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laceydaisy's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Abandonment and Suicide
carissa230's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
The books is told from multiple perspectives. One woman is trying to save the world, one woman is trying to save her son, one man just trying to survive on a ship. It was very interesting to read about a pandemic after a pandemic. Since it’s in Scotland it’s hard for me to determine how close to reality it is. The US didn’t handle the pandemic that well at all.
Graphic: Child death and Death of parent
cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
It's pitched as a feminist dystopia, but only mentions women taking over positions of power in the briefest asides. The real focus is the fallout of losing half the population. All of the recovery is focused on repopulation: protecting surviving men, birthing healthy boys, rationing sperm. Despite the female POVs, all the attention is once more on the men. Counterintuitively, it felt like the story coddled men while women buckled down to helm survival.
The most cohesive and developed theme was not women in positions of power, but fertility.
The specific careers (genetics, anthropology, government intelligence) spread the content of the novel too thin. With such intricate professions, there wasn't enough research to provide more than a superficial involvement in the novel's entire premise.
The identity diversity also felt like a hamfisted afterthought rather than a significant facet of the characters that would affect their approach to events. I appreciated the acknowledgement of the trans experience, but it felt extremely shoehorned, and again, not explored in any meaningful way. Sexuality and racial diversity wasn't handled any better, and there was nearly no class diversity.
The writing style was exceedinly readable, and the narrative was generally engaging. But ultimately, I sat down for a dissection of gender in the modern world, and instead got an exceedingly heteronormative narrative that in no way challenged the status quo, skirted gender essentialism, and was also kinda depressing.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage
Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Misogyny, Suicide, Transphobia, and War
the transphobia I mention isn't just that inherent in the premise; a trans character mentions how much more difficult life has been for trans people after "the plague," including an increase in general transphobia and transphobic violencetilly_m_reads's review against another edition
3.5
Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness
clauglezzz_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Sexism, Infertility, Misogyny, and Medical content
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder
thelibraryofanna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abandonment, Suicide, and Misogyny
jenny_wren's review against another edition
- 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
This is such a thought provoking book that packs more of a punch because of COVID - even though it was written pre COVID. Something like this is a possibility now in a way it wasn't thought even probable before. I had to laugh in places how there were still those people who didn't think the virus was real and men believing it was a conspiracy - writing off women as hysterical and not knowing what they're talking about!
This was amazing - it was a long book but I spent my whole Sunday reading it - just couldn't put it down!
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief, Infertility, and Medical content
Minor: Sexism and Suicide
auteaandtales's review against another edition
- 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
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
bookishnookish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The premise of the book is that a virus has spread very quickly to kill off 90% of men on Earth. Women survive and are left with a world where they have to take over and very quickly at that.
While I loved the way the book moves, I did find a few things irksome. There were a few episodes of cattiness and the entire light Dr. Lisa was painted in put me off. The fact that she was ambitious but apathetic and quite callous just doesn't sit well with me. I just felt that she could have been an ambitious and forthright character, without the negative portrayal. Her character was made to feel that all ambitious people are ok with walking over the dead to achieve their goals and I don't believe that to be true. While I liked the individual povs and chapters that gave an insight into the psyches of the cast of characters, I would have liked to see how women were taking over on a larger scale - not just at the top, but every day life and jobs, without men. That and the gender bias angles could have been explored a bit more.
It is not a perfect book by any means but it is a story about humanity and humanity is definitely not perfect.
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Death of parent
bookishbecky's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide