It’s quite eerie reading a book that was written prepandemic about a pandemic in the future, having gone through a pandemic in real life.

The story is not only a possibility of what could happen, but also about how you survive and push on to make the best of an awful situation.

A real mix of amazing characters, which all stand out on their own merit. Some you will love others not so much.

Thank you for letting me read this #netgalley

Wow. That was a bit of a whirlwind.

I loved the concept but would have liked a bit more character development - it was all a bit superficial.

It would almost have benefitted from being a book series where each stage is developed further and we could build a relationship with the characters.

Very enjoyable though. A real page turner.

This was a really great book to read and I do like the way the author approached the story and then went further with it. Not just the lead-up and during, but the after-effects of living in a world that had undergone huge changes.

When a mysterious disease starts in Scotland, Dr Amanda Maclean is ignored. She is just a female doctor and does not know enough to be making such a rash call that this is something to be worried about. It is brushed under the carpet. It then starts to spread. It affects only men and they are dying by the millions as it spreads around the globe.

This story was written before the start of the Covid pandemic in 2018/19, it was then published in 2021. A lot of what is discussed in this story did happen when Covid struck. Initially, it was seen as a problem on the other side of the world, governments were slow to react and as we know the pandemic was to kill millions around the world. The End of Men is a similar story and one that the author imagined prior to the pandemic.

This story is told from the perspective of different characters around the world. They are female characters as they now are prominent, not every man has died, and there are some that are immune. The race is on to discover where the virus started, what makes it spread, who are carriers and why only certain people live.

As much as I really enjoyed the beginning of the story, and this was really good, it was the recovery and adapting to the virus that really turned this story around for me. The author imagines so many scenarios that I had not even considered. There are the obvious ones about having a depleted workforce, of women retraining and having a prominent role in how countries are run and how they have new freedom, especially in countries where women were definitely not seen as equal. Yes, in some ways this story is about empowerment and also feminism but it is also about how people adapt to change.

A story like this is easy to relate to as we are still living with Covid. As we are adapting to the world after this pandemic it is nothing compared to how the author sees a world with a significantly reduced male population. Without men, it becomes a matter of how the human race will recover with a limited supply of males to help repopulate.

I liked this book a huge amount. Set in a future that is all too real to imagine and the way the author uses her story to envision a future that has changed drastically. This is one for those who like dystopian, futuristic and feminist viewpoints, it is a mystery and a thriller as the race is also on to find and develop a cure. It is one I would definitely recommend.

I absolutely loved this book from the second I started reading it. Really very eerie considering what we have just been through. I loved the use of various characters and how we really got to know and love some, while others were just passing chapters. Beautifully written and well thought out.

It's tricky to review this as I requested it months ago and only just been approved here. In the interim I purchased the eBook and read it. Because it was a while ago It's not fresh in my mind. I remember enjoying it in places but finding it hard to ally with in others. I'm all for feminism and not an apologist. Sometimes this book felt like it veered towards a position I felt uncomfortable with. Thats hard for me to write as I know women struggle in this still mainly patriarchal world. That's my opinion though and I know others will have different stances.

2025. A mysterious virus breaks out in Scotland, a deadly illness that affects only men. Will a vaccine be discovered before it wipes out the whole male population?

I wanted to love this book soo much. The premise was fantastic and right up my street, but unfortunately, I found myself in the minority that didn't enjoy it.
The main problem was the multitude of characters; there were so many of them that I actually lost track and therefore couldn't connect to any of them. The story didn't simply follow a few perspectives but also included newspaper articles and diary entries, which might work well for world building but makes for a very confusing read. I have read a few books in this genre that use the same idea, and sadly it just doesn't work for me.
The timeline was jumping forward multiple times, and that was another thing that stood in the way of me engaging with the characters.
As I said, the premise is great but I just didn't find it was executed properly.

I absolutely devoured this one of a kind book. It’s one that you will lose sleep racing to finish it. I loved it and it comes highly recommended by me and so many more.

I dnf'd this title, I couldn't get on with the premise or the writing style. Such an interesting idea for a book though and would love to see it again but slight reimagined.

I’m a scientist and had to remind myself that this is a work of fiction. I’m assuming that the author isn’t a geneticist (and didn’t have friends in the field to bounce scientific ideas off) because there are some questionable explanations used.

Regardless, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the social commentary on the inequality of women, how the tables turned due to the pandemic and also how things were different for the surviving men.

I enjoyed that it is told from multiple points of view, mainly strong women, but have to admit that they felt a bit similar by the end. More importantly, I appreciated the lgbtqia rep.

Overall, I read this in just over a day, it kept me interested and I enjoyed it - what a debut novel!

It should be noted that it might be too soon for people who are still affected by the covid-19 pandemic to read this. There are many similarities and the content could be triggering.

