This book wasn't what I expected it to be. Or rather, it was more than I expected it to be.

A few weeks ago, I read an article by Naomi Alderman in which she talked about this book and said, "Nothing happens to a man in the book that hasn't happened to a woman." It piqued my interest. It also set my expectations. I was expecting a book that used a sci-fi setting to challenge my assumptions about gender and what it means to be a man or woman.

I wasn't let down. Alderman carefully traces the shift in culture as women take on the power that men usually assume is theirs (in some cases without even realizing that they've done so). And it's a fascinating portrayal of what happens.

But the book is more than that. As the title promises, The Power is an exploration of power. Alderman looks how power is assumed or acquired, how it is used or misused and of course, how it corrupts. But this book also examines how power affects human connection, how seeking power seems to have an inverse relation ship to being able to maintain a relationship based on trust rather than on bargaining.

If I have any criticism of the book it is that the frame narrative occasionally jarred me out of my suspension of disbelief. At one point the author-within-the-book—who is writing 5,000 years in the future—casually mentions BuzzFeed, but then is mystified by Apple products.

But that is a small quibble for what is a truly extraordinary book. It's not always easy reading, but it's not meant to be. The exercise of power can often be ugly, and that is fully on display here.