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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
Takes a while to get going, and where it does end up going isn’t that interesting.
I think I should have read more about this book before I went into it. After reading Broken Monsters I was expecting something similar and it was very different! I had a hard time adjusting my expectations. I did find myself frustrated with a lot of parts of this book. A lot of the banter felt forced and wow I just really hated some of the characters. But overall by the time I reached the end I was glad for the ride. I'd give it 3.5 if I could but I did enjoy it.
I couldn’t finish this one. Really disappointing because I really liked a couple of the author’s other books, but it’s as if someone else wrote this. For me the worst part was all of the trendy social media language she used whenever the main characters conversed (or even when they were in their own heads). Frankly just annoying.
This is not what you'd expect. It's initial wave of hitting too close to home, a pandemic that affects men more, gives way to a pretty great escape journey. But I never felt worried. It was more interesting than tense.
I really enjoy Lauren Beukes novel 'The Shining Girls' and I think I was hoping for something like that. This novel is a very different animal in that the premise is a world where most men have died due to a virus and the consequences for a mother and her son. Great premise and what coincidental/prophetic timing! I enjoyed the novel to a point but, for me, I felt the pace was off - there didn't really seem any point where I thought the protagonists were going to be in real danger. So, for those looking or an end of the world scenario, Handmaids Tale type of novel - enjoy!
This is an exhilarating thriller set in a near-future dystopia after a global pandemic has killed off 90% of the world’s male population. The pacing is perfectly taut, the description flows effortlessly, the dialogue is authentic and funny and heartbreaking. The world building is terrifyingly detailed and seems all too possible, given that we are in the middle of a different type of pandemic that has also sent the world into a tailspin. Occasionally it was quite stressful to be reading about a pandemic, a little too on the nose, but overall I just really, really enjoyed this book. It’s the first novel I’ve been able to concentrate on, and finish, since the (real) global pandemic was declared.
Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, for providing the advance review copy via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. A copy of this review is also on the Edelweiss+ site and my blog.
Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, for providing the advance review copy via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. A copy of this review is also on the Edelweiss+ site and my blog.
entertaining! got into it like a guilty pleasure trash tv show (think riverdale, the chilling adventures of sabrina) and binge read.
If you ignore the hype that this is a book about feminism and how a world run by women isn't any better than a world run by men, you'll be good. This is primarily a story about a mother and son escaping to safety, with a dystopian pandemic-ruined world as a background story. I was sort of expecting something more like The Power, which I found incredible in its view of a female-centered world. This wasn't that, despite the promises, but it was still enjoyable.
I want to say that Beukes writes beautiful but that’s sounds like she writes about flowers and romance or whatever. I rather say that she writes ‘really’.
As a South Africa who has, albeit minor, experiences of being in America, this book really resonated with me. I feel like I have had the same conversations and now have new insights into them.
Afterland is witty, relevant and real (with a touch of surreal).
As a South Africa who has, albeit minor, experiences of being in America, this book really resonated with me. I feel like I have had the same conversations and now have new insights into them.
Afterland is witty, relevant and real (with a touch of surreal).
Couldn't finish. This book has a great premise, but does literally nothing with it.
In a world virtually free of men,a mother and her son are on the run.
It has a strong start and there's a great interlude section where we get some idea of how people were thinking when the men started to dwindle, but the main body of the story is a let down.
All the women that fill traditional male story roles, like international crime boss or violent henchman, do so in a way that the fact they agree women makes no difference. There's no exploration of how things might be different.
You could remove the plague angle and make the story about a family on the run from a loan shark or abusive husband and it would be the same.
It's also rammed with contemporary reference to pop culture, which are already dated.
In a world virtually free of men,a mother and her son are on the run.
It has a strong start and there's a great interlude section where we get some idea of how people were thinking when the men started to dwindle, but the main body of the story is a let down.
All the women that fill traditional male story roles, like international crime boss or violent henchman, do so in a way that the fact they agree women makes no difference. There's no exploration of how things might be different.
You could remove the plague angle and make the story about a family on the run from a loan shark or abusive husband and it would be the same.
It's also rammed with contemporary reference to pop culture, which are already dated.