Name: McKenzie McWhorter's review of The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Item: The Gender Game
Rating: 5
Author: McKenzie McWhorter

Bella Forrest

The Gender Game

McKenzie McWhorter

For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent comes a story like no other... A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender. Women rule the East. Men rule the West. Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Lacy W

OMG! I can't get over how much I loved this book. I literally downloaded it on a whim from Kindle Unlimited because I thought the name was cool. Plus it was a series so I figured that if I liked this book, I would have two other books to get excited about. 

So basically, like the little blurb says there are two cities separated by a toxic river by the Appalachian Mountains. What had happened was there was some sort of nuclear war or fallout. The survivors found a little place by these mountains that were habitable. The men and a few women of the group wanted to basically recreate our world where men would basically be in charge. There were women and a few men that wanted something completely different because it obvs didn't work out well the first time.

So the women and men that didn't agree went across the river to form Matrus. Matrus is run by women. Women have all the power. They get education, allowed to drive, etc etc. The men that are born in MAtrus have some rights but not a lot. They get to have apprenticeships and when they turn 8 years old, they got put through a test. If they fail, because they are too aggressive or whatever, they get sent to the mines. 

On the other side of the river is Patrus. Patrus is run by men and it basically sucks if you are woman living there. As a woman you have literally no rights. You cannot drive, you must submit to your husband, cannot even leave your home without a man. If a woman commits a crime, she is most likely sentenced to death unless a man can prove that it was in self defence or whatever. 

Don't worry. By me explaining these things to you, I'm not spoiling the book. It's literally 10 pages in. Plus I think it is a such an interesting concept and I wanted to dwell on it. As a woman, I would have thrived in Matrus but there is just so much irony in the two cities. I mean, for the group that wanted a different way of life, they sure went right back to their old ways. Human nature I suppose. 

Anyway, the story is about Violet, a very angry little teenager. She lost her brother at a young age and has been unable to control the rage inside her. Instead of being put to death, she is given an assignment. Infiltrate Patrus on a secret mission and she will be free and cleared of any and all charges. Sounds easy right? Wrong. You know damn well that a lot of things can and will go bad. 

What I found very interesting is the way the romance happened. She falls for the one person who you don't think she would fall for. But I liked that. It made the story more interesting. It wasn't the central theme of the story, thank god, but it added a pleasant break from the constant stress of the secret mission. 

The ending itself had such a twist. I'm literally burning through another book so I can download the next one because I have no self control in downloading books. It's awful. I shouldn't have been given a tablet and be left with such power. 

This series has easily become one of my favorites. I'm really starting to get into sci-fi/dystopian books. I don't know why I had such an aversion to them. They are literally like other books I have read, just with added science stuff. Go check this book/series out!

The pulse-pounding second book in The Gender Game series. Gliding over the treacherous Green in a shaky aircraft that she has no idea how to land, Violet Bates is still in shock. The harrowing events of the previous night play over in her mind as she asks herself question after question. Why did Lee Desmond Bertrand behave the way he did? What is the truth about the mysterious silver egg stowed beneath her seat? What happened to Viggo and where is her brother? Is either of them still alive? When Violet manages to reach the toxic ground alive, she has landed in a world of unimaginable danger. She has barely time to catch her breath before she is sucked into a perilous journey at breakneck speed - to uncover secrets guarded for centuries and find the only two people that matter. BUY NOW

The Gender Secret

I am officially hooked on this series. I love everything and anything about it. The best part about this particular book was it didn't suffer from that middle of the series syndrome. You know what I'm talking about. The middle book in the series that is boring and full of information that is important to the series but at the same time, it's just like  give me something. ANYTHING . Well this book delivered. In so many different ways. 

It takes places immediately after the first book. Violet is escaping after find out some pretty devastating things. She is attempting to find her brother and figure out the secret of what is so important about what she stole. We get Violet's point of view and Viggo's, which is refreshing. Violet had such a hard time reading him in the first one so it was nice that we finally got to understand what he was feeling. 

