Truely this has to be one of the worst books I have ever read. While i'm sure the gender references would have been interesting and insightful if it wasn't for the fact that a good explanation reveals itself. The main characters where poorly written but that could excusably be called a blessing to mask the fact that the settings where rather abstract. However, I understand that there is a book before this in the series. Perhaps if you had read that beforehand you might not come away so disgusted by this book. If I ever see anyone buy this book i'll slap em' on the wrists and tell them "I'm sorry, you want a book written by someone good"