Jeanette's Reviews > Femme

From the moment I saw the cover, I was hooked - and the contents lived up to this first impression. I thoroughly enjoyed Delia Strange's Femme. Femme is the first of the Wanderers of the Worlds series to be published. It is set in the near future when the Authorities (a coalition of technologically advanced alien worlds) have introduced Earth to portal travel (almost instantaneous travel between worlds). Apparently, the Authorities have been grooming and shaping Earth for two thousand years before they revealed themselves. Now Kaley Blackburn is offered a six week scholarship to study Future Tech on the exclusive world of Femme. This world is a socialist paradise for women. Men however are literally slaves and raised to be subservient. Kaley is surprised and uncomfortable when she is assigned a temporary slave, Mecca, who has been trained to supply everything she needs. We see Femme through Kaley's eyes as she is wowed by it's beauty and advanced technology, and as she struggles to understand the nuances of its matriarchal culture. Soon she is questioning all she knows to be true.

Strange does a wonderful job of world building, of developing the romantic tension between Kaley and Mecca, writes intimate scenes tastefully, while raising questions about gender roles within society. Femme raises more questions than it answers, but it gets one thinking. Strange throws in a few curve balls, with a satisfactory ending, while leaving open more Wanderers of the World books. There were a couple of minor loose ends - for instance why do English and Authoritan appear identical. While it could be said that the Authorities surreptitiously guided language development to coincide with their existing language - using the chaotic amalgam of Celtic influenced Latin and Germanic Saxon with loan words from colonies around the world, this does seem a rather complicated way to do it. Then again, maybe it does make some kind of weird sense. Still, the trope that most technological development on Earth is the result of alien influence (because us earth natives would be too dumb to think of it) grows a bit thin at times. But this is only a very minor part of the book and did not detract from the world building that is integrated at many levels into a well conceived whole. There were also some minor style issues but again, as I found myself engrossed in the story and characters, they didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

I enjoyed Femme for its visual and cultural richness, futuristic elements, thought-provoking sci-fi setting and romantic elements.