This book takes place entirely in the Green. The Green is a very inhospitable place. Nature has taken over and fallout from what I assume is nuclear waste has made the place virtually impossible for a human to live in. Violet crashes in the Green and is attempting to reach the Mines to get her brother. Viggo is also in the Green, attempting to get to Violet and bring her to justice in Patrus. 

That's about all I will say about the plot for now. Some of things I really liked in this book was the relationship between Violet and Viggo. They are both such strong willed individuals that are stubborn as hell. They refuse to acknowledge their true feelings for one another. As I read, I sat there thinking  stop being so damn stubborn!!. 

Another thing that I really liked is how similar it is to  The Hunger Games  but still different enough that it doesn't feel like copying. I do not know what came first. Both have dystopian societies that keep secrets and lies from their people. Both have a heroine that is basically an issue in society. Both have group/groups that want to overthrow the government in exchange for a, what they think is a, better one. I will not lie, (view spoiler)[ when Desmond (who is the leader of the Liberators) was giving Violet in opportunity to join their side and help overthrow the government, all I could think was be the Mockingjay, Violet. Become the Mockingjay. I clearly read too much. I was also really hoping she doesn't turn out to be like Coin. Because that would suck. A lot. (hide spoiler)]

Much to my dismay, I have to wait to the end of the month to read the last book. So if you want to start this series, wait until after December 31. That way you can blow through it and not have to wait for the last book. Because this one leaves you at a cliffhanger. And then you will be like me. Mad and impatient.

Continue Violet and Viggo's journey in the EXPLOSIVE third book of the bestselling The Gender Game series.

The Gender Lie

My brain feels like mush. This book has torn me apart and it isn't even sorry about it. I can't even begin to wrap my head around everything that happened in this book. Like...brain so mushy. That isn't even a coherent thought. Boy, am I a wreck. I will try to pull it together to give a coherent review. So strap yourselves in because this review will be a long one. 

So we continue where we left off in the second book. I don't quite know how much to say because it could be considered spoilers. I'll just talk about the characters for now. Violet is still just as amazing as ever. The best thing about her is she is growing up. She was kind of bratty and rude. But she has realized that people love her and she needs to start thinking about other people besides herself. Well, I suppose she has always thought about others but it was in a selfish kind of way, if that makes any sense. She searches people out because she wants to not because she needs too. She doesn't use people anymore. 

Then we have Viggo. He really pissed me off in the beginning but turned it around very quickly. He is very Patrian, which explains his ego, but I'm starting to realize that he is so much more than that. He is so kind and generous. He is patient with Violet and her brother. He only wants to protect those that he loves. And I love the relationship he has with Violet. He loves her for who she is. He doesn't try to change her. I can swoon about them for days. 

Imma recommend that you don't read past this point. Spoilers for days after this. I'm not going to tag it because it'll be a lot. So I'm letting you know now. So don't get mad if you read it and get the story spoiled. I warned you. 

Desmond is the leader of the Liberators. At first I was like okay, she is decent so far. Seems to be an honest person. Well about halfway or a little more through, I realized that is soooo not good. She reminds me of Coin from  The Hunger Games . Desmond is honest when she sees it as a good reason to be. She is a manipulator and a psychopath. There were several parts in the book where I couldn't even read. I just sat there like a fool, my mouth opened with shock. In fact one of my notes simply reads this:  Desmond is a bitch . I'm quite clever really. 

Poor poor Tim. He is trying so hard to be a person instead of the monster he thinks he is. He is Violet's brother and was one of the thousands of boys that were experimented on. He has cat like reflexes but it messed up his nervous system. So touch of any kind is painful to him. Even wearing clothes bothers him. I love the relationship between him and Violet. She cares so deeply for him and he cares just as deeply for her. He felt so bad when he hit her in his rage of being touched. My heart just ached and ached. 

The last 20% of this book was INSANE. I couldn't read fast enough. I'm just at a loss for words at how crazy this story has gotten. And that ending. Cliffhanger for days. February, please hurry! Also, if you stuck around for this long, thank you! I know that long reviews can be a bit tedious to get through but I am just so excited about this book and this series as a whole. I can't help but write a crazy amount. Maybe it would help if I learned how to put GIFs in.

