This is rape and acknowledged by the male characters, who are angry and feel violated. However, this is the way of the Hosta and it becomes an even bigger problem when the reverse happens.
Eventually, the men take Jalav and her compansion captive and 'use' them but the women view it as their basic right because they are captives (and because this is the way in their culture) and end up actually liking it/falling in love with their captors. It's hard to negotiate and make sense of these rape scenes since the culture presented in this world does not really see it in that manner, but I feel that it is basically sanctioned sexual assault. I also don't want to force my perception onto characters, where this type of violation does not exist in their world. However since Green exists in our world, I found this extremely problematic since she made it 'sexy' and ruined the overall story for me.
Jalav is the war leader of the Hosta clan, a band of Midanna Amazons, who are ferocious fighters. At the start, thieves steal the Crystal of Mida from the tower and slaughter the guard. Jalav, sworn to protect the crystal, sets off with her clan to find and return them to the Midanna. However as the clan reaches civilization and the slavery infested cities, they run into a number of problems. Quickly, Jalav and some of her companions are taken captive, sold as slaves to two men and are used repeatedly as they stay in their company to try and find out the location of the crystals. That's the majority of the story.
My main issue with this story is Green's premise that men are physically stronger than women without a weapon. Jalav and her Hosta clan continuously proclaim their deadly prowess with a sword and then they are subject to the whims of the men in this story because they lose their swords. I find that ridiculous, especially when Jalav is very strong-willed/stubborn and her tenacity should have given her the power to somehow outwit her male peers.
Warning ahead for discussion of sexual assault. I also feel very conflicted and dubious about the lack of consent and subsequent rape scenes in this book. Mostly because the female characters don't see it as a violation. In Jalav's culture, men are often taken captive and then 'used' for their pleasure. The Hosta even brew a special drink that works as a stimulant and use the men repeatedly until they let them go. This is rape and acknowledged by the male characters, who are angry and feel violated. However, this is the way of the Hosta and it becomes an even bigger problem when the reverse happens.
Eventually, the men take Jalav and her compansion captive and 'use' them but the women view it as their basic right because they are captives (and because this is the way in their culture) and end up actually liking it/falling in love with their captors. It's hard to negotiate and make sense of these rape scenes since the culture presented in this world does not really see it in that manner, but I feel that it is basically sanctioned sexual assault. I also don't want to force my perception onto characters, where this type of violation does not exist in their world. However since Green exists in our world, I found this extremely problematic since she made it 'sexy' and ruined the overall story for me.
May 15, 2017
Males vs Females
This is a true battle of the sexes as War Leader Jalav, finds herself trapper by City Men who consider all women slaves. Jalav is searching for the Crystal of The Goddess Mida which was stolen from their care. Plenty of action, violence and some non consensual sex that goes both directions. Through it all Jalav maintains her honor, her quest and her strong beliefs about Hosta culture and Mida. Female Conan the barbarian.
This is a true battle of the sexes as War Leader Jalav, finds herself trapper by City Men who consider all women slaves. Jalav is searching for the Crystal of The Goddess Mida which was stolen from their care. Plenty of action, violence and some non consensual sex that goes both directions. Through it all Jalav maintains her honor, her quest and her strong beliefs about Hosta culture and Mida. Female Conan the barbarian.
Read
April 7, 2012Wait. What?!
September 4, 2017
She's an alpha female barbarian type and he's a city warrior. He thinks he's always right. But she's stubborn to change.
April 24, 2023
I got to 20% but I couldn't go any farther. The toxic male v. female thing and regular mentions of rape really made me have to put this down.
July 11, 2023
This may be one of the stupidest books I’ve ever bothered to finish reading.
February 4, 2010
Much better than the cover of the book would lead you to believe. (I hate the cover.) A decent she-warrior book, taming the men she encounters and winning through all on her quest. (Think Conan, here.)
Read
April 14, 2014good read sex swords and gods goddess adventure action
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews