I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
To Best the Boys by Mary Weber Published by Thomas Nelson ISBN: 9780718080976
on March 19, 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Epic, Romance, Girls & Women, Historical
Pages: 336
Read it as: eARC
Source: Netgalley
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port receive a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. Every year, the poorer residents look to see that their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.
In the province of Caldon, where women are trained in wifely duties and men are encouraged into collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her Mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.
With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone’s ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the maze.
| I had such a hard time rating this one! I loved the story itself, but I can’t get over how oddly proportioned it was! It reminded me of Catching Fire. All the first half was just preparation. The actual ‘games’ lasted less than half the book. I feel like this book made all its points, but the way the story was told just didn’t click for me. |
The first act lasted too long
I wanted to talk first about what irked me about the book and just… get it out of the way. It was impossible for me to ignore the fact that the first part of the book seemed to last forever. It was overall, a quick read, but I got worried because it didn’t feel like it was properly distributed.
Things got weird when I checked the book’s progress and it says ‘41%’. I was nearly to half the book and nothing of what I perceived to have been promised had been delivered. The main character had just barely decided she was going to enter the maze competition for the scholarship. I wasn’t that hard to figure out how the actual competition would last less than it should have.
It was just all quite off pacing wise.
The friendships gave me life
With that said, I was so happy to meet all the characters in this story. I couldn’t find it in me to hate any of the characters and their relationships. Sure, there were ones that made me see red, but I have no complaints about how they added to the story.
Rhen’s friends made me smile. It’s always so great when side characters are a real part of the story and not just there to make the main character look good.
The points about feminism
This story is unapologetically about empowerement, female empowerement. There’s no subtleties. Rhen knows she’s as capable, as smart, as resourceful as any of the boys going for the scholarship, and perhaps even more than some.
It took a while to get there, but the story said what it needed to say.
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Is this one on your TBR? Have you ever read something by Mary Weber?
I’m pretty excited for this one. Good to know it’s a bit slow though, I like that warning when going in.
Ash @ JennRenee Read
Ash recently posted this awesome thing…Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I reviewed this one just recently. I liked it but yeah, I agree about the pace. I didn’t talk about it but you pointed it out better then me.
The competition was… very fast? Don’t know how to say it better. I think Rhen situation with her mother was important and took a great part of the novel but also didn’t blend so better with the whole story.
Yes! I get that it was the motivation behind why she eventually decided to do it, but it was just off.
I just read your review! But you’re right! Now that you mention it, at times it felt like two different stories. Rhen in the maze, and Rhen interacting with the people in her town. I’d never read something by Mary Weber before, but I liked it enough that I would totally read something else by her if it’s fantasy-ish
This one sounds really interesting and has potential, but I’m sad to hear that the competition lasted really short! The competition is what drawn me into this one, I think I’d be fine if the first act was slow for preparation (training, strategizing, making allies…) but at 41% the character only decided whether she wants to participate or not? That sounds really slow to me and I don’t think I’d enjoy it. Thanks for the review, Pamela! 🙂
Tasya @ The Literary Huntress recently posted this awesome thing…Why I Love Reading Fanfictions (+Some Recs!)
No problem! And no, there’s no real training or strategizing stage here, and I’d been hoping for something like that 🙁