"For the sake of Viggo, my brother, my family in Patrus, and every single citizen of our God-forsaken nations, I had to stop the war." Continue Violet and Viggo's journey in the ELECTRIFYING fourth book of The Gender Game series! Buy now.

The Gender War

If you haven't read the first three books, it would be best to not read this review, as things might get spoiled. Don't say I didn't warn you! 

4.5 stars! 

tw: death, bombings, derogatory comments towards women (often challenged but not always)

This series just keeps getting better and better, even though I rated this particular book lower then the first 3 (three). In 2016, I was a little liberal with my 5 (five) stars. I just gave them out all willy nilly. Well not anymore. This book was great but it didn't warrant 5 (five) stars. It wasn't anything in particular that made the rating lower, I just felt that since this was called The Gender War, that there would be a little more war. This was more about the resistance and the beginnings of potential war. 

In this book, we have 2 (two) first person POVs, Violet and Viggo. They are trying to prevent a war between Matrus and Patrus, all while basically just trying to survive and figure out their relationship. I know that is vague but giving away anymore will spoil the book. I loved Viggo's POV. I always thought he was bit too alpha male but during his POV, I discovered he was just afraid and covered that by being over the top alpha. Luckily, Violet puts him in his place several times when he acts like that. 

One of the things I enjoyed immesnly about this book is the development of Viggo's and Violet's relationship. Viggo had never thought he could love so deeply again after losing his wife. It was beautiful to see him care so much for Violet and it was amazing to see Violet accept that love. She slowly started to realize she is worthy of love by Viggo and her friends. No longer is she the closed off violent ice queen but a loving sister, girlfriend and leader of the revolution. 

This book also brought up a great point about war. How necessary is it? In the resistance group, Violet and Viggo are trying to stop a war but there are some members that believe the war should happen. This definitely makes you think about war and the cost of it. 

This book also brought up another excellent point. Violet discovers that her home country of Matrus isn't as great as she thought. Well, it wasn't all that great but she still held pride in being a Matrius woman. She often had to deal with the fact that her countrywomen wanting her dead. That is a rough thing to deal with. I experienced that the day my country decided that a gross old man with no political history, who is also a racist and sexist, was the best person to be President. It suck knowing that and trying to come to terms with it. 

Overall, this is such a great series. Violet and Viggo are amazing in every way and I ship them so hard. I can't wait to continue with this series as soon as I go home (where I conveniently left the rest of them). If you enjoy the Hunger Games, this is the book series for you!

"'I just had to believe we'd dealt a death blow of our own. That today would be the beginning of the end ... '"--Page 4 of cover.

The Gender Fall

The Gender Game 5

"Sometimes I wonder why you love me so much," he said after a moment. "But honestly, I don't care. You're my whole world, Violet."


Isn't Viggo just swoonworthy? This is a Patrian male. Basically raised to think women are property and here he is expressing his love for Violet. Even though Viggo was a more forward thinking male, he still held some prejudice of being from Patrus. It's so nice to see a character arc. 

I'm not really sure what else to say with this series. Not a lot happens in this book. Violet is recovering from her super traumatic brain injury while Viggo slowly starts to slip away from his self. That this what war does to you. Makes you turn into a person you don't even recognize anymore. That was really the premise of the book. Planning for the war that is bound to happen. 

Despite how much I love this series, I wish it would hurry up. There is just so much planning with few things added here and there. Nothing super major happened until the end of the book. But even then, it's only one major plot twist. I don't expect a ton of plot twists but I need some more progression to the plot. It's starting to drag out. 

I don't know what it is going to happen. There is still two books left. I hope it starts to pick up soon. I still really highly recommend it if you liked the Hunger Games. Just be prepared for a long wait to get anything.

The conclusion to Violet and Viggo's journey and to the Gender game series.

The Gender End

Oh man. This is the end. The end of one of the most interesting series I have read in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. On my blog, I will do a Gender Game series review. But for now, this will be a review about just The Gender End. 

