KING OF THORNS by Mark Lawrence is $1.99!

You're 100% right except for one thing. The white male characters are drooling degenerate assholes. It's the entire point of the book, nobody is moral and nobody is innocent. Even Jorge isn't particularly smart, he just has plot armor. It's also a POV book. For Jorge women are just objects of sexual desire, just as men are tools for his juvenile war game. The women scheme and the men scheme, the women are fat and the men are fat. In a book where scheming is most capable anyone can be I'm not sure what more you want out of the women.

The Nuban dies because he's good, and to some extent a Gandalf figure. Gandalf has to die because Frodo needs to carry to ring on his own. The Nuban has to die because he's a bit of a spiritual guardian to Jorge. He's not defined solely by the color of his skin, although calling him the Nuban is a dick move by dick characters. Black people can die for white characters, I'm not really sure how that's racist. He's the only moral character other than Mikan (sort of) who spends most of the book standing around with his dick in his hands.

Sure, minorities and women aren't represented, except they are you just don't like HOW they're represented. That's fine but it's more indicative of a failure to create compelling characters regardless of race, including Jorge. You want women and minorities who don't fit the protagonist's twisted worldview. The only main character who doesn't fit his evil view of the world is black (not that the noble savage trope isn't racist) and all of the white guys are evil degenerates. It's not that there aren't strong minority and female characters, there aren't strong characters period. You've just only taken offense to the racism and sexism, not the senseless violence, mass murder, and general amorality. Lawrence writes in the nuking of a city by the protagonist but it's ok as long as he doesn't kill the black guy and fat women don't exist.

/r/Fantasy Thread Parent Link - bookbub.com