I have quite enjoyed the series.

The novels take place in "medieval" times. Let's see... in medieval times women were bought and sold at the convenience of the men in their lives. Racism was rampant. Think about the real world pre-Columbus. Anyone different from you was savage and heathen and it wasn't just Europeans who felt that way. The Japanese refused to allow Europeans to land on their islands for like 200 years. That's essentially the kind of world he is creating. To have equity between the sexes and races would not work in his world. And women were pretty much married off as soon as they started menstruating.

Veronica