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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
Did not finish due to transphobia. You have created a world, could you not also create one where transwomen are unaffected by the virus just like their cis counterparts? How about deciding that taking hormones prevents them from getting the prostate cancer that is killing cis men? Trans women were only mentioned once and it was to specifically indicate that they are killed by the virus that only kills men. It is so unnecessary.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
dark
tense
medium-paced
Afterland is set in the aftermath of a global pandemic where a virus has killed almost every man on the planet. There is no cure and the 1% of men left on the planet are seen as rare, precious and highly valuable.
I don’t want to give too much away by explaining the full story, so in brief, readers follow mother Cole and son Miles who are on the run. Miles is in the 1% of men immune to the virus and there are a few people (a family member included) that are trying to track them down. Cole lost her husband from the virus and now she must do whatever it takes to protect her son from being taken away from her too.
It seems so strange to read a book set around a pandemic, when you’re actually living through a pandemic. I really liked the line in the book: ‘You can’t imagine how quickly the world can change in six months’ because actually we can now. The concept of this book was intriguing, it’s a dystopian thriller and it was interesting to read what life could be like in a female led world which is completely against normal reality. I also liked the fact it was set in the ‘Afterland’ the aftermath of what had happened. The world Beukes had built felt very real.
I enjoyed the multiple character view points and the fact every chapter switched to another character. However, I struggled to get into this book and found it never really picked up enough for me to really get engaged in it. I also found some of the initial flashbacks distracting as I was trying to understand what was going on, on top of getting to know the backstory. It didn’t quite hit the mark for me, it was a slow burner but I’m sure there will be many who will enjoy Afterland.
Thanks to much to @michaeljbooks and @netgalley for my gifted digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I don’t want to give too much away by explaining the full story, so in brief, readers follow mother Cole and son Miles who are on the run. Miles is in the 1% of men immune to the virus and there are a few people (a family member included) that are trying to track them down. Cole lost her husband from the virus and now she must do whatever it takes to protect her son from being taken away from her too.
It seems so strange to read a book set around a pandemic, when you’re actually living through a pandemic. I really liked the line in the book: ‘You can’t imagine how quickly the world can change in six months’ because actually we can now. The concept of this book was intriguing, it’s a dystopian thriller and it was interesting to read what life could be like in a female led world which is completely against normal reality. I also liked the fact it was set in the ‘Afterland’ the aftermath of what had happened. The world Beukes had built felt very real.
I enjoyed the multiple character view points and the fact every chapter switched to another character. However, I struggled to get into this book and found it never really picked up enough for me to really get engaged in it. I also found some of the initial flashbacks distracting as I was trying to understand what was going on, on top of getting to know the backstory. It didn’t quite hit the mark for me, it was a slow burner but I’m sure there will be many who will enjoy Afterland.
Thanks to much to @michaeljbooks and @netgalley for my gifted digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Human Culgoa Virus has ravaged the globe, turning into an aggressive and deadly prostate cancer in most men. Now, only a small percentage of men are left, including twelve-year-old Miles. The government wants to keep him and his mother, Cole, in Ataraxia, a secure facility for testing to learn why he is immune. On the black market, though, women will pay astronomical sums for semen or surrogate sons, since reproduction has been outlawed until the virus is understood.
Cole wants to keep Miles safe from both groups—and to do that, she decides to escape Ataraxia and head to her home, South Africa. Not only does she have to avoid federal agents, her biggest threat is her sister Billie who views Miles as a payday that will make her secure for life.
Once Cole and Miles break out, Miles must become Mila as they travel from the West coast to Miami in search of a way to leave the country. On the way, they take refuge with an anarchist cult devoted to dismantling borders and property rights. They hide among a traveling cult, the Church of All Sorrows, that is sure with enough repentance God will forgive them their sins and return men to earth. Along the way, Cole and Miles/Mila deflect natural disasters, federal agents, and women with too many questions as they try to stay ahead of Billie and her mercenaries and Cole wonders if there’s anything she wouldn’t do to protect her son.
The perspective alternates between Cole, Miles, and Billie, a sound narrative choice since the three characters have such different priorities and ways of seeing the world. Comparing how Cole and Miles see the same interactions differently is particularly interesting and probably will be very familiar to parents of teenagers!
While the primary focus is on the chase and the relationships among the characters, the post-virus worldbuilding is exquisite—it’s well-developed yet very subtle. To varying degrees, everyone in the book is reckoning with the absence of men and what it means for the future and to power dynamics.
The book is full of puns and word play with Billie being particularly sardonic so that I was frequently amused. At the same time, some observations were so cutting and resonant that I found lots of meaning in the book. And, of course, I loved the pit stop in Oklahoma.
Those who liked The Handmaid’s Tale, The Power, and The Red Clock will likely enjoy this, though I do think Afterland has a lighter tone and the genre mash-up gives it a fresh interpretation.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
Aimee Dars Reads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Flickr | Pinterest
Cole wants to keep Miles safe from both groups—and to do that, she decides to escape Ataraxia and head to her home, South Africa. Not only does she have to avoid federal agents, her biggest threat is her sister Billie who views Miles as a payday that will make her secure for life.
Once Cole and Miles break out, Miles must become Mila as they travel from the West coast to Miami in search of a way to leave the country. On the way, they take refuge with an anarchist cult devoted to dismantling borders and property rights. They hide among a traveling cult, the Church of All Sorrows, that is sure with enough repentance God will forgive them their sins and return men to earth. Along the way, Cole and Miles/Mila deflect natural disasters, federal agents, and women with too many questions as they try to stay ahead of Billie and her mercenaries and Cole wonders if there’s anything she wouldn’t do to protect her son.
The perspective alternates between Cole, Miles, and Billie, a sound narrative choice since the three characters have such different priorities and ways of seeing the world. Comparing how Cole and Miles see the same interactions differently is particularly interesting and probably will be very familiar to parents of teenagers!
While the primary focus is on the chase and the relationships among the characters, the post-virus worldbuilding is exquisite—it’s well-developed yet very subtle. To varying degrees, everyone in the book is reckoning with the absence of men and what it means for the future and to power dynamics.
The book is full of puns and word play with Billie being particularly sardonic so that I was frequently amused. At the same time, some observations were so cutting and resonant that I found lots of meaning in the book. And, of course, I loved the pit stop in Oklahoma.
Those who liked The Handmaid’s Tale, The Power, and The Red Clock will likely enjoy this, though I do think Afterland has a lighter tone and the genre mash-up gives it a fresh interpretation.
Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
Aimee Dars Reads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Flickr | Pinterest
I’m really surprised by the number of bad reviews this book got. Maybe timing played against it as it’s about a pandemic that starts in the year 2020
I found it really well written and enjoyable. The end lost steam a little for me and I found it got a little predictable, but overall a very enjoyable dystopian novel with some interesting gender politics.
I found it really well written and enjoyable. The end lost steam a little for me and I found it got a little predictable, but overall a very enjoyable dystopian novel with some interesting gender politics.
In a world where a virus has killed off 99% of the male population, Cole and her inexplicably immune son, Miles, are on the run from the worst person she knows – her sister.
The Stand meets Y: The Last Man in the best way possible, it was just as much of a ride reading this as those two classics. And so eerily timely it’s hard to believe Beukes’ wrote Afterland last year. Not even kidding, shortly after finishing the book I read an article on The Washington Post saying that the Corona Virus tends to favour men…
**Slight Spoilers Ahead**
.
.
.
.
I loved the characters! The way Billie’s post-concussion, stream-of-consciousness point of view was written was nothing short of brilliant, and Cole’s recollections of her time in Johannesburg, like partying at the Jolly Roger, somewhere I have spent a considerable amount of time myself, was a personal highlight. And I really felt for Miles. 13 years old and thrown into this new world without really being able to mourn the loss of his father, getting drawn into the propaganda of a religious group as he tries to find his place in the changed world, is a situation I think a lot of adults, never mind kids, would find themselves in.
Afterland is part anxiety inducing, part eye opening, and quite possibly the perfect read for 2020.
The Stand meets Y: The Last Man in the best way possible, it was just as much of a ride reading this as those two classics. And so eerily timely it’s hard to believe Beukes’ wrote Afterland last year. Not even kidding, shortly after finishing the book I read an article on The Washington Post saying that the Corona Virus tends to favour men…
**Slight Spoilers Ahead**
.
.
.
.
I loved the characters! The way Billie’s post-concussion, stream-of-consciousness point of view was written was nothing short of brilliant, and Cole’s recollections of her time in Johannesburg, like partying at the Jolly Roger, somewhere I have spent a considerable amount of time myself, was a personal highlight. And I really felt for Miles. 13 years old and thrown into this new world without really being able to mourn the loss of his father, getting drawn into the propaganda of a religious group as he tries to find his place in the changed world, is a situation I think a lot of adults, never mind kids, would find themselves in.
Afterland is part anxiety inducing, part eye opening, and quite possibly the perfect read for 2020.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reads quick enough and the virus world-building was good but it just never clicked over to the exciting page-turner I expected.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
What I expected from this book: an exploration (much like The Power) of gendered expectations and barriers, the good or evil at the base of human nature, realistically unfolding global chaos, and changing dynamics of motherhood
What this book was: ~13 hours (audiobook) of a slow, fruitless chase--one sister chasing another and her son. The ending was especially confounding and anticlimactic. This book was much more plot-oriented than I expected, and had almost nothing to say about a world suddenly run by women other than introducing side characters and plots (The Church of Sorrows! The drag/sex club in Miami!) much more interesting than the mother trying to "protect" her son.
What this book was: ~13 hours (audiobook) of a slow, fruitless chase--one sister chasing another and her son. The ending was especially confounding and anticlimactic. This book was much more plot-oriented than I expected, and had almost nothing to say about a world suddenly run by women other than introducing side characters and plots (The Church of Sorrows! The drag/sex club in Miami!) much more interesting than the mother trying to "protect" her son.