Compelling, prescient and exciting this book was absolutely unputdownable. I am not sure its a great classic and I agree with the other review I read here - there needs to be a greater differentiation between the characters cos it does get a bit mad and confusing at times. But really its thrilling and a bit of a rollercoaster and we all now understand the issues around a pandemic (or at least those of us outside number ten do). Whats not to like?

This is a likely book, given we are living through a pandemic. It’s a really interesting concept - men dying out - that is explored through the book.

I was intrigued about seeing how the world changed without men around I was also intrigued by the different survival strategies people adopted.

I cannot recommend this story highly enough! I was hooked from the start, the writing is incredible and the subject matter gripping. It’s so cleverly written from multiple perspectives that show the full range of the impact of the Plague on loves across the world. It’s gritty, emotional and thought provoking. I just found it fascinating to read the development of the story and to reflect on the changes at every level of society from individuals and families to professions, organisations and governments. The timing of my reading in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps made it more relatable and it’s uncanny to think that this idea of the authors which must have seemed so far fetched initially turned out to be almost prophetic. A must read in my view and highly recommended. I’d give it 6 stars if I could!

Saw this title and I thought that is a book for me!! But seriously, this is great, I'm so glad I picked it up. I thought the writing was incredible and especially impressive as it's a debut. I really enjoyed all the different points of view in the book and reading it in the current climate felt exceptionally terrifying! Such an interesting take on the plague/apocalypse style novels. Despite there being a few other books like this it felt completely unique and unlike anything I've read before, I honestly could not put it down and read it over a couple of days. Definitely going to look out for more from Christina Sweeney-Baird. Thank you for sharing this review copy!

In years to come readers unfamiliar with the details will probably think this was written in response to the COVID pandemic, it’s hard to believe that a novel predicting a life-changing global pandemic which kills men rather than women was written the year before a life-changing global pandemic which has killed more men than women. At first I was wary that it would be too close to reality to read this review copy in 2020 and if I’d lost someone close to me that would probably be the case, but I was drawn into the story, told from the viewpoints of different characters around the world as the virus takes hold, from the first page to the last. It begins with Amanda the Scottish A&E consultant who sees the first men die, realises something is very wrong and tries to get a local lockdown but is dismissed as a hysterical female by the powers that be. Cases spread quickly across the UK, then around the world as we are introduced to a variety of characters, each trying to get to grips with the new world with very few men in their own way. Catherine the anthropologist terrified she’s going to lose her husband and son. Dawn the bored senior civil servant counting down the hours to retirement until she’s suddenly left as the person in charge. Brothers Toby and Mark on a cruise to see the northern lights when the captain realises all they have to do is stay at sea until it’s all over to stay safe, they’ve got plenty of food to keep them going for a couple of months. Lisa the ruthless Canadian scientist who’s always employed the best woman for the job finds herself at advantage in the search for a vaccine when all the male scientists are dying but will she win the race to find it?
This could so easily have turned into a feminist diatribe or a depressing novel without hope but somehow, no matter how sad their story, each character lifts the reader in their own way. Brilliant page-turner!

It's a Five Star Book of the Year for me!

It’s August 2020 and I’m sat on my sofa in the searing heat. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and I’ve attempted to read just 2 books in as many weeks and couldn’t finish either of them.

My concentration is at record rock bottom levels and I’m yearning for a book to take me away from this shitshow.

I thought I wanted gently calming and quiet reads, but they were just not cutting it. My eyes were seeing the words, my brain was somewhere else entirely. What I didn’t realise (aah, hindsight!) was that I needed a big, powerhouse of a book to slap my brain around with, get it out of slump-mode using good old fashioned brute force.

So mindless scrolling on Twitter was all I could focus on.

Then it happened. I came across a very eye catching bright red ARC of a book not due out until Spring 2021.

The die-cut front cover was gorgeous. The synopsis, terrifying. The End of Men would either wake up my reading with a violent shake or send it further down into blank oblivion. I was prepared to run that risk. The world around me has partly shut down and my mind was rapidly following suit.

I’ve got hundreds of books to be read, but what did I do? I requested it on NetGalley of course!

It seemed like a bit of a madcap idea to read about a deadly virus, I’m trying to escape the continuous doom and gloom of this world, not add to it. What the he’ll am I doing?!

Anyway, I had my request accepted and dived straight in.

There’s a global pandemic and men are dying. Men are dead. Women are carriers, fiercely protecting their sons, watching as their husbands are savagely taken by this killer disease. The thankful ones had daughters. Only one in ten men are immune.

The End of Men is in the literary fiction genre, with fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian tones that were worryingly real.

‘The world is closing down’.

It was hitting temperatures here in Hampshire, UK of 35 degrees, yet I felt chilled to the bone.

Written in multiple points of view from various parts of the world, from Scotland to Singapore, from Canada, to the USA and everywhere else in between, I was able to follow every thread of this story with ease. Usually any more that two or three viewpoints throw me when I’m reading, I struggle to remember who’s voice I’m hearing. All these characters were diverse and the writing style was crystal clear. Everyone’s journey was a path I followed with ease.

