This novel was a mess from start to finish. It's very clearly geared toward a very specific shallow feminism espoused by middle-class white blonde women who drink from cups that say "Male Tears."

There was no coherent point to the book, no thread to hold it all together; just hot-button issues with buzzwords hanging off them. It was not well-written either, the language used was inelegant and the characters one-dimensional husks. It read like a bad YA self-published on Amazon Kindle.

Dalcher has certainly tapped into the flimsy and superficial form of neoliberal faux-feminism that sells tote-bags and is cheered on by multi-national conglomerates like Nike and Coca Cola, because it makes more money while maintaining the status quo.

2.5 stars

I’ve been thinking about this book for a few days since I finished it and to be honest, while this is a book that made me feel a lot of things, I can’t quite put my thoughts together on this one!

In the midst of economic downfall of apocalyptic scale of looting, starving and no order, Miranda tries to keep herself and her daughter Emma alive, previously a self confessed glamorous woman, until banks lost all money and her husband Nick betrayed her before taking her life, Miranda’s life becomes survival and that can only mean one thing - Femlandia, a society created by her mother Win, and her protege (and perceived replacement) Jen. Located in several states, Femlandia is essentially a woman, or rather womyn (so as not to be associated with men at all) only society, where food and water and security is abundant, but at what price?

Femlandia attempts to answer the question ‘what would it be like if men didn’t exist?’ however I’ll admit I struggled to understand the intent of the book. Vox spoke a bold, clear message about women being silenced, however the message here felt not even like ‘not all men’ nut ‘sometimes women too’. Is this about what happens when you let your hate of men consume you? I just couldn’t grasp it. There is an attempted gang rape on the page by a group of men and Win and her narrative (paralleling Miranda’s) speaks of continuous oppression and abuse at the expense of men, as is the experience of other women in Femlandia. There is a quote in the book about surely if we believe in equality, if a woman can do anything a man can, if she is capable, surely that means she is capable of the same cruelty and dominance. I think perhaps this too is the purpose of the book, but is it necessary? Especially after Vox? This is a book in which women are abusers and emotionally manipulative, women take bodily autonomy away. This latter point is particularly disturbing, it made me mentally stumble, and it’s even more bizarre for how women are the ones who, in truth, don’t have autonomy in so much of this world. I may just not get it, it could be me but i didn’t understand it.

This is a well written book but a disturbing one and I’ll admit I much preferred Vox. Thank you NetGalley for the early copy to review. It wasn’t for me but I’m sure other people will take something more from it.

Maybe it I hadn't watched Y, this would have been better. I couldn't get over the similarities, especially the first half.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Thanks to an economic collapse, America is on its knees. Shops are empty and the streets are no longer safe. Miranda has lost her home, her job and her husband; she and her daughter Emma only have each other left.

They only have one hope: Femlandia. A self-sufficient haven for women who want a life free of men.

I've been sitting on this review for a few weeks, trying to sum up how I felt about Femlandia.

Unfortunately, I did not like it as much as Dalcher's previous two novels, Vox and Q, which I loved. Although thought-provoking, I found it unsettling and uncomfortable at times; it is certainly not a book for the fainthearted!

The plot promises a lot, but to me, it fails to deliver at times and feels unbelievable and unengaging at times. I did not connect with any of the characters at all - I found Miranda boring and quite one-dimensional - and didn't care what happened to them.

It feels like it's a bit of a Marmite book to me, and sadly it was not for me.