Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - I Who Have Never Known Men

I’m not usually a fan of dystopian or sci fi books so this was a bit out of my comfort zone, but i thought the concept was really interesting!

when i picked this up i was more expecting it to be about a small group of women being held against their will by men for nefarious reasons, rather than it being a dystopia where so many people were in these bunkers for a reason nobody knew, so it was a surprise when i got into it and realised it was that, and i can’t say i hugely enjoyed it just cuz this genre isn’t really my kind of thing, but i did find a lot of the points the main character made very reflective and interesting, and found myself relating to her in some ways, despite her situation being so far from anyone on earth’s.

it was cool to challenge myself to explore a genre i’m not usually into, but i don’t know if i’d do it again

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savvylit's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I Who Have Never Known Men is a character-driven dystopian novel full of ambiguity. Readers are allowed just as much knowledge of the women's circumstances as they themselves have access to. The narrator is a teenager, the youngest of the entire group. Unable to remember her life before the bunker, the narrator is frustrated with the other women's desire for pre-imprisonment comforts.

I can't summarize much more about this novel without giving away portions of the plot. What I will say is that Harpman's unnamed narrator and her associates are all incredibly true to life. I was fully engrossed by their lives - despite the ambiguity and mystery surrounding their circumstances. I Who Have Never Known Men is a truly fantastic addition to the dystopian canon and I will be thinking about it for a very long time!

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veralo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Fascinating idea for a book, although I don’t know if I thought it was that well executed. I was bored during a big part of the book although the story is thrilling. It became very repetitive after a while and I think that the book could have been incredible if there had been more effort put in the storytelling and not only the story in itself! I liked the language and I can see the effort put in the storyline etc but i don’t know, I didn’t love it.

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