I struggled to rate this book. I really did. I went back and forth between 3 (three) and 4 (four) stars. I felt it didn't deserve three stars but I wasn't sure if it deserved four stars either. I loved parts of it. Like (view spoiler)[ Viggo and Violet getting married. I cried during this part. It was so heartfelt.  (hide spoiler)] but other times, it was just kind of meh for me like the planning. Jesus, there is just so much planning. I don't know why the group bothered with planning. They end up winging it anyway. There were some deaths that happened that I didn't' really agree with and a POV that I enjoyed but it wasn't needed. 

Overall things finally happened in this book and I was glad. LIke I mentioned in some of the other books, this series could have been shortened by several books. But regardless, I'm glad things finally happened and when they did, they moved at a breakneck speed until the end. And I did enjoy the epilogue. It ended nicely. I felt closure and that was refreshing.

I'm glad I read this series, despite the low ratings on the last few books. I am curious enough to check out the author's other works but not for a while. I'm a bit burned out with Bella Forrest. I cannot deny, though, she has talent in creating worlds that are just incredibly interesting.

Ready for the explosive PENULTIMATE BOOK in The Gender Game series?

The Gender Plan

The Gender Game 6

This will most likely be a pretty short review because I don't have a lot to say about this book. Which sucks because I was really into this series at first and now I just wish it would end. That is really just the worst feeling in the world. 

I still love Violet and Viggo. I still root for their relationship 110%. I love how much they care for everybody and their little makeshift family. I love how they haven't lost their humanity throughout the course of the war. But man, they take forever at planning and getting things done. They don't quite plan for things to go wrong, which always seems to happen.

Basically, the entire book was about planning...again. Why must there be so much planning?? When the action did happen, I found I really didn't care because I waited far too long for it. I'm just ready for this series to be over. It has gone on for too long. Man, that is such an awful feeling.

Elisa Bieg

3 1/2 STARS

Ok, this is a bit tricky to review, because I have such mixed feelings, so I think I have to go with bullet points 😬

• Main character: Violet is really quite obnoxious. She constant does things that don’t make sense, even to her. She keeps blaming her nature and personality for acting stupidly, rather than try to take responsibility and do better. 
She makes a good fit for the weird circumstances, but a frustrating main character and narrator because it feels like she is just making the same mistake over and over and every time she is about to do it again you want to shake her and tell her “no! Remember what happened last time?” And then your hopes are dashed and you face-palm. 
Reading all about someone who makes me want to do this 🙄🙄🙄🙄 and this 🤦🏻‍♀️ all the time is quite frustrating and not my favorite experience.

• Romantic lead :  we see it coming a mile away. He comes in, and this girl who has never been interested in anyone and has just gotten... hmmmm...  into a specific set of circumstances (no spoilers!!) basically goes “huh. I wouldn’t mind getting me some of that.
Points for gradually building sexual tension, though. That was good. 👍🏼

• Premise:  interesting. I’m a sucker for dystopian novels, and they are all basically based on on one thing: take a worrying aspect of society, drive it to the absolute possible extreme; then, picturing that, design a society around it. 
This was no different — it took the disparities between the sexes as its starter and drove it to the extreme. Because of that, it might rub people the wrong way because it can be seen as taking sides. 
The way I see it, dystopian novels are good for us for that specific reason: they force us to face the catastrophic consequences that would come of any ideology based on dichotomy, if implemented to its full extent. Because guess what, things are NEVER black and white. 
From that standpoint, I find this novel brings to attention some interesting points, albeit through troubling scenarios. 

• World building : vague at first but then gradually taking shape through the main character’s experiences, as the story progresses. That is different from some other writers, who do a bit of set up and explain/illustrate the dystopian society for the most part at the beginning of the story. Here it unfurled gradually, and I didn’t mind it. It worked well with the development of the story and made it easier to understand the consequences and effects of specific rules when they were viewed through the specific set of circumstances they applied to. 

