This book started out with so much promise that it makes me sad to write this review and it's part of why I've put it off so incredibly long. The female-male divide of this worlds and how it works was wonderful. The love affair was just annoying. The main character spends a lot of time talking about knowing things she has no possiblity of know. But worst of all?

There's are two points where the author breaks all realism. When the main character has been burned on the inside of arm with a glowing poker and manages to fight a battle even using that arm, without complaint about the pain all the way through, and when a character's hand (or fingers) have been broken but she manages to still fight off an opponent and get a vehicle under control all before remembering her fingers are broken.

Sorry. That's too much breaking the realism box. I won't be continuing this series. ( )

3.75...I'm hesitant to give it a 4, because there were a few "slow" spots, but otherwise, I enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading the remaining books. ( )

Really fun read, looking forward to the rest of the story. ( )

From the first chapter this book had me hooked. Good character & plot development. Good pace to the story as well. Away to start the 2nd book in series now. ( )

Loved the premise of the gender game, two very different societies based on gender.
We have Matrus governed by the woman and Patrus ruled over by men and where woman submit.
The very different storyline is what initially drew me to this book as its sometimes hard to find a fresh approach in what seems a sea of dystopian fiction.
A brief synopsis of the plot is that violet a resident of Matrus and when I say resident, I mean of her majesty's pleasure, is recruited, for want of a better word, to travel to Patrus as a spy to retrieve a golden egg that has been stolen from them.
As part of Violets cover, she has to marry Lee a scientist working undercover in a high position of the government.
As a woman cannot travel around Patrus unescorted by a man and also as they need a scapegoat to pin the theft on Lee hires Viggo, head of security to accompany Violet and encourages her to befriend him.
Violet and Viggo have so much in common with their secrets and backgrounds that a friendship was bound to evolve.
These two are such strong individuals and I am so looking forward to seeing what the next instalment of this tale has in store for them.
The husband Lee, well I found him quite annoying getting Violet to take all the risks while he sat back I also didn't like the way he kept violet in the dark all the time.
what a liked about the friendship between Viggo and Violet was that this didn't seem forced or rushed and it was such a gradual process that it sort of crept up on the reader, it felt genuine.
The gender game itself has not got loads of hot sex to sell it, in fact, I think there is one kiss throughout.
So if your looking for that sort of action chose a different book.
what it does have is a first-rate author and some fantastically imagined world building to recommend it. which it does splendidly.
This book sells itself one you enter this landscape its hard to exit.
you just want to keep reading

There are secrets to be told and I'm zipping my mouth, so if you want to discover them well its simple read this I really don't think you will be disappointed it's a fab read.

https://www.beckiebookworm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/ ( )