Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey
I just had to bring up this book. This book apparently features, according to Amazon, "pair of likeable, savvy heroines." I was loaned the series by a friend for this very reason: it had strong female leads. Awesome.
Too bad it's one of the most sexist books I've ever read.
The two main characters are Tarma and Kethry. Tarma was part of a nomadic people whose clan was murdered, she was raped during the process and left for dead. She recovered and set herself to working to become the best warriors in existence (it even has a special name: the sword-sworn!). Kethry is a noblewoman who was sold into a "hateful marriage," and ran away. She's also very powerful sorceress.
They end up banding together because a) a goddess wants them to, b) Kethry finds a sword that "draws her to others in need."
No, wait, it's not "others in need," it's apparently only women. Who are almost always being raped. Because the only good men that are featured in this entire book are a pair of men who basically know their place and listen to the two women like good little boys.
Now, I'm a bit mixed up here, because I went back and read a few of the short stories along with this book, because this book doesn't start at the beginning- the short stories in a completely different book do, so there was a lot of history that was mentioned, but not actually explained in the first book. It was downright irritating, having to sort through it.
But to boil it down, my main problem with this book is that it hates on men, the entire damn time. It's like a Femenazi dream come true. At one point, the characters come across a brigand who was attempting to rape a woman he had date raped with magical cocaine. They save the girl, of course, and then Kethry uses her illusionary powers to make him look like the woman, ties him to a horse, and sends him back to his band of men- because she knows they'll rape him because they think he's a her.
Kethry and Tarma feel very pleased with their work well done. Because getting someone gang raped isn't a bad thing when they're a rapist! It doesn't bring you down to their level at all.
Not to mention the part where you get to the climax of the book, where Kethry is facing off her personal demons (with dicks), and Lackey skips the action.
Just skips it. They get Kethry to buck up and fight- ...and then skips to the part where the antagonist is tied up.
I didn't even finish it, I just dropped it then and there.
And everyone praises it for being a great, well-written feminist book. When will people realize that feminism is about gender equality, not 'men are evil and women are better than them?'
Edited for abuse of air quotes.