• Plot development :  a little floundering at first and slightly confusing, but then it took shape and followed fairly organically (or as organically as it can with such a moody, trouble-making narrator). The second part of the book is more interesting and faster-paced, and towards the end I just.could.not. put the bloody thing down. My pile of laundry sat there unfolded and wrinkled and I didn’t study what I was supposed to, because the book suddenly and unexpectedly got impossible to put down. 

•  Ending: slight cliff-hanger, but not the exaggerated kind that makes you want to throw the book to the wall in frustration. Simply a natural point to end the story, but also leave you wondering what happens next.

In other words, if I had had to rate this in the first half of the book I may have given it 2, 2 1/2 stars. Now I’m glad I kept reading, and plan on grabbing the next installment as well — but not before I have caught up on some of the items on my to-do list! 😅

Campbell Berry

This book was alright. It was kind of basic and very cliche. There was nothing that made it unique from other dystopian novels. The love triangle was also very bland which I was very sad about.

"I just had to believe we'd dealt a death blow of our own. That today would be the beginning of the end..." Ready for the explosive PENULTIMATE BOOK in The Gender Game series? (As we move toward the grand finale in Book 7: The Gender End). Order now!

Ashley Shaw

Pretty good

Definitely had some slow points but overall a thrilling read. Can’t wait to see how violet and viggos story ends

Nathalya van der Vlies

I really liked this book, it is the first book I read in a long time and I love distopian, so this was a great fit. It was predictable that Lee had other intentions or that he was "the bad guy" but that didn't really matter because there were other great plot twists. I loved the story and Viggo, the main character (Violet) was stupid at times and that was frustrating, but overall I liked the book very much and I'm looking forward to reading what will happen next :) 

Sofia Pereira

Okay so first time reviewing a book here on Goodreads but here we go!

This book has me in a very confused place. First of all, Violet is so goddamn violent! But then she has some relatable stuf? I just have a love/hate relationship with this character i swear...
Then There's Lee and the fucking whole thing! I just cant!

Honestly i would recomend it but to have someone to discuss this story!
I hope i get some new information on the following books or im going to be pissed....

Charley Curd

Great book! 

I personally love these kind of books! The book was slow to start but about half way through it peaked my interest and held all the way to the last sentence. I can’t wait to start the next book in this series and see what is more in store for Violet.

Awesome

The author does a great job of keeping you engaged and willing to read! I’m very excited to start the next book and see how Violet gets everyone out of trouble this time!

Megan

please do not make me think about this anymore LMAO vlog coming soon.

Ashlee

4.0 

A society divided by gender, men rule one side of a toxic river while women rule the other. If you wish to cross, you must bend to the laws of the other side, even if it means stripping yourself of your freedom to work, travel and learn. Would you cross the border for love or family if it meant losing your basic rights? Would you cross the border for your country?

Violet has a penchant for finding trouble. When an innocent is harmed by ill will she takes matters into her own hands, but finds she is unable to contain her rage. As punishment, Violet is faced with a choice, she can take the penalty she expected to face or travel to Patrus as a Matrian spy, disguised as a simple newlywed housewife, and take back a national secret stolen from the her country by the men who despise it. Along the way, Violet discovers not all Patrians are the cold, misogynists she has been told of and finds herself having to recalculate everything she believed. 

The Gender Game was a quick, fast-paced read and I found myself devouring the story in a day’s time. The writing is ligh in complexity, but good, and the new terms used to describe the world built with it were easy to learn and pronounce. The characters themselves had your typical desirable traits, but were also broken by past events and the internal struggles they have to cope with are realistic and relatable. 

This book had a major plot twist near the end that I did not see coming, despite elements of it being foreshadowed along the way. It left me wanting more and I was thankfully able to jump immediately into the next book in the series! Overall, this was a fun read with an interesting dystopian themed story to tell.

McKenzie McWhorter &
The Gender Game by Bella Forrest

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McKenzie McWhorter &The Gender Game by Bella Forrest

Reviews

Join the club

McKenzie McWhorter &
The Gender Game by Bella Forrest