Yeah it's romance but it was supposed to be historical romance and I wanted something to distract me from being ill dammit, not make me want to throw a book across the room or rip it into shreds.

Now I've trudged through some bad fiction in my days. I've even (in a fit of curiousity during my college years) read 2 John Norman Gor books and watched the movie (oh yes there's a movie!) I've even kept going with some books well past my own impulse to bin the damned things (and very occasionally been very surprised) but I have to admit "Warrior's Woman" by Johanna Lindsey has defeated me. I got to a little over 100 pages and had to put it down before I did something drastic to the book

I hang my head in shame and then raise it in pride

John Norman was/is a product of his time, a sexist mysogonist idiot who wrote a series of books starting in the 60's that were all about women being slaves, there are even communities devoted to his idea. DAW printed them for a long while until reality hit in the 80's and they were consined to the backwater of publishing.

The offending book is one of the worst pieces of mysoginistic crap I've ever read or tried to read. It's billed as Historical Fiction, which it isn't, it's actually pseudo-SF, it's as if Johanna Lindsey sat down with some John Norman books while watching some Star Trek and decided to do a worst case scenario of both. The main character is Tedra, a woman who has devoted her life to the art of combat, who has been the head of security services on her world and when the bad guy woman-haters take over her world and decide that all women are the property of men and that they are supposed to be "breached" by the age of 18, and that all women suddently lose their jobs, does she set up a resistence movement, no, she runs away and finds herself in the arms of a man who defeats her and then insists that she strips naked because she shouldn't be wearing "mens clothes", while she's getting all fluttery about his rampant charms, GAH!

The Back reads (and this was kinda mitigating on the tossing aside factor)

"Resilient beauty Thedra has devoted her life to the art of combat, and no one, least of all a man, has ever been able to pierce through that rigid armor of single-minded purpose. When political upheaval forces her to flee her homeland, the stongly independent maiden finds that her only refuge is in the arms of a bronzed barbarian.

In a brotherhood where warriors rule supreme, Challen is the fiercest and most feared. He quickly claims Thedra as tradition and his own desires demand, but though he sparks her yet unfulfilled passion, the proud fighter refuses to submit to any man's will. Challenging him to a physical battle, she also dares him to discover that she is a worthy opponent, partner and companion - and together they can conquer all realms."

Spelling errors mine. I hope.

I would have kicked him in the, er, stones a few times before submitting. And definitely would have had issues with my computer/companion who could have saved me from this by BEAMING me out.

I'm so glad I had a historical mystery to wash it out but I still need brain floss to deal with the residual ick.

I'm also glad that I bought it from Oxfam and the cash I spent on it isn't truly wasted, I'm regarding it as a donation. I'm sure that somebody will request it from me when I put it on Bookcrossing, or take it away next meetup. ( )