I’m about to get pretty negative here, so vacate the premises if you don’t want to read a very unhappy reader’s criticism.
That warned...
It’s the same old, tired, misogynistic “romance” tropes stacked on top of each other and dressed in a trench coat of pseudo-feminist fantasies.
You’ve got your wide-eyed damsel in distress with a heart of gold (in comparison to others in her vicinity), and your harem of attractive(ly-drawn) but controlling and possessive men likely to be rich and powerful. They’ve been plopped in a setting meant to prove why a country run by women would be a nightmarish mess.
Yes, the women are the “superior” gender in this universe. Not. And that’s just it, isn’t it? All women in this story (excluding the female lead) are inferior beings. All women in this new universe are arrogant slave owners/sellers lacking human empathy and depth. Every single woman is laughably, comedically evil.
They’re caricatures meant to emphasize how special the female lead is for not being a two-dimensional cartoon villain. It’s the “Not Like the Other Girls” in a world where it’s common sense to generalize and demonize every single person with a uterus, because they really are that inhumanly Bad.
The author only uses the “World Ruled by Women” setting to make the female lead stick out, just because she recognizes slavery and abuse are Not Cool. That she is horrified when seeing someone beating and caging another human being before selling them on an auction block is unique to her. (Ignore how easily she falls for a pretty face, and how often she breaks into tears and falls into the nearest man’s arms.) FMC is the Ideal Female in this story/this world. (Ignore that she’s your basic shoujo ingenue copied/pasted into a world in which she can stick out for not being a heinous piece of sh**.) She is the Only Reasonable Woman.
(Ignore that she really says: “He really wants me to die...since it’s like this, I’ll just die then...” and proceeds to try to throw herself off a cliff.)
I’m not even going to touch on the homophobia and transphobia.
And let’s be clear. There’s no rich background or diversity to add to the Matriarchal World tagline. Structural, enriching details are, thus far, absent in the setting, in the history, and in the characters themselves.
Not to mention, the main male lead is a chauvinistic, vainglorious prince with strong possessive tendencies. He literally quotes Confucianist ideals of women-listen-and-obey, and readers are supposed to swoon. How unique! A man who thinks it’s natural for women to be owned and objectified! I’ve never seen that before!! Of course, this Sexist Alpha Male archetype is wholly unsurprising in 95% of fantasy shoujo.
Actually, most of the misogynistic tropes in this are nothing we haven’t seen before. But to have it all presented as atypical and attractive is bordering on offensive.
Like, really? Come on. Take off the trench coat. We’re not that stupid.