Rating- 8/10
Who run the world? Girls !
Yes! What an epic book. Why no one is making a movie from this novel is beyond me.
The Power is an alternate, sci-fi, fantasy world where women basically run the place. In this novel, women discover that they have 'The Power'. Now, what is the 'The Power' you ask? It is the ability to electrocute whoever they want with just a flick of their fingers. They can cause fatal injuries, even death! It's great. Haha
The question we have to ask ourselves is, what happens in a world where women suddenly become the dominant gender? Where feminism is celebrated, and the world is no longer run by men. Think about it, in our real life world, everything is basically run by men. It's a simple fact. For decades & decades. Countries, businesses, wars, most of the richest people in the world are men, even most household were run by men till the 1950s. So imagine a world where the tables have completely turned and females become the dominant gender. No longer do they have to be afraid, or be weaker than the opposite sex. In this world, they are physically stronger than the men. So trippy! I loved it. With 'the power' in the women's hands, they can literary do whatever they want, and that's exactly what they do in this book.
The Novel follows four main characters and the story is told through their eyes throughout the book. Roxy who is a gritty London girl from a rough family, Allie, an American foster girl from a crazy religious background, Tunde who is a rich bored Nigerian boy, and and Margot, an American local politician. The story is told throughout a time span of ten years and you get to follow how 'The Power' becomes such a big part of their lives and they're at the centre of it all. They become very strong characters in the book and make big impacts to people's lives.
They all live pretty normal lives until 'The Power' begins to form in young teenage girls, they all discover they have this weird electrical power that comes from within their bodies.
'...[She] feels the thing like pins and needles along her arms. Like needle-pricks of light from her spine to her collarbone, from her throat to her elbows, wrists, to the pads of her fingers. She's glittering, inside.'
They can pass it on to older women and awaken 'the power' that has been inside them for many years. The story then develops from there. From the get go it's jam packed full of action and takes you on a thrilling ride on this new discovery. You get to really see all the events that would lead to a state of Cataclysm between countries. It's a very politically driven book too, which almost makes it believable if this were to ever happen. lol I also thought that it was quite clever to play on religion in this book, they sort of take on this role of 'Mother Eve', in reference to Adam & Eve in the Bible. As the kind of saviour for a lot of the women in their world. It's very symbolic and creative. There are also some great plot twists in this book that I wasn't expecting and definitely kept me on my toes. I didn't know how the book would end which was great for me.
The book has a great beginning and end too which was refreshing, it provided some good closure to such an epic tale. The only criticism I would have is that at times, it was hard to follow the writing style of the book. In terms of language, it was an easy read but at the same time quite a complex writing style- that didn't flow as well, if that makes sense? But not enough to confuse you!
Otherwise I totally loved this book! Such a great idea, I highly recommend all girls & women to read this if you feel like you want a good girl power feminist type of book! Men too hey? Join the movement! President Obama said it was one of his favourite books of 2017. If the former president liked it y'know it's gotta be good, amirite? It's exciting, thrilling, overwhelming, fun, wild and over all a great story. Nice book cover too, the 3D feel to it is ace.
If this were to be turned into a movie or TV show (Please! Somebody do this), I actually know what the soundtrack would be! A pop group called Little Mix (click here for youtube link) came out with this song called 'Power'. It's annoyingly catchy and so relevant to this book!! So relevant that I'm gonna quote a few lines from the track 'Power' below-
Baby, you're the man
But I got the, I got the, I got the power
You make rain
But I'll make it, I'll make it, I'll make it shower
You should know, I'm the one who's in control
I'll let you come take the wheel, long as you don't forget
Who got the power? (Beat kicks in!)
Or Beyoncé's 'Run the world' (click here for youtube link) would do justice too. Yass I'm all about that girl power!
Shout out to the gorgeous Olivia for recommending this book to me- it was defo worth a read! ;)
Get your own copy right here on Amazon books!