Athena, a teen in the future world of 2099 where men no longer exist as they were wiped out by a mutated hay fever virus starts dreaming of an ancient library and a man telling her to find it. In the mean time project Lazarus, who is supposed to bring men back, is stolen and somehow she’s connected to the case and is called by the AI to help.
This is a book about men’s behaviour and its impact in the world, in women and humanity. I found it quite true and relevant, a book to make us think.
I wasn’t super impressed with it but the idea and thought catalyst quality of the book made it a 3.5⭐️

I found the premise of this book really interesting. The concept of an all women world being a utopia is relatively unique, and, the idea that it was a terrorist fever generated to remove “the bad guys” and it simply evolved was neat. However, I had some glaring issues with this book that became more and more prevalent the closer to the end I got.

First off, I genuinely think we would naturally evolve out of the desire of one gender or the other. I know that’s just my opinion, but, it feels relevant. Secondly, the constant need for men being primarily sexual and romantic felt shallow and one sided. I’ve seen other opinions where people believe this should be classed as a YA novel. If you removed the sexual aspects of this book, I would have to agree. The world building, characters, and concept was not fleshed out enough to be considered so in depth as to be a Sci-fi adult fiction. It also needs to be said that it feels relatively odd for a man to write about a world made up entirely of women and their desires. I suppose this is reflected in how one dimensional all these female characters are, and how their emotions (outside of the aggressive hatred of men, or the aggressive sexual need for them) take up two sentences before moving on. I really struggled with this as a review because in concept, it seems like exactly my kind of read- but in execution, it wasn’t what I wanted.

The narrator for this book did a great job however, and she probably was the best part of the whole experience.

2.5 stars out of 5.

Full review: 8/12/2020

I listened to the excerpt of this book, and so far, I love it! The narrator's voice is strong and clear, and we can feel the characters' voice tones. Now I'm really interested. I want to know what Athena is hiding and why all the men are killed. I also want to know who sabotages the experiments. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

This was a unique book with a lot of interesting parts, but felt a lot more like a YA novel. There were some interesting twists and turns though some times I did find myself wandering, and had a hard time staying engaged.
Overall an interesting listen/just perhaps not the right book at this time for me.

I enjoyed this book!

It is YA, Dystopian and Science Fiction. All genres I have not read a lot of. They’re just not genres a gravitate to or tend to enjoy.

I kept seeing my friends review Athena’s Choice on Instagram and when the Athena’s Choice team reached out I said yes! Thank you so much for my gifted copy.

I read and listened to Athena’s Choice on audio. The narrator is fantastic. If you are able to listen on audio I highly recommend it.

I loved the concept of this book and thought it was executed very well. I loved this futuristic new world with all its new technology and AI.

I felt the entire story from beginning to end was very interesting. The story was unique and kept me engaged all the way through.

I would definitely pick up whatever this author decides to publish in the future.

I am unsure of what I really want to say in this review. I want to say so many things. I read another book similar to this one called [book:Pink|20341974] where a virus kills all of the male population and I loved that book up until the end and there a mistake in the plot that really changed the whole book for me. But anyways, I really enjoyed this one. Now if you are someone that doesn't like cliffhangers you may have trouble with the end of this book, you HAVE to read the Author's Epilogue though. It is so important. Based on some of the content within these pages I was really surprised it was written by a man. That may be sexist of me but I don't mean it that way. I loved the scifi aspects of this book and the mystery.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you Netgalley, Thinker Books, and Adam Boostrom for my free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my impartial review.

This was a very intriguing book with a nice premise. I'm no stranger to dystopias. I read and loved the Hunger Games and the Divergent series. This one was unique in the sense that it's set in 2099, and all men have been wiped out of existence due to the Y fever. It was strange to read about a woman-only world. He did a good job of creating and writing about so many unique and diverse women. It was also interesting to note that while the women were mostly lesbians, there are some closet hetero women.

I loved all the tech and inventions in this future world, and that's one of the things I love about SciFi. I must confess, I hardly ever read SciFi. Of 50 read books, maybe 2/3 are SciFi. This was a mix of scifi and mystery, and the mystery of who stole the male genome is the main one that brought our MC Athena into the fold. I loved watching the story unfold and having a myriad of guesses along the way. The mystery, characters, plot, and narration all played out really well.

Although it was a male author's book, I love that it was a female narrator. She did a great job with the narration and I loved her performance.

This one was a pleasant surprise. I picked this based on the cover. It was a great concept for a story. I liked the futuristic view. I like that although it wasn't real, it didn't feel unrelatable. Really enjoyed the characters, especially Athena. Love when the main character is smart.