I found this book fascinating to read. Written as it was prior to the Covid outbreak, the similarities with how the pandemic in this book and Covid spread and was responded to was so interesting to read. I felt that the author could have delved more deeply into some of the themes that she suggested such as the political unrest and subsequent country changes and the political handling of the pandemic and resulting processes but in general I found it a very interesting read. Obviously there are some very sad scenes which the author portrayed sensitively without focusing and dwelling. This would definitely be a good book club read as I'm sure it would spark some interesting conversations.

The End of Men was published in April 2021, though I’m not sure I would have been ready, or able to read it at that point. The author, Christina Sweeney-Baird, wrote this book prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As opposed to reading fiction, it made me feel as if I was reading very recent history. The feelings of genuine fear of who would be infected, and who you might lose, really resonated with me, and I’m sure so many others. Thankfully, I didn’t actually lose anyone to Covid-19, though my husband still suffers from Long Covid, over 30 months later. Had I lost anyone to Covid, I’m not sure I could have read the book.

I found the book completely gripping, it brought very strong emotions within me. I remember checking temperatures, subtly asking my husband and sons if they could smell and taste their food. Then the absolute fear when I knew Covid was in our home, that I’d tried so hard to protect. These very recent memories gave me huge empathy with the characters.
I felt dumbfounded and disbelief at Brett, and his Gynarchy Blog. Personally, I found myself eye rolling and head shaking a lot during his chapters. There will be elements readers agree, and strongly disagree with; many readers will be at odds with their reactions too.

I found the book immensely thought provoking. Initially regarding the policies implemented early on in The Plague, then latterly, how life was rebuilt in the aftermath. Post pandemic, the behaviour and attitudes that men felt and faced, brought a wry smile to me.
As a wife of a husband, and mother of two sons, I found the book chilling and moving; all while turning the pages very quickly. Intrigued to find what the end would bring.
It’s a 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me, though I’m not sure all readers will be mentally ready to face this subject so soon, as all of our experiences are so different.

Having now read this book, I believe it is incorrectly marketed as Sci-Fi, it is more like Contemporary Dystopia and was actually a really difficult and upsetting read. I wish I’d considered how upsetting I would find this book before selecting it, because I just spent so much time sobbing my heart out. So this is a *trigger warning* If you have lost people through the Coronavirus pandemic you may find this book challenging to read.

This book starts when a doctor identifies what she believes may be a new, highly-contagious, deadly disease. She reports it to every authority she can and is treated like a daft, hysterical woman. As such this virus has catastrophic effects globally. However, this virus only affects men, with just one in ten immune. However, this virus does not discriminate against age – so all males are affected. Baby boys are being born and dying in the same day. Women are loosing their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Women are separating themselves from society and isolating the people in their family in a desperate bid to keep them safe, usually unsuccessfully. This virus behaves very much like the Covid-19 virus we all experienced in real life, except for it only affecting men and the fact that when someone gets this virus, they do not recover, and they die within days. It’s painful and lonely and absolutely horrific. Hospitals are over-run with dying men and boys and understaffed by grief ridden women. Because the majority of people in politics all around the world are male, governments have fallen.

The book follows a few different women of different backgrounds and their experiences through this traumatic event, and it just felt so insanely real. I couldn’t help myself from imagining how I would feel if this is how Covid had behaved and I had to loose my husband, my dad and brothers, my nephew – people who mean so much to me that even writing this and having to re-live how I felt while reading the book, is upsetting. I feel so unbelievably lucky not to have lost people to Covid, and so very grateful that Covid did not behave like the virus in this book. It’s also worth noting that this book was written before Covid which makes the similarities rather eerie.

This book would have been a five star read. However, the end, whilst being satisfying in a very specific regard, was also a bit obvious and had me eye-rolling a bit. I mean, I have no idea how else this book could have gone, but I guess I’d have liked more of a tie in with the pain experienced through the rest of the book.

I have read an interview with the author where it was mentioned that the film rights to this story have already been sold. However, that article is more than a year old and I can not find anything else about a film while I was hunting about online. If this film does make it onto the big screen though I really hope that they focus on a character lead approach so that the emotion translates well.

Eerily prophesying our own pandemic which took over not long after this book was published, The End of Men explores a world where 90% of the men are obliterated by a fast-acting and unavoidable virus.

The book almost read like a series of short stories, exploring how different people across different countries responded to the virus - some dedicated themselves to finding a cure, another documented how the virus impacted everyone from the wife of case zero to the millions of everyday women who lost husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons. Some put extreme measures in place to protect male newborns; another created an app dedicated to female relationships to alleviate loneliness and help women find love again.

While there were definitely correlations with COVID and the handling of the virus, the standout here was what would have been different if the women were left in charge to rebuild the world. And let's face it, they did a hell of a better job than some of the powerful men who completely lost control (we're looking at you, Boris).