‘Billionaires have become millionaires, the value of money has evaporated, and this city built on sexism and mans ability to play God through technology is falling apart at the seams.’

At around the halfway mark, I had this niggling pain in my face. I thought I was perhaps coming down with something. (Oh no, those awful paranoid Coronavirus thoughts were creeping in!) Turns out I’d been clenching my teeth so hard whilst reading that I’d given myself a tension headache and jaw-ache! What a relief! So I took some paracetamol and carried on reading.

‘I have never felt so powerful. This must be what men used to feel like. My mere physical presence is enough to terrify someone into running. No wonder they used to get drunk on it.’

The tables have turned. Women are the future in Sweeney-Baird’s world. Women are being relied upon to save the world, the human race. I’d say it’s about time too, judging by the state of our real pandemic, maybe turf out the blokes, us girls could surely do a better job. (I’m looking at you, New Zealand!)

What I wasn’t expecting was how frightened I felt if we were to be without men completely. Who would remove the spiders? Reach the top shelf for the gravy granules? Clean the windows? I’m joking, obviously. I’m no Stepford Wife, (one of the books I read and thoroughly enjoyed this year by the way!) but seriously, thank goodness this was a work of fiction, albeit too close to reality for comfort at times.

‘Tonight, I will drink a lot of wine, something I only allow myself to do occasionally to avoid slipping into the kind of sodden, drunken grief that I can see the appeal of very clearly’.

I know it sounds completely nuts, but I would say this is recommended reading for any person, man or woman, who’s life has been affected by Covid-19. So that’s EVERYONE then. It’s put our current situation into better perspective for me, that’s for sure. For the first time since March I’ve felt a little more positive and a lot more thankful because actually, things really could be a whole lot worse.

‘Bad things and good things can coexist…..’ ‘And we have to find the good where we can.’

Ladies and gentlemen, give that man in your life an enormous hug.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to the author, Christina Sweeney-Baird, the publisher, Harper Fiction for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review via the NetGalley platform.

The first thing that came to me whilst reading this book is it is very close to home with the pandemic that we are currently going through at the moment, when something like this happens it is absolutely devastating, this is the first book I have read that confronts this type of pandemic and I wonder if there will be any other books that confront this issue. It all felt very real reading this, the fact that no one really thought anything of it at the beginning but then how it all spiralled out of control. If we weren't where we are at the moment then I would not believe this could ever happen. It really makes you think what life would be like if you were in this situation. A though provoking and emotional read, one that made me think and one I will never forget.

The End Of Men is a book that would always have appealed to me, even before I was living through a global pandemic. Written a few years before the situation we now find ourselves in, it’s surely a quirk of fate that it will be published in a time we are, hopefully, rebuilding our lives.

Did I read it differently to how I would of a year ago? Yes. Are there parallels? Yes, undoubtably, because a virus that takes over the world in a matter of weeks is something that is now much more of a reality than many of us ever thought. I think as a result, whilst reading I was a little less terrified than I would’ve been, and maybe it seemed less like fiction and something that could be in the daily news. Which just serves to demonstrate quite how timely this book is.

Spanning years and told by a kaleidoscope of distinct narrative voices
The End Of Men is a brilliantly written story of humanity. It delves deeply into what it takes to survive yet it’s also a heart-wrenching exploration of grief, bringing to life the all too raw poignancy as we consider what we’ve lost and what may be changed irrevocably. Highly recommended.

The author assures us that this book was conceived of and written in 2018, when the idea of a pandemic affected the whole world was laughable. Nowadays, of course, it's not quite so far fetched. Still, at least ours doesn't have the death rate that the fictional Plague does.

I tore through this book in less than twenty four hours. It's a fascinating look at how the world might react to this kind of plague. (Quite late in the book, when a COBRA meeting are discussing allocating children to parents, I had the horrific thought that at least child abuse would probably go down.) The slight differences between countries are interesting, too, and someone more anthropologically minded than me would probably be able to read quite a lot into that.

I do have one tiny niggle, and I have to bear in mind that I'm reading a very early proof copy and this may not be an issue in the finished book; I found it hard to keep track of who everyone was. We're following a dozen or more people, who all have friends and support systems, across more than five years, and at least for me I didn't find the narration very different. Each section is headed with the character's first name, where they are and the time, in days, since the plague started, but I kept having to remind myself which person was which. Again, though, I'm reading a proof and there may be a dramatis personae or an index in the finished book.

Apart from that very minor niggle, I really enjoyed this. Christina obviously thought really carefully about the impact this plague would have on the world. I would have loved it to go on a little longer and see what effect the drastically reduced child population would have on the world, but that's not what this story was about.

I think even without current circumstances, this book would have made me feel creepy and like I should keep away from people; it's just that good. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else Christina writes. I think she's going to be one to watch.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this book. I feel for the author, A book about a virus that kills a large part of the population was probably a really good idea before the start of 2020. The start of this book was almost impossible for me to read. It hit to close to home. Parts of the book were riveting. I think this is a good book but it was just the wrong time for me to read it.