The End Of Men is an absolutely compelling read. The fact that it was written before the pandemic only adds to that.
As a small warning, this hits home hard after what we have all dealt with over the past few years, so please go into it knowing that.

Following several perspectives, this not-too-far in the future dystopian tale follows the 6 years from the discovery of a plague-like virus in Scotland. Within days, 90% of men are dead and we see how the women deal with what this new world with barely any men left in it becomes.

The different characters give a very well-rounded story, following main players like the doctor who discovered the virus, to smaller yet still impactful roles like the abused wife who finally manages to escape.

I have no scientific background so, while I have seen the reviews saying the science doesn't add up, I was happy to not focus too much on that and enjoy the fictional story.
What I really enjoyed was seeing the flip in gender politics and how they changed throughout the book. It really does give you food for thought for how you would deal in such a situation.

Great read.

I am stunned that this is a debut novel! A fantastic premise and written wonderfully. It's gripping, harrowing and hits incredibly close to home. Highly, highly recommend!!

I really enjoyed this book, it is emotional , shocking and enthralling and I would definitely recommend it. A thought provoking read and I loved the portrayal of women, it offers a sense of hope in the strength and resilience.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I opted to listen to the audiobook that was available through Borrowbox.

The details
Read by: Sara Lynam, Rebecca Perfect, Denica Fairman, Julia Locascio, Robert Bradley, Cathleen McCarron, Penelope Rawlins, William Hope, Aysha Kala and Debra Michaels (and potentially more, I think).

The story
I went into this having very high hopes. On the back of Covid19, I was interested to see how this would mirror something very real. I did have a hesitance in regards to how it would handle the gender topic of this, what with how evolving gender is, and how it would work for people who's sex was differently assigned at birth. I was also very intrigued in seeing how it would handle societal and political themes. I must say I was disappointed that lgbt+ was only discussed in the last 5%. So much more could have been talked about there.

Due to the content, I was anticipating a heavy, but rewarding piece of dystopian, eery science fiction.
I was really anticipating this one, however, mixed with that was a feeling of unease because I worried it would feel like a caricature of today's life or feel too fresh to enjoy as a work of fiction when we have been living with a very similar situation for the past 2 years. I'm glad to say I didn't struggle with any of that during this reading experience.

We had all these little details that added authenticity. For example, a black character talking about hair relaxer and being in a strong governmental position. Loved that.
Then halfway through we had a conspiracy pov that was super entertaining but scarily accurate.

The science portions didn't get too heavy to comprehended and it was also incredibly beneficial to the plot and reading experience to get various cultural and professional perspectives. It was so engrossing!
These details felt complex enough to immerse you and to be impressive, but not enough to baffle or take away from the story.

It was interesting to notice that I didn't actually know how anybody looked, but it didn't stop me from making them up in my head and I didn't even notice until I only had a 3rd left.

The narrators
What a fantastic cast of characters and the voice actors did an amazing job. I think their varied experiences really helped to amplify the believability of the story, as well as the fact that we are still living in a pandemic life.

Overall, I had high hopes for this one, but it even exceeded my expectations and I'm so happy I enjoyed it so much.

Following personal exploration into understanding how books with this premise undermine and erase the LGBT+ community, particularly trans and non-binary folk, I will not be reading or requesting any books with plots lines revolving around the near or total elimination of a particular sex/gender.

The End Of Men is a book that wouldn't be everyone's choice during a global pandemic, but I'm sucker for the unusual and at times uncomfortable...

A mysterious virus has been bought to the attention of Dr Amanda Maclean when she is called to treat a man with flu like symptoms, within three hours he is dead.

But it isn't flu, and within no time at all the virus is sweeping it's way through the hospital leaving a trail of male casualties in its wake.

Dr Maclean raises the alarm, but is only viewed with suspicion by the authorities.

By the time they decide to listen, the virus has swept the world. And is only affecting men.

Can they find a cure before it's too late?

A great novel at any time, but perhaps even more poignant at the time of reading. I look forward to the authors next.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

This was such a fascinating read, even more so because what the world has been living through for the last couple of years, It is well written with a well executed narrative, a gripping storyline and well developed characters. I am definitely appreciating dystopian type feeling books more since the pandemic and this was high up there for me. I will definitely be checking out more by the author.

Overrated and dull. It is possible I was in the wrong headspace for this book, and to be fair the author won’t have expected anyone reading it to have actually lived through a pandemic, but it felt unrealistic. Dubious science. A poor read.

I loved this! More than I thought I would, which was even nicer. The detail into the characters lives is amazing. Sweeney-Baird has done such an amazing job of making this book feel as large as the world but also small enough that you can't get confused.

Set from about 20 different perspectives, some we hear about the whole way through. Some we on see once. It makes you wonder what happened but that you also know without being told.

This is an amazing, heart breaking, hopeful story and it shows how bad things can get. This is the worst of the worst with regards to pandemic but at the same time you know that if this happens and if people are ignores when trying to raise these concerns, casualties will follow.

So cleverly pieced together, but it also raised concerns that are in our society and haven't/won't be fixed.

Full on 5 stars and it deserves more.

DNF @ 25%

For me, this book was a bit too relateable - maybe it's too soon for me to be reading these kind of books!

I didn't find myself engaging with the story nor was I interested enough to want to finish it.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Grippingly chilling.

