TW: pandemic, death, sickness, child death

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an audio arc for honest review.

Talk about getting sold on a title! I was here for a pandemic story with a feminist twist. There are a lot of ‘end of the world’ books you could compare this to, and it reminded me a little of The Power in tone. But I loved this.

I listened to the audiobook and can highly recommend. They invested in multiple voice actors and this was crucial as there are a lot of perspectives to follow.

This was drafted pre-Covid so it makes for interesting comparison reading. There are some events that occur that show how similar and how different we live now.

We follow all types of peoples experiences when a virus appears and starts killing the male population at an alarming rate. The title does not cover it. The virus takes no prisoners. It was as more brutal than I expected. And the scale and scope this novel covered was tapping into every facet of our world.

I kept thinking to myself I hope it addresses certain aspects e.g the effect on the trans community. And it covered everything I could think of, every consequence and repercussion.

Highly recommend.

I can’t help wondering how I might have reviewed this book if I wasn’t twelve months into an actual pandemic and I do honestly think I would have boon more positive. I’m more knowledgeable about how timescales work out and how people and governments react plus it failed somewhat for me on the science front Too many characters so never built up much feeling for any of them. Amused at the Scotland getting Independence though.

Thank you to NetGalley, The Borough Press and HarperCollins UK Audio for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The End of Men is by far one of my favourite books of the year so far. I felt so invested in each individual characters story and I absolutely loved Christina Sweeney-Baird's writing style. This is such an incredible, moving thought-provoking debut novel and I think that Christina will have an incredible career ahead of her, I'll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for whatever she writes next.

The End of Men is so incredibly smart, with a series of interlinking characters and plot lines, all of which are so well developed that it was so difficult to put this book down and I never wanted it to end. I think it was such a good touch for this book to avoid ambiguity like others would have, and Christina sets out a very clear 'Start', 'During' and 'After' of this pandemic and I thought it was really interesting to see it from multiple perspectives. I don't want to go too deep into this and give spoilers away, but I would 100% recommend this book as a must read. I'm also really excited to see the movie adaptation!

The End of Men - Christina Sweeney-Baird

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and Netgalley.

The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland--a lethal illness that seems to affect only men. When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late. The virus becomes a global pandemic--and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes alien--a women's world.

What follows is the immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the virus's consequences, told through first-person narratives. Dr. MacLean; Catherine, a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the "male plague;" intelligence analyst Dawn, tasked with helping the government forge a new society; and Elizabeth, one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine. Through these women and others, we see the uncountable ways the absence of men has changed society, from the personal--the loss of husbands and sons--to the political--the changes in the workforce, fertility and the meaning of family.

There are a lot of characters introduced, but they are well structured so you always know who the chapter is about as well as where they are in the world and what day after the outbreak. A very well written brilliant debut novel, written in 2018, Sweeney-Baird has created a global pandemic that targets only the male species, removing any gender normals that currently exist.

I listened to the audiobook version and every single one of the narrators did a fantastic job of bringing this book to life.

Rating 4/5

A very eerie book to read, given recent circumstances

Addictive, compelling and scarily familiar. This audiobook kept me gripped from the start- a pandemic that targets only men yet tears apart the lives of everyone, such an intriguing storyline. I really enjoyed the different voices of this story- in the same way a life event affects different people in different ways, this showed the outbreak from all different angles. Perfectly narrated too- one that I would definitely recommend

Ok I hated this. I requested it as an arc from NetGalley as, possibly controversially, I love pandemic books. This one, about a virus killing off all men intrigued me, but when I started listening I realised there wasn’t really anywhere they could or were taking it. Another thing, the book had what felt like 30 different perspectives and stories. I couldn’t keep up and so little was said about each one I felt I didn’t care about anyone. I really think the book should have focused on one or two of the characters with the strongest plot line and gone with that. This book just wasn’t for me.

This book was just amazing. I listened to it as an audio version and the narrators really helped to bring each character to life. The plot itself is so relevant right now as we go through the 2020- 2021 global pandemic. I’m not going to lie - it really did get me thinking, we never know what’s round the corner.
The way the virus in this story starts and how it spreads so quickly is so reflective of our current situation. It really resonates with the slow response, the possible solutions and the path out of it. I loved the way each character brought a new perspective on the situation. The loss, the grieving, the hopelessness and the acts of selfish choices some made was told with such honesty and raw emotion.
An amazingly well told story, perfect for the situation we find ourselves in now.

