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The Power by Naomi Alderman

Around the world, a sudden shift grants women a shocking physical edge—and power rewrites the rules overnight. Provocative and propulsive, The Power imagines a transformed society and asks what happens when the balance tilts, and who gets to decide what comes next.

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In The Power, did you enjoy ...

... a social-speculative lens on gender and power reshaping everyday life and institutions?

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

If what gripped you in The Power was watching Margot’s ascent in U.S. politics, Allie’s reinvention as Mother Eve, and Tunde’s reports capturing how the “skein” upends norms from Bessapara to London, you’ll appreciate how The Handmaid’s Tale dissects a society rebuilt around control of women’s bodies. Atwood tracks Offred’s day-to-day negotiations with authority in Gilead, showing—much like Alderman’s global shift—how intimate choices and public rituals become instruments of power.

... a globe-spanning, many-voices mosaic of societal upheaval?

World War Z by Max Brooks

Loved how The Power hopped between Roxy’s London underworld, Margot’s back-room deals, Allie’s fervent congregations, and Tunde’s on-the-ground dispatches? World War Z builds a similar panoramic chorus. Through interviews with soldiers, politicians, and civilians across continents, it mirrors Tunde’s reportage vibe, showing how a single disruptive force—like the “skein” in girls—reverberates through media, militaries, and fragile governments.

... ruthless maneuvering in the halls of power and the cost of remaking a world?

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

If Tatiana’s regime, Margot’s calculated compromises, and the way new power blocs form in The Power drew you in, The Traitor Baru Cormorant delivers knife-sharp statecraft. Baru infiltrates an empire’s bureaucracy, engineering currency reforms, alliances, and betrayals with the same cold calculus you saw in Bessapara’s palace and American politics—asking, as Alderman does, what price is paid when you bend systems to your will.

... the moral burden and fallout of extraordinary abilities used within oppressive systems?

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

If Allie/Mother Eve’s miracles and Roxy’s weaponized “skein” made you wrestle with when power heals versus harms, The Fifth Season goes even deeper. Essun, Damaya, and Syenite wield seismic abilities that can save or shatter cities; like the girls’ camps and religious revivals in The Power, their training, exploitation, and choices reveal the costs of using force in a world that fears and needs it.

... a gender-inverted, often brutal society that exposes the dangers of power’s swing?

The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent

If the darker turns in The Power—mob violence, state brutality in Bessapara, and zealotry around Mother Eve—stuck with you, The Shore of Women imagines a matriarchal order that controls men and polices desire. As in Alderman’s world where dominance flips and corrodes, Sargent’s characters navigate propaganda, forbidden relationships, and ritual punishment, revealing how any regime can harden into dystopia.

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