This was great. I had admit I was a little apprehensive as I did not really engage with the 'we have always fought' one. But this was right up street. Dark and gritty and full on. The bit that struck me the most was the disintegration of the father when he returns from interrogation, that was so well done. The silence the staring, the opium and the eventual suicide. Really really harrowing stuff and just all round amazing writing. You just know they castrated that poor bastard. It was brutal.
I didn't really consider it a 'flip' story though. Normally in those stories you have the men doing all the washing up and the women off inventing stuff and smoking cigars. But this struck me as a much more believable scenario for some reason, maybe because the setting is just that little bit more realistic. But it didn't strike me as fantastical or gimmicky at all that the invaders were women. I'm not entirely sure why not, but I had no problem accepting that bit. If there was a moral or a message here, I guess it could be that women are just as capable of evil as men are. Dark. Grity. Great.