I enjoyed this book - a very interesting and intriguing plot line. I think I would’ve given it 4 stars had I read it rather than listened to it. There are quite a lot of characters (and although they all have different voices and accents) which made it a little hard to keep up with everyone on audio. Well worth a read though and I would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the audioARC.

so i'm in a run of pandemic books, as someone who has been very panicky about our current situation i don't know WHY, but i'm enjoying it. there's something about embracing the panic and leaning in to the end of the world feeling

this particular one is about a flu that kills 90% of men starting in 2024. i kept comparing it to covid and the response and the death rate which made it even scarier but i really liked this one!

it follows a range of people, from the doctor who first discovers it, to scientists working on a vaccine and all the people in between. it jumps from year to year, showing long terms effects, including some really interesting consequences i would never have thought about and i love the big and small details

being scottish and reading barely any books set there, there was an odd thrill at that being the start of the outbreak. a claim to fame

i really enjoyed the audiobook! i have the ebook version as well so i read along at a few bits but mainly listened, horrified at the way the world was ending. because it was a whole cast it was really fun to listen to!

the writing was great, the characters were all so different, and i would recommend

A plague, a pandemic and men are the victims! Quite near the knuckle with that synopsis 😷 i was hesitant to listen because the media are full of tales of woe and doom and I wasn’t sure I wanted to listen to a book ramping that tension higher, it was actually a superb distraction from the gloom outside and I was enraptured by the story and the narration only enhanced that

I am staggered to discover that this, highly accomplished novel is a debut. What a level Ms Sweeney-Baird has set? Obviously, although conceived and executed before our current world wide pandemic, this is an imaginative, dystopian fantasy tale that can now easily be believed. Although the thought of a virus that only kills men may be useful on some levels and women could possibly joke about it, the sombre and sobering realities of what that might mean for humanity are brought home in this book. Wonderfully narrated by a number of voice performers, despite all the horror of the loss and the civil disturbances, there remains a core of humanity. The swift adaptation of women to their new situation is extremely life-affirming. A beautiful story that is both poignant and thought provoking. I will be listening to more from Ms Sweeney-Baird, I hope, in the future.

Woah, this was an adventure and a half. Nothing could have made me more intrigued than a novel and a pandemic that only kills men.

As the (brilliant) title suggest, this book is about a virus that is killing off the male population. In the year 2025 in Scotland, a virus emerges, killing 90% of men. The novels is about the desperate fight with the pandemic, as well as the consequences and what the world is like virtually without men. Needless to day, this book is especially thought-provoking amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic; speaking of which, it completely blew my mind that the author wrote this book before any of this started.

This novel is powerful, gripping, terrifying and also devastating. As I was listening to the audiobook version, I literally couldn't put down my headphones once I started. It was addicting, and I have absolute confidence that it's going to be one of the top books of the year.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I became so addicted to this. Unfortunately all to believable and resonating which makes it all the more impactful. Truly compelling.

The End of Men
One of the best apocalyptic books I've read/listen too in the last few years. This is highly original which is hard to find in this genre I feel.
I could easily see this becoming a mini series.

The narrators were fantastic!!! They did such a brilliant job bringing this book to life.

The only slightly negative thing I can say is that at around the 60% mark it started to feel dry and repetitive for a bit but then got going again.

I'll definitely be looking for more books by this author

I’ve just finished reading, and I’m shocked. Parts of this book, particularly the opening were horrifying - acutely visceral. It left me wanting to hug all the people I love. Especially at this time of global pandemic. But somehow it was exactly the book I wanted to read right now, and left me feeling hopeful and in love with the world.
After the initial emotional clobbering, the story gives a platform to imagine how a world would function without (or with very few) men. What society would look like, and how we might strive for normality. This is interesting as the story follows a social anthropologist as one of the main characters, and she records how the world changes.
I love the focus - it reads a lot like ‘World War Z’ as a collection of personal stories. Some in the first person, some magazine clippings, and some third person which in loved because it gave a sense of perspective.
I would have liked to see a wider global perspective. It’s very thoroughly focused on the UK, US and mentions other countries in passing including China, Singapore and the Philippines. And there were definitely some points about how a future without men would have worked in the UK that didn't make sense to me, but then, I'm a man, and this was fascinating to read about.
I really enjoyed this book, and would absolutely recommend it to fans of books like 'Earth Abides', 'Invisible Women' and 'World War Z'.
The audiobook was immersive and used a few different voices to give a real-life perspective. Definitely adds to the material.
More thoughts to come. Thank you to NetGalley for the Advance Copy