We all know the story: boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. The end. Drop the curtain and roll the credits. We could even play a cute little pop song and call it ‘Happily Ever After’ if we’re feeling charitable. But in To Best the Boys by Mary Weber, we explore a vastly different ending: Boy meets girl. Girl decides to pursue higher education. Girl risks her life in a deadly, all-boys scholarship competition.
My Review of To Best the Boys
What I Liked
💭The Concept!
Basically, I would describe this book as The Maze Runner meets The Hunger Games with the feminism dial turned all the way on high. In order to win a chance at attending the prestigious male-only Stemwick University, our main character channels some of her inner Mulan. She saws off her hair in the dead of night and dons a pair of trousers (which she got off a dead body, might I add. This girl’s hardcore). I love the “Heroine Disguises Herself as a Boy” trope, so I was instantly snagged by the premise!
📖 RELATED POST: 5 YA Books Where the Heroine Disguises Herself as a Boy
💪The Themes!
Undoubtedly, the best part of To Best the Boys is that it sends one big FLYING KICK-A-POW to the patriarchy’s tender parts. It revolves around Rhen, a scientist-in-training who spends the majority of her free time in the company of diseased lab rats and exploding cadavers. Contrary to what her society expects of women, she isn’t content with ending up as a romantic footnote in some boy’s life story. She wants to be the star of her own.
This book offers up a powerful narrative about the struggles women face every day to make themselves heard in a world that’s trained to only hear and value a man’s voice. It also touches on other hard-hitting topics such as the importance of having varied and diverse representation in politics, as well as the unfair nature of class stratification.
👥The Supporting Cast!
Behind every great mind, there’s even greater friends, and Rhen from To Best The Boys proves no different. Although Rhen is an intelligent and empowering heroine, the two characters that really caught my attention were Seleni and Beryll.
Seleni is Rhen’s upperclass girly-girl cousin who wholeheartedly looks forward to the day she’ll get the chance to become both a wife and a mother. Her determination and boundless love prove that courage, and even feminism, don’t fit just one mold.
I’ve always wanted the life of a wife, and mother, and helpmate to my husband, and I know you may not think much of that, but it’s what I want. And I’d be proud of it. Same as I’ll be proud of whatever you do…And I think that desire is just as noble as what you’re doing, if that’s the life I want and choose.
Beryll is Seleni’s beau, and he’s a soft-spoken, weak-stomached cinnamon roll who spends half the book being appalled at one conceived impropriety or another. His quiet strength and polite respect for all those he meets serves to deconstruct the toxic masculinity we so often see depicted in media today.
What I Liked Less
🗺️The Worldbuilding!
To Best the Boys takes place in a fictional province called Caldon, which is located in the middle of “a much larger collection of kingdoms commonly referred to as the Empyral Lands.” If you’re hoping to dive deeper than that, then you’d better switch out your scuba gear for a snorkeling mask, because we’re swimming in shallow waters today, folks.
As if that wasn’t enough, fantastical creatures, such as sirens, ghouls, and basilisks, are haphazardly tossed into the story alongside some weaksauce mentions of magic. This adds nothing to the narrative and only managed to distract me from both its tone and overarching message. If anything, the inclusion of such magical elements feels like a lazy way to explain away the mystery of the Labyrinth and its creator, Mr. Holm.
✏️The Plot!
Contrary to what the book blurb might have you think, this isn’t a fast-paced, survival-of-the-fittest sort of story, though it does have its moments. Instead, To Best The Boys takes its molasses-sweet time introducing characters and their motivations, with the promised deadly maze competition not starting until about halfway through. Additionally, many questions such as, “Who is Holm? What’s with the Labyrinth? How does it all work?” are never answered in any significantly satisfying way. The true heart of this book lies in its powerful message about women, and it doesn’t feel the need to flesh out much of anything else besides that.
The Final Verdict
Although To Best the Boys by Mary Weber isn’t a perfect literary specimen by any means, it is an empowering book that works hard to subvert harmful gender expectations and their accompanying stereotypes.
TODAY'S WAFFLE RECIPE
To Best the Boys
From the Kitchen of: Mary Weber Cooking Directions:
The task is simple: don a disguise. Survive the Labyrinth. Best the boys.
In a thrilling new fantasy from the bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy, one girl makes a stand against society and enters a world made exclusively for boys.
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. The poorer residents look to see if their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.
In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.
With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze.
Welcome to the Labyrinth.
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5 Comments
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I had no idea Mary Weber had another book out. I like that this book explores the varying degrees of strength and feminism and it sounds like the characters have a really fun dynamic too them. It’s a shame that the plot and world building fell short and that the creatures added nothing to the narrative. It seems like a waste of an idea. I’m glad you enjoyed the book though.
I actually read another review of this book recently and I think its a sign that I need to dust this book off and get to reading it! I think it sounds like I will enjoy it — I mean, I bought it for a reason, right??
And P.S. Your blog set-up and graphics are INCREDIBLY adorable and clever! I am so in love!!
I love your review! I think your description of the worldbuilding perfectly explains my dissatisfaction with the story (although I didn’t have the words to describe it).
Also, although I don’t consider myself a feminist, don’t hate the patriarchy, and generally dislike books with girl power as their only theme, I enjoyed this book! I agreed with most of what the author was saying and enjoyed the characters’ perspectives.
Ahh! I LOVE the way you write your reviews ands how everything is related to waffles! It’s so creative, and I can;t wait to read this book!
Thank you so much! It makes me happy to know that you enjoy the way I write my reviews! I’ve changed up my formatting over the years, and have finally found a way that I like!