The End of Men came out during the pandemic, though written a while before it was even known. It is a cleverly written tale of what ifs spanning years and told through the eyes of a number of amazing characters.

It delves into humanity and questions what it takes to carry on when the world around us is crumbling. Very timely!

Highly recommended.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

This is a story about a plague that kills 90% of the worlds male population. This has great writing and I loved the premise, seeing how people managed without as many men in the world. Funnily enough they did ok!

The End of Men is a story about a lethal plague in Scotland, only affecting men, that quickly spreads throughout the rest of the world and wipes out most of the male population. Incredibly, this was written prior to the coronavirus pandemic that, at the time of reading this, is still ongoing. Due to this, the emotional impact of reading this book was much higher, having many things described being mirrored in real life. The changes we have had to make as a society due to the pandemic, the feelings of isolation, fear and the unknown being paralleled in this story, I read this with a tight chest as this story was heartbreakingly relatable in a lot of aspects; the deaths of baby boys particularly hard to read as a new mother.

The story is told from multiple perspectives from different backgrounds and careers, following them through the pandemic and seeing how their lives have changed. Each character felt distinguished; the author masterfully created memorable characters with unique voices. For example, one perspective was a doctor who treated the first patient who died from the illness; another perspective from a virologist developing a vaccine and another an anthropologist struggling with her own fertility prior to the pandemic who intends to record the individual stories from people affected the plague.

This book goes through the many different facets of daily life affected with the mass deaths of men, from unfulfilled job roles to the issue of maintaining population. The author has also identified ways in which we do live in a predominantly man's world and how this would shift where percentage of women compared to men is suddenly much higher. A woman's world was a very interesting and thought provoking read, as well as being an eerie, poignant read with times being as they are.

I'm not sure if this author can tell the future but I am dumbfounded that this was written before the pandemic! It was a fast paced, intriguing page turner, but it may be a bit too close to home for some.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc.

An amazing future=predicting book, which was never on the cards when it was written. In 2025, a doctor is working in A&E when she realises two men have died very quickly with very similar and quickly developing symptoms. She quickly realises there is some sort of new virus, but when she tries to alert the authorities, they ignore her, until men start dying in ever increasing numbers. The story is told from various female viewpoints, the first doctor to realise it was happening, female virologists and researchers, politicians and ordinary people who have been caught up in an unimaginable tragedy.
The book was written before Covid but published in spring 2021, when the covid vaccine was much more restricted than it is now. Reading it in January 2022 and seeing how even more of the story has come to pass in one way or another (travel restrictions and safe zones for example) has been a real eye opener.
It is hard to believe that this is the author's first book, she writes in such a compelling and engaging way. I have recommended it to everyone

This was a really interesting read especially as something similar has changed our world too. I loved all the different types of women the reader gets a glimpse of, although I did get confused over who was who for the ones who kept reappearing. It was intriguing taking a look at what the world might be like with a lot less men and how deeply it would affect society on so many levels but there was also quite a bit of empowering women also highlighting what women can do if men let them. This is a thrilling read which touches upon some difficult topics but I couldn't put it down!

Very topical story about a viral pandemic but this one just targets the male population of the World and kills them within days of contact. What an idea! There is a frantic race to create a vaccine. Some parts were more plausible than others.

The fact that this book was written pre covid and it is SO ON POINT to what actually felt like happened at the start of covid means that this book is eerily good. It’s not just a dystopian, it’s a sci fi with what appears to be so much research and thought behind it, it feels realistic.

Sitting waiting for your covid booster whilst reading about a vaccination development for a fictional worldwide plague was slightly unsettling! The parallels to reality are there!

However after reading other reviews I must say that there are things that never occurred to me whilst reading it that make this a bad novel to others. I have zero science or medical background so nothing really jumped out at me as being wrong, apart from why no one was trying to find the source or the attitude of the vaccine scientist, and of others.

A book with many characters that I admit I struggled to keep up with, but I loved the fact that their stories interweaved.

I was hooked with this book and read it in 3 sittings. A plague which only affects men begins to spread in Scotland and the doctor who discovers it is ignored until it is too late.

And so begins a heartbreaking book of loss, politics and change. I loved that the book showed that not all of the changes were bad (in the cases of better jobs and rights for women and the escape from domestic violence.)

I also thought it was interesting that toward the end of the book there was commentary on many issues that affect women such as medical and safety equipment and that the remaining men were then struggling with the issues of objectification which women have discussed for so many years.

I was shocked to find this was a debut as it was so gripping and brilliantly written. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book so please do look them up before reading.

A great book so fitting for the time of its release. I enjoyed an ARC of this title and read it during the height of the pandemic. I can tell you, it gave me a few sleepless nights and encouraged the odd conspiracy theory.

Well written from the perspectives of women representing those who are left behind by a deadly virus that takes hold of the world within weeks shows the devastation, instinct, determination and hope that comes from surviving a global crisis. There are scenes of triumph, as well as heartbreak watching influential women shine in the face of grief.

This book is suited for fans of drama and stories that contain several grains of truth. Written as journal entries, it is a quick read in chronological order of how the virus ran its course. With the absence of any obscenities, this novel will appeal from late teens+.

It gets a 5/5 stars from me. Would love to read more work in the future.