Femlandia is the much anticipated new release from Christina Dalcher, best-selling author of Vox and Q. Once again Dalcher tackles a controversial subject and gives it a dystopian twist. In Femlandia the United States has suffered a catastrophic economic collapse and descended into a dystopian reality where food and other necessities are running out and a woman alone is in grave danger from the gangs of brutal and violent men who roam the land.
Miranda and her teenage daughter Emma are struggling to survive in this brutal new world. With their food supplies running out they are forced to leave their home, but a brutal attack on the road forces Miranda to rethink her plans and do something that she never thought she would consider. Her estranged mother Win founded a women-only commune years before, and it seems like this Femlandia might be the only safe option for Miranda and Emma, but given her many disagreements with Win and her ideology, Miranda is not sure that they will be welcomed.
This is a dark book, with a dystopian theme and it makes for unsettling and thought-provoking reading. I found it hard to put down, it pulled me in with its twists and turns and I found myself 'living' the story even when I wasn't reading it. Interestingly, Femlandia was not the utopia that the reader may imagine at the beginning, it has cult-like rules and some disturbing practices that I hadn't even considered, this author takes it to the extreme!

Christina Dalcher seems to have cornered the market in dystopian novels where society is crumbling, and women are under pressure, first Vox, the Q, and now this one.
Set in the near future, the world economy has collapsed, and in America, Miranda and her daughter Emma are trying to survive in an increasingly brutal and dangerous world.
When Miranda was young, her mother, Win, set up a series of female-only communes, known as Femlandia, and this is where they end up.
I found the mother’s whole attitude towards men as all abusers and users of women, with no redeeming features a very extreme idea, and was uncomfortable with the lengths she was willing to go to spread her vision.
Although there were some more reasonable voices, the book made uncomfortable reading, and it did make me think about how far people are willing to go to make a safe society.

The short epilogue was interesting, history keeps repeating itself…..

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ for the opportunity to read this book.

I haven’t read “Vox”, but recently finished “The Power” by Naomi Alderman and I could sense the similarities between the two straight away. I have been enjoying female writers and female empowerment in literature so this book was right up my alley.

"I read somewhere that everyone's utopia is someone else's dystopia."

Having previously read and loved Vox, I was intrigued to read Femlandia and the premise sounded really interesting. It follows Miranda and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Emma, after the American economy has collapsed and her husband has committed suicide. After they are attacked on the road, she makes the decision to head for Femlandia; a women-only commune which her estranged mother founded twenty years earlier. Win believed all men were evil and was furious that Miranda married and became a traditional housewife.

The premise was really gripping and I was quickly sucked into the story. A lot of triggering subjects were explored, however, I found it hard to put the book down. I felt the disturbing topics added to the novel, rather than simply having been included for shock value. The suspense was built beautifully and I loved the writing. Despite only two POVs and the twisted morals of some, I sympathised with most of the characters, although would have liked a more in-depth look into Jen's background, since I loathed her from the start. I also felt the ending was anti-climatic and I would have liked a few more chapters to explain the immediate aftermath.

Overall though, I loved this book even more than Vox. The plot was sinister and a number of scenes gave me goosebumps. I would recommend for adult readers who are not triggered easily and enjoy dystopian thrillers.

Thank you Netgalley and HQ for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

i loved dalcher's previous book VOX, so much so that i wrote my advanced higher english dissertation on it. Femlandia was very enjoyable and thought provoking. while it dealt with a lot of the same issues, it had a completley different take on it than VOX. what i love most about dalcher's writing is the way she incorporates her linguistic degree. very interesting to read about. what was unique about this book is it was more heavy on the violence than her last

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ (Harper Collins) for an ARC of this book.
Release date: 19th October 2021.

I seem to be one of the few people that have not previously read anything by Christina Dalcher - something that will now be remedied after 'Femlandia'...

'Femlandia' was a whirlwind of feminism, secrecy, and dystopia that depicts a near-future that is not far from the realms of possibility. What would a world without men look like? How do we get around reproduction and science? The story highlights the struggles women face at the hands of men, but by using Miranda, Dalcher explores the effects of the patriarchy in a more nuanced way - feminism is dissected and misandry is shown for what it is.

Femlandia - a commune style closed-off community - is a safe haven for women who need to escape their outside lives. As the financial crisis causes a global breakdown, Femlandia becomes necessary for Miranda and Emma. Dalcher's characters have great depth and she wields the backstory of these characters artfully into their current positions. Their heavy-hitting pasts unfurl and add new levels to their fractured lives.

The story primarily follows Miranda but weaves her mother Win and her daughter Emma into the story showing how one family's ideas can shape so many peoples' lives. It was fascinating to explore the generations and to see how they all reacted. Dalcher certainly shows that nothing is as simple as it seems, and highlights how any group of people (regardless of gender) will give themselves a hierarchy and rules that ultimately only work for those at the top.

An exciting and emotionally charged read that makes you consider what you would do when faced with philosophical and moral questions.

A few notable content warnings: sexual abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, pregnancy and miscarriage.

Very good novelist. Exciting, engrossing, page turner. Keeps you involved even if you know it's fiction.

I have never read any of Christina Dalcher’s previous books but was intrigued by the description of this. I love dystopian fiction and this account of what might happen if America has another financial crash is gripping.
Miranda’s life is destroyed by the crash of the financial system. Money runs out, schools and public services close and society begins to break down. Her husband runs away from his responsibilities in the worst possible and she is left to survive with her teenage daughter. Her mother, Win, has set up a women’s commune, Femlandia, and Miranda decides that she has no choice but to go there to find sanctuary for the two of them.
After a difficult journey, they arrive and are welcomed into the commune. However, everything is not as it first appears and Femlandia holds a very dark secret.
This is a dark story of what might happen if women run a society in which men are not welcome at all and seems to have quite a pessimistic view of human nature. But I was gripped by the story and really wanted to know how it would all end.

Wow, I loved this book! Miranda was a great character, who I started off liking, got frustrated with her, then ended up understanding and liking her again.

The story starts in the not-too-distant future where the world's economy has collapsed and people are left to fend for themselves. It begins as a dystopian novel, but becomes one woman's fight to survive in this new world, and to put to rest her demons from her past.

The daughter of Win Somers, founder of the Femlandia colony, Miranda has had to battle low self-esteem and estrangement from her mother after a shocking discovery in her teens. Alone with her own daughter, Emma, she must decide what is best - whether they can survive the next few days, or whether they should go to the colony she despises.

The story grips you from the first page, and keeps you hooked as it takes some sinister turns. Well written, with fantastic characters, and a horrifying storyline, this a book that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. Highly recommend!

A good apocalyptic thriller that was moving and full of twists and turns. Editing problems made it hard to read.

Femlandia is the first Christina Dalcher novel I’ve read and it certainly won’t be the last. A chilling look into an alternate near future where a woman and her daughter seek refuge in a woman-only colony, only to find that the safe haven they were hoping for is the most dangerous place they could be.

This is a book that certainly needs some digesting and was a hell of a lot darker than I thought it would be. Overall a brilliant and thought-provoking read. A must for all dystopia fans.

Femlandia is