Reviews

Moths by Jane Hennigan

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georgilvsbooks's review against another edition

4.0

Where were you at the beginning?
Or at the end?
And where are we all now?

Readying dystopian is always a favourite!

I liked this, but a lot of the time it didn’t hold my attention. The main character Mary was interesting, I liked that we got to know her during and after this pandemic.

Moths reminded me of The End Of Men (a great dystopian)

If you enjoy silence fiction, dystopian and suspense this is one to check out.

interrowhimper's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cassie_b's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

lauren3101's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

robarnold's review against another edition

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4.0

Another interesting take on gender roles and how a massive shift in power can influence society. If that sounds a bit dry, swarms of Moths appear and nearly wipe out all men on the planet!

thecaseofbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for allowing this.

Moths is quite different in feminist dystopian fiction for having a female led society. Last female led society in fiction I read was Herland and I wasn’t hugely keen on that. Moths however does this well. Moths is set many years after an apocalyptic event where men start becoming out of control violent and attacking women or dying when exposed to threads passed on by moths. Most men die out as a result and the illness is still widespread even years later with the remaining men having to be kept in carefully sanitised facilities with heavily restricted freedom to prevent them from being infected.

An element I found really interesting in this novel was our narrator and central protagonist is in her seventies. This is absolutely necessary for the plot as Mary is one of the few people left who remember what life was like before the illness started. Most young women in the society think of men as frail and inferior and incapable of being a part of society in the way women are as they’ve never known anything different. Mary remembers a time when men were husbands, fathers etc. There was commentary around propaganda here as the council actively seek to inhibit information relating to the time before. I wouldn’t have minded more exploration in this novel around the society as a dystopia. There were themes of exploitation and control of freedom and information but this wasn’t discussed in great depth and I’d happily have seen more on this. I found it really enjoyable reading from the perspective of an older narrator, Mary felt like such a believable narrator and her choices in this book felt understandable when you learn more of her history.

I did enjoy that the book flashes back to the past to share the experience when the infection started. The book benefitted so much from this, keeping the tension up but providing needed context for actions taking part in the present. The scenes in the past were where most of the horror happened. There were some disturbing moments where infected men inflicted extreme violence on women.

Would I buy this book for my sister who is a big fan of feminist dystopian fiction? Absolutely