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Ellylion wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 10:27 Beth's character is very interesting, in my opinion Also, let us not forget about the Lord Eldus' housekeeper. She is very intriguing. She holds all the keys and knows all the secrets. Also, she would close her eyes to many evil things just to survive. She is quite memorable.

rahilshajahan wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 06:40 Even though the book hasn't portryaed any female leads, the series does so down the line. And their characters are crucial for most of the pivotal scenes in the series. This book is just an introduction to the 9-book fantasy. So, I wouldn't worry about it much right now!

AnnOgochukwu wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 06:58 Honestly, I wanted to ask this same question, but I thought it was a lone (and probably overthought) observation by me, and that made me skeptical.
I considered the above-mentioned reason (about this book being set in medieval times). I also considered the roles of Beth, and lord Eldus' wife and daughter. But I do not think that these are sufficient justification for the obvious lack of female characters in this book. The most justifiable reason I could come with was that this was how the author wanted this story to be. My only consolation is that in the later installments, there is an inclusion of active female characters, really amazing characters.

Ellylion wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 10:27 Beth's character is very interesting, in my opinion Also, let us not forget about the Lord Eldus' housekeeper. She is very intriguing. She holds all the keys and knows all the secrets. Also, she would close her eyes to many evil things just to survive. She is quite memorable.

aaurba wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 05:08 When I was reading the book, I noticed that there are no major female characters involved in the storyline. The protagonist, the protagonist's friends, Voulhire's leader, Riva Rohavi's leader, Hillport's leader, and the magical antagonist are all males. Many people say that given the book's medieval setting, it is only common that the book also follows medieval norms: decreased roles for women and bigger roles for men.

What is your opinion on this? Does the above explanation completely justify the book's lack of female main characters?

aaurba wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 19:27

Ellylion wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 10:27 Beth's character is very interesting, in my opinion Also, let us not forget about the Lord Eldus' housekeeper. She is very intriguing. She holds all the keys and knows all the secrets. Also, she would close her eyes to many evil things just to survive. She is quite memorable.

Beth was introduced at the later part of the book, so I understand if she didn't create a tremendous impact to the plot.

I agree that Beth is very interesting since she's the first character who came from Caromentis, which is still not yet explored in the first book. However, she was introduced at the later part of the book, so not much time is given to explore her character. I believe that she has a huge potential and could be a pivotal character in investigating Caromentis.

As for the housekeeper, what's her name again? I honestly cannot remember her name or if she survived Riva Rohavi's attack. Though, I do remember Lord Eldus' son escaping and probably surviving.

xsquare wrote: ↑02 Oct 2020, 02:26

aaurba wrote: ↑01 Oct 2020, 05:08 When I was reading the book, I noticed that there are no major female characters involved in the storyline. The protagonist, the protagonist's friends, Voulhire's leader, Riva Rohavi's leader, Hillport's leader, and the magical antagonist are all males. Many people say that given the book's medieval setting, it is only common that the book also follows medieval norms: decreased roles for women and bigger roles for men.

What is your opinion on this? Does the above explanation completely justify the book's lack of female main characters?

Not at all. As I've said in my review of the book – just because the book's set in a medieval setting, doesn't mean we have to import literally all of the characteristics of medieval settings. Moreover, this book isn't even set on medieval Earth, which makes this explanation even more of a flimsy and poor one. It would have made literally zero difference to the plot if the king is replaced by a queen, his son is instead a daughter, the Eiodi female instead of male – of course, I can't say for certain that it won't have a difference in the sequels, but if your plot honestly depends on your characters being male, then I think your plot has problems in the first place.

Moreover, Beth isn't even human. 'She' is an entity from Caromentis, and (hope I'm not spoiling it for anyone) if I'm recalling correctly they don't even have physical forms.

I've only read the second book of this series so far, but this is an issue that persists even in the second book. I think it's a pretty poor track record if 2/9 of your books don't feature female characters.