This book was so aggravating I skipped to the end to see if it would be worth finishing (I never skip to the end). I skimmed some pages toward the end and saw that people were bleeding, so I thought if I plowed through the bothersome middle, there would be righteous vengeance at the end. I was wrong. There was not enough blood, and if there was, the wrong people were bleeding it.
The Gate to Women’s Country takes place some time post-apocalypse, where the women all live in a walled city, and the men all live outside the walls in garrisons, endlessly training to be good soldiers. There are “assignation houses” the men and women may visit during carnival times, and if the resulting babies are boys, they’re given over to their warrior fathers. The story is told from Stavia’s point of view as she grows up in Marthatown, learning from her doctor mother. The chapters jump back and forth between Stavia the child and Stavia the 37-year-old, so we see her learn about the “convulsion” that left the world with a severely depleted population and large dead spots in the land, and why the world is so controlled and rigid now, to keep it from happening again.
The warrior soldiers are jerks, who see women as inferior (sigh) and plot a rebellion to take over the city. Stavia has a brain, but loses it completely when a handsome young soldier bats his eyes at her. When the two plan an against-the-ordinances adventure outside the city walls, multiple clairvoyant people (that’s a thing in the future) tell her NO, STOP, BAD IDEA, DON’T GO. Stavia, of course, listens to none of this. Which is why they go off on an herb-gathering exploration of unfamiliar territory, and get kidnapped by scary christian hillbillies. Among the hillbillies, multiple wives are encouraged, women are beaten and have their heads shaved to keep away any lustful feelings, and torture and rape are doing your duty by God.
So we have two examples of menfolk in the future, one bad and one worse. The women seem to be smarter, but are doormats. When Stavia gets her head bashed in by a shovel-wielding hillbilly, it’s two men (her mother’s servants) who rescue her. Oh, and her boyfriend is HORRIBLE. I kept waiting for the women to rise up and smite all these dumbasses, but NO. There’s a slight nod to working within the system and staying calm and following the plan, so things will be better for future generations. That’s crap. Needs more vengeance.