Thank you Netgalley :)

This is not my typical read for a lot of reasons -- I don't read a lot of science fiction or independently published titles. The premise of this story was intriguing and it was getting attention from indie science fiction awards, so I decided to give it a shot.

At first, I was skeptical that a man could write about a world run by women. This world is filled with women with so many varied personalities and political views that they are convincing as a society. Their opinions on men are what you would expect of a society where the older women remember men, and the younger women have never seen one -- some of the women miss men and feel lost without someone to love, some are lesbians, others are closet heterosexuals.

Adam Boostrom creates a world with out-there technology that seems like it's possible. From AI to iPhone-type contact lenses, the tech seems like something that's possible in 50 years. My personal favorite is the clothes printer that creates outfits every day (usually worn once and fed back into the machine to create more outfits) that snap on to magnetic implants in the body to make sure they fit and stay where they're supposed to.

There's an element of mystery in this sci-fi novel. The genome that is the key to returning men to the planet is stolen, and Athena teams up with the office of public safety to investigate the crime. Because people have the privacy option to not have their every move video recorded, the suspects have no proof that they were or were not involved in the crime. The situation escalates, and a murder happens in an almost crimeless society.

Having a female narrator, Alex Ford, adds to the all-female feel of the story. The beginning chapters contain elementary school reports done by Athena, and Ford does a good job of adopting a younger tone for these passages. She also uses a paced, unemotional voice for computer readouts and a reporter voice for newspaper articles. This not only adds to the story but helps the reader keep track of what type of passage they are hearing. I would definitely listen to a book read by Ford again.

The unexpected ending makes you think, even if it is unsatisfying.

Recommended for all science fiction fans. Dystopian fiction lovers and mystery readers looking for something different will also enjoy.

I received a free audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book. I have read other dystopian/futuristic books and enjoyed them, so I had high hopes for this one.

I felt like it reminded me of other books already out- with a talking computer system called "the core" that can't intervene in people's lives.

And was this supposed to be a feminist commentary on how men are savages and women are the elite species? That's where this book definitely lost me.

I thought the narrator was good. She was a little soft spoken, though. Otherwise, she was good.

A dystopian novel set in the year 2099 where all men mysteriously died from a virus. Women have been handeling it for the past 50 years, but now there is controversial project to bring men back. But someone is sabotaging it. That's the start of the novel. We follow Athena, a teenager who somehow is involved in the investigation. I liked this one, fast paced and interesting world building, very entertaining. Sadly I did not really connect with the main character, with the result that I did not really care what happend to them and then when things started to happen it didn't really have an impact.

I listened to the audiobook and I really enjoyed it that way. Very well narrated, really true to the story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It has been published in March 2019.

"Athena's Choice" is a real gem of a book, combining elements from Sci-fi, post-apocaliptic and dystopic genres, with a touch of medical thriller and spy story thrown in for good measure.
It is set in a not-too-far dystopian (or utopian, according to your personal view) future in which war, hunger and poverty have disappeared, technological progress has made it so that nobody needs to work for a living anymore and... all the men on the planet have been killed off by a single, highly deadly virus, that in a span of a few years left womankind in power.
The plot is good and very well-thought through, with a depth of layers that I think will make re-listening to this audiobook a very enriching experience. The plot twists blindsided me completely until the very end.
I particularly appreciated how the author found the right balance between descriptions and action scenes, never wasting too much time in illustrating the high-tech Sci-fi gadgets or the new societal rules, rather just offering the reader vivid, colourful hints.
All the characters, even the minor ones, are deliciously complex, and I found myself relating and empathizing with each of them in turn, even with the villains.
I enjoyed very much the writing style, which is true, direct and to-the-point, and the peculiar structure of the novel, interspersing the "regular" narration with various bits and pieces such as newspaper articles, official documents and Wikipedia pages (all of them from the future, of course) that threw an additional light on the universe the story is set in.
Extra points for originality and the brilliant, delicate handling of some very sensitive issues, such as sexual violence, gender-identity and same-sex relationships between one homosexual and one bisexual partner.
I definitely hope there will be one or more sequels to "Athena's Choice", and I wouldn't be surprised to see it turned into a TV show or a Hollywood movie, because it's just that imaginative.

This book was a fast pace great read from the beginning. I wasn’t expecting it to be so fleshed out and yet, I have so many questions. There’s not enough time book to have answered all my questions, answered. I need my questions answered!

All in all this was a great read. I wish I got to see more of adult Nomi and she got to interact more with Her and Athena together. Their dynamic could have used a bit more story.

I would recommend this to a friend and I would read more from this series.

