Title: Ritual of Proof
Author: Dara Joy
Publication Date: April 2, 2002 by HarperTorch
Genres: SFF Romance
Ritual of Proof is a book I've had on my used bookstore wishlist for years, thanks in part to its place on several role-reversal and FLR book lists, and to the opening lines of its cover blurb:
In a world where women hold all the power, a titled man can do little but accept his fate -- that his sole purpose is to secure a good match -- and hope his "bed price" is high enough.
I knew, given that Jorlan was described as impossibly willful and brash, that this was somehow going to subvert the relationship expectations, but I'd hoped for enough background and supporting characters for me to be able to enjoy the world around him. Sadly, that was not to be the case.
I made it a little more than a third into this, far enough to read about the titular Ritual of Proof (which involves a male hymen that is painfully dissolved by a woman's sexual fluids), and randomly skimmed through the rest to see if it got better, but the whole book feels like an awkward satire at best, or a deliberate cheat at worst. We're told that the whole world was deliberately set up like that of a gender-swapped Regency romance (yes, there's a sci-fi colonization element to this), and we see a lot of the women in charge, but aside from references to the Marquelle's pleasure boy, there's not another male to be seen. We're expected to just accept the gender dynamic because we're told it exists, but the only one we get to experience is desperately straining to be that of a traditional romance.
Now, I get the satirical element of it, I really do. Making Jorlan a bluestocking who believes in equal rights for men seems silly because it's so far from our own experience, but it also forces the reader to confront the fact that women having to fight for equality is just as silly. Similarly, genetically engineering a male hymen to prove virginity is just as silly, but it forces us to think about women being so casually violated to prove their virginity from a different perspective. Where the satire falls short is that, to my mind, the book does a good job of explaining why the society was established that way, and why gender roles were reversed, and nothing about the story seems to challenge that.
The problem - for me, at least - is that I wanted to immerse myself in that gender-flipped world and experience what it's like to be a pampered, submissive male whose only job is to look good for his wife and take care of her estates. I knew we'd never get a sincere exploration of that in a twenty-year-old mass market paperback, but I hoped we at least see something of that world. I kept holding out hope for a character who would contrast Jorlan, maybe friends or even forced friends whose behavior would highlight what a rebellious bluestocking he is, but sadly none of that is to be found.
As a satire, Ritual of Proof is a bit too deliberate, with a singular focus that doesn't allow for any nuances, lacking the context we need to appreciate it. As an FLR romance, it's a complete failure, unless you like bratty subs, dubcon intimacy, and topping from the bottom. Maybe I just had my hopes up, but this was not for me.
Rating: ♀ ♀
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