Politics aside, this book was brilliantly constructed. I loved that it covered a wide range of characters across different countries, occupations, and levels of power rather than honing in on one specific region/group of people. Despite the number of characters, each had their own unique voice and a story worth telling. Over the course of the book, their stories evoked feelings of grief, despair, and desperation that eventually turned to hope, faith, and recovery. While I expected to read a fast-paced dystopian novel, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it covered life as normal. Maybe it felt less dystopian because we've all experienced a worldwide plague but I liked how the author took a dystopian/sci-fi topic and anchored it in real life.

I hope people aren't put off reading this one due to the C word as it's so much more than its pandemic content - it's character-driven, thought-provoking, and really quite fascinating. I'll definitely be recommending.

This was a fantastic read and would of been received even better if it didn’t have the misfortune to be published during our first Pandemic.
Dr Amanda MacLean identifies a new flu strain which effects the men of the population. Now we have lived through 🤞🏻A pandemic you can find fault with some of the description but I loved the story.
I also liked the conclusions drawn which looked at the sociological impact to a society with limited men as well as the biological.
Great characters and a great read.
Thanks to Harper Collins Uk and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

Like watching an 80s sci-fi and observing their imagined view of a future that has now played out in many ways, it was fascinating to read this the other side of a global pandemic. A compelling read of the worst and best of humanity. Although there was a heroic attempt to cover a wide range of viewpoint and experience, I'd have liked to see more voices from different countries - this read a little too close to the experience we've seen of countries largely only seeing the pandemic through their own lens, which led to a woefully imbalanced global response. Readers would benefit from reading more outside our own bubble.

A plague that only effects men? Might not actually be as good as it sounds. Joking aside, this was an eye opener. I loved this book and how it was set out. Set in Scotland in the near future, it was so well written. I loved all the different individual stories.

I've read mixed reviews on this but it was a thumbs up from me.
There is a virus sweeping the world -carried by women -which kills only men . Some men are immune but most of the male population are under threat .
The first part explores the few characters who the author weaves the story around -how the virus has effected them -the devastation it has wrought on them and those around them . The next part is coming to terms with the situation and the quest to find a vaccine . Then as women have to start taking control of their situations -how society begins to evolve with women making all the decisions
I loved this -it was well written and entertaining

Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

This is a very interesting take on a society that suffers a pandemic/plague. Rather than the disease affecting all people equally, it’s only men who can catch it. It’s highly infectious and mostly it’s a killer. The story follows the outbreak step by step from its origins in Scotland, to how it affects the worldwide population.

I found it a gripping tale and enjoyed the emphasis on strong women coming into their own because of the increasing shortage of men in positions of authority who continue to die.

It was written before the outbreak of Covid 19 and its interesting that this fiction account of what transpired following a pandemic differs from reality but there are similarities. I really enjoyed it but I found myself wondering why the author told the story from so many perspectives. For me, there were too many ‘main’ characters to relate to and empathise with.

The End of Men feels particularly relevant when we live in the aftermath of (/are still living in) a pandemic. It tells the story of a virus that ravages the male population, with a 90% death rate, but of which women are asymptomatic hosts. Despite the slightly dubious science used to explain away this imaginary virus, I found this book highly enjoyable. It is told from a plethora of viewpoints, scientists trying to find a vaccine or the source of the virus, women who have lost their entire families, the few men left on the planet. At times - especially towards the beginning - I did find it a little difficult to keep track of who exactly everyone was, but it allowed us to see a variety of different storylines play out. In terms of plot, I wouldn't say - beyond the arrival of the virus itself - that there was much of one, it was more a character of the entire human population and how react when the end is here.

I would say the book could have done more to deal with the impact on the LGBT+ community. The effect on the trans community was briefly mentioned towards the end of the book, where the virus' ability to demonstrate the difference between gender and sex was discussed. I however feel like this could have been established more, and from a much earlier point and would have been an interesting storyline. As would studying those where sex is not a binary like this book treated it as being.

Pandemic aside, there's something fascinating about seeing authors imagine a world where one gender dies off, and how they envision society would continue without the other half. Similar stories I've read in the past include The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, which initially presents as a society where all women died off, and then there's Y the Last Man, a comic with essentially the same premise as The End of Men - a disease comes out of nowhere and decimates the male population, followed by a bit of chaos, followed by utopia. Naturally!

The novel weaves together multiple story threads dealing with different aspects of how the pandemic affects. I'm never a huge fan of this style of story-telling, as some threads are inevitably more interesting than others, and I find myself sometimes skipping whole chapters to get back to the better story. Essentially this is a story about grief and loss, written before covid, but I find the thought-experiment of how society shapes itself in the absence of men is what interested me most. There's also some really interesting ideas that remind you exactly how much our world is built by and for men.