The Fortress

Starred review from January 13, 2020
Jones (Isabelle of the Moon and Stars) gracefully combines the mythic with the deeply human in this rewarding fantasy about the transformative potential of freeing society from patriarchal power. Executive Jonathon Bridge is entrenched in contemporary rape culture, happily cheating on his pregnant wife with assistants and interns at his office, taking their consent for granted and not considering the power dynamics at play in these trysts. When his wife discovers his behavior, Jonathon hopes to regain her trust and prove his capacity to be a good father by volunteering as a supplicant at the mysterious, matriarchal Fortress, a sovereign nation of women existing along side his present-day world. He will spend a year in highly controlled, ascetic service within the Fortress, where the guiding principles are “Work. History. Sex. Justice.” Explicit scenes of men in humiliating sexual service to the women of the Fortress veer into the territory of feminist revenge fantasy, but the primary tone of the book is one of compassion as the focus remains on Jonathon’s slow, sometimes dark, emotional journey. Jones’s radical, detailed vision of what extremes it might take to unlearn misogyny is rendered with insight, immediacy, and painful honesty. This gut-punch of a story is sure to start conversations.

January 15, 2020
Misandry replaces misogyny in this pseudo-feminist revenge fantasy. Jonathon Bridge was born into money, and his success as an executive has only increased his wealth and power. Cocaine binges and sexual harassment are, as far as he is concerned, perks of privilege. His one saving grace is his wife, a free spirit and dedicated journalist. When Adalia learns what her husband has been getting up to at the office, she offers him one chance to win her back: He can spend a year as a supplicant in The Fortress, a colony ruled by a society of women called the Vaik. It is her hope that this experience will cure him of his narcissism. "You need to learn insignificance, Jonathon." The best science-fiction authors invent new worlds to use as laboratories in which to interrogate real-world problems, either to test out solutions or issue a warning. Jones (Isabelle of the Moon and Stars, 2014, etc.) does not do this. What she does instead is create a fictional universe in which it's acceptable to delight in the degradation of men. What's in store for Jonathon becomes clear as soon as he enters The Fortress, when he is stripped and subjected to a body-cavity search. His clothes are replaced with a form-fitting tunic that barely covers his genitals. Over the course of a few hundred pages, Jonathon will endure forced labor and sexual servitude. He will be compelled to have sex with a child. He will be penetrated by a man without his consent. The Vaik, inscrutable and lascivious, are cartoon women crafted from tired patriarchal tropes. The sex scenes--of which there are several--range from ludicrously appalling to bizarrely gruesome. The alien trappings--the strange ways of the Vaik, the imaginary plants and animals--are gewgaws, apparently intended to distract the reader from the fact that this is, in essence, nothing more than sadomasochistic porn. Wildly unimaginative and just generally gross.

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March 1, 2020

When Jonathon's pregnant wife Adalia learns of his dalliances with the plethora of young interns at his company, she gives him an ultimatum--serve as a supplicant at The Fortress for a year, or divorce. The Fortress is a territory controlled by the Vaik, warrior women who live largely agrarian lives and use male labor (in the form of volunteers and criminals from the rest of the world) to work and procreate. Entering The Fortress requires that Jonathon submit to the will of the Vaik in all matters, and the struggle he endures there breaks him and reforms him. VERDICT Jones (Isabelle of the Moon and Stars) creates a world that, while perhaps lacking in worldbuilding elements, deeply explores the meanings of consent and power. There are moments of graphic violence and sex. Fans of Joanne Ramos's The Farm and Margaret Atwood's The Testaments may enjoy this role-reversal story.--Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis P.L.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2020
Jonathon Bridge is an unfaithful, entitled executive who volunteers for one year of confinement in the Fortress in order to win back the love of his pregnant wife, Adalia. Among the rules: he must not ask questions; he must obey every request from the female inhabitants of the Fortress, the Vaik; and he must not raise a fist to strike in anger. Over the course of the novel, Jonathon struggles to function in a system where his thoughts and feelings are not centered. It takes some time for the history of the Fortress and the details of Jonathon's backstory to be revealed, and narrative threads raise questions: Who is the mysterious Woman in charge of the Vaik? What happens to male children born in the Fortress? Can personal improvement be forced? After a year of hard labor, compulsory sex, and soul-searching, Jonathon is released, but it's not clear if he ever truly submitted. Jonathon is very clearly a product of his (our) culture?can such a man be redeemed? This timely and often uncomfortable read, like The Handmaid's Tale, is a guaranteed conversation starter for book clubs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)