3.75/5 because I still feel like there’s more to this story than meets the eye and more to be explored.

I was drawn to this audio excerpt seconds in. In the scene Nomi is admiring her friend Athena’s painting. She describes it as something unlike anything she has ever done before. It is both frightening and grotesque. Athena appears to have no recollection as to what inspired the painting. They enlist the help of their computer, Asha to help with the mystery. But the response provided deepens the mystery. I was excited to hear more about the source of the image and why Athena has little memory of it. I also wanted to know what happens to the 20th century and what time period are Nomi and Athena living in. This is a great start to a dystopic mystery that I’m excited to read.

3.5/5 stars
Thank you Netgalley and IBPA for the free audio copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I love a good dystopian/post apocalyptic book so I snagged this one right up!

The narrator was great; I love that I’ve been experiencing so many new narrators lately and they’ve all been amazing.

This story ended up having so much more depth to it than I ever expected, but at the same time it also felt like it was missing a little something if that makes any sense. I feel like I just wanted a more detailed look into this specific future. The author did do a great job with character development however.

I also really appreciated the way the author ended the book. It really makes you think, what would you do?

Thank you Netgalley and The Publisher for my audiobook copy of this book. I also have the ebook I won on goodreads. This was a very interesting book. I enjoyed it very much. The audiobook and the narrator was great as well.

Does she bring the men back or no? This book had me hooked.... very easy but fun read. It definitely felt YA at times, but I enjoyed it!

This book doesn't know what it is. It seems to be labeled sci-fi. Part of the time I was thinking it was more YA and other times it seemed to be pushing itself into romance. At those times it seems like it was a little too adult for young adult. We are at the end of our current century and the world has no men. That's right. The reason it has no men was the first time I rolled my eyes. Global warming made people from the coasts invade the mountains. When the people in the mountains didn't want to be invaded, they were labeled "terrorists" and a bioweapon was developed to kill all men. Somehow it spread worldwide (killed a few women, too) and eventually all men died. Without any real explanation, women continued with insemination without a donor and somehow became incubators to painless birth, as if the only thing that made birth painful was...men? So is it sci-fi, YA, romance, feminist, dystopian, weirdly religious?

Anyway, there is a new and wasteful all woman society who all seem to keep themselves to a standard of beauty that was unattainable until people could just decide to look however they want. Because that would obviously be a priority in an all woman world. Oh, and if you happen to not be gay, you are made fun of. I guess whoever is in charge will be rude to whoever is "different." Some women want to bring back men but all women carry the virus that killed the men. The Lazarus project is the scientific work to bring back men. Someone breaks in and steals it (or the files about it) from the servers. The theft is investigated and a 19 year old is considered important to the investigation, so this young, unemployed artist is given the job.

Meanwhile, there are arguments over whether to bring back men. The arguments are extreme. Men have been gone for 50 years, so a lot of women have never even seen a man. The only views they get are from the factions fighting. Either men are murderous rapists or they are strong protectors (and this was the point I actually knew that this was written by a man.) I am positive I could give you reasons men should live without talking about their strong, protective embrace, but, I digress.

This makes it seem as if I'm giving this one star. I'm not. I sometimes enjoyed the story. Like most sci-fi, I found myself rolling my eyes at the explanations and future technology. But past that and the moments when people are arguing extremes of male stereotypes, I wanted to know about the darn library! The actual library they are looking for, I've been to. That is a weird way to be connected but I'll take it. Because when the rest of the story is going on, the search for who broke into the computers, what is going on at the lab, and what is with the dreams telling Athena to find the library...that's what I enjoyed. I also enjoyed the little asides from Athena's school records, Wikipedia, and the news.

In the audiobook vision, the narrator was very good at creating characters and letting the listener know when a different character was speaking.

Is a world without men a better one?
Athena's Choice is a utopian/dystopian novel set in the late 21st century. A Y-Virus has killed all the men, trans men, and some of the women. Although they have thrived without men politics has gotten in the way. The Lonely Hearts faction wants men back The main character Athena will be integral in making that happen. Decisions need to be made. Do they really want a male dominated world? This book will definitely make you think.

Athena's Choice is a very unique book. I enjoyed Athena's Choice a lot more than I thought I would. There was a pandemic that caused men to become extinct. A research project has been going on for 50 years to bring back men. There is a problem with the project and Athena is brought in to help find out who is responsible? Why was Athena chosen?

I was very interested in this book from the beginning. Athena's choice is about Athena finding out who is sabotaging the genome project, as well as both sides of if men should be brought back or not.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you NetGalley and Think Books for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.