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auteaandtales's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-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? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Racism, Gun violence, War, Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, and Transphobia
holliejoy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness
isabelamelung's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Infertility
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The End of Men is the story of a highly contagious, fast-acting lethal plague. No, not Covid. This one kills only men, although women can be carriers. It’s set in the near future, from 2025-2031, from the day the plague is first suspected until after a vaccine is found and life is settling back into its new normal, one that still contains a host of challenges.
Given that this was written before Covid it is amazing how prescient parts of it are.
The story unfolds in nine main sections, starting with Before and Outbreak, travelling through Panic and Despair, then finishing with Adaptation and Remembrance. It is told from three main perspectives - a doctor who treats the first case, one of the scientists desperately searching for a vaccine, and a social anthropologist who documents the plague’s human stories. There are shorter sections from many more characters, plus a few newspaper articles and the like. All sections are in the first person, present tense which helps absorb the reader into the story, creating a real sense of immediacy. The variety of characters and their diverse geographic locations helps emphasise the global aspect of the plague, although sadly Africa and South America and large chunks of Asia don’t really feature.
I loved how all encompassing this novel was. We saw how the plague affected people at a personal level - men fearing they were going to die, women dealing with the loss of sons and husbands. But there’s also plenty of attention given to longer term national and international concerns, and fascinating questions are raised. How would society function when male dominated industries had no workers? What would it mean for the trans community? How could newborn baby boys be kept alive and at what emotional cost? Would such a pandemic spell the end of armed conflict? Would more women enter same-sex relationships?
The audio is excellent. The large cast of narrators and range of accents really brought the story alive, emphasised its global reach and helped differentiate the characters.
I was absorbed from beginning to end in this excellently envisioned piece of speculative fiction. So much food for thought. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Infertility
lpdx's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Ableism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and War
nadinemr's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Infertility
kayamckergow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Infertility
Minor: Gun violence
sarz's review against another edition
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Sexism, and Suicide
luelle_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I considered giving 4.5 but no, it deserves the 5. This book became relatable in a way the author could never have fully anticipated immediately on its release. I just wish there had been more focus on the LGBTQ community than there was - particularly trans women. But they did feature, thank goodness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Grief
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Murder
azrah786's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
3.0
**I was provided with an ARC through netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: virus/pandemic, (mass) death, infertility, mention of suicide, starvation, violence
A well-written debut that I think has both benefited and been hindered by its time of publication.
Through the accounts of various, predominantly women characters The End of Men is an account of a pandemic that wipes most of the male population off of the planet, spanning from a few days before to a couple of years after.
Having been written from 2018 it was quite scary to see just how the fictional events in the book mirrored what has been occurring with the coronavirus in reality. I feel like if this book had been published at a different time it would have perhaps been a hard-hitting read however, it would not have had as much of an impact emotionally as it does now.
That being said with the speed that events were occurring in the book, having real world experience of very similar happenings I couldn’t help but feel they sometimes felt a little unrealistic. One thing I do wish though was that the government in the real world had starting dealing with our pandemic a lot faster like the one in the book.
I really liked the narrative choice of the author to tell the story through various points of view from around the world and the short snappy chapters were great for the pacing.
What I had a problem with though was that I felt most of the characters didn’t have a distinctive voice. Other than all having different circumstances and relationships a lot of them felt the same which made it a little confusing to keep track of all the storylines. Even when the point of view jumped to a character in a different country the characterisation felt very surface level.
Also despite a handful of medical terms there weren’t that many elements of science so I personally wouldn’t class this book as a sci-fi but more a contemporary novel with a dystopian-esque setting. Though maybe this comes down to how the setting felt so close to reality that I can’t see it as a dystopian.
Nevertheless this was a thought-provoking read and I look forward to seeing what Christina Sweeney-Baird writes next.
Final Rating - 3/5 Stars
CW: virus/pandemic, (mass) death, infertility, mention of suicide, starvation, violence
A well-written debut that I think has both benefited and been hindered by its time of publication.
Through the accounts of various, predominantly women characters The End of Men is an account of a pandemic that wipes most of the male population off of the planet, spanning from a few days before to a couple of years after.
Having been written from 2018 it was quite scary to see just how the fictional events in the book mirrored what has been occurring with the coronavirus in reality. I feel like if this book had been published at a different time it would have perhaps been a hard-hitting read however, it would not have had as much of an impact emotionally as it does now.
That being said with the speed that events were occurring in the book, having real world experience of very similar happenings I couldn’t help but feel they sometimes felt a little unrealistic. One thing I do wish though was that the government in the real world had starting dealing with our pandemic a lot faster like the one in the book.
I really liked the narrative choice of the author to tell the story through various points of view from around the world and the short snappy chapters were great for the pacing.
What I had a problem with though was that I felt most of the characters didn’t have a distinctive voice. Other than all having different circumstances and relationships a lot of them felt the same which made it a little confusing to keep track of all the storylines. Even when the point of view jumped to a character in a different country the characterisation felt very surface level.
Also despite a handful of medical terms there weren’t that many elements of science so I personally wouldn’t class this book as a sci-fi but more a contemporary novel with a dystopian-esque setting. Though maybe this comes down to how the setting felt so close to reality that I can’t see it as a dystopian.
Nevertheless this was a thought-provoking read and I look forward to seeing what Christina Sweeney-Baird writes next.
Final Rating - 3/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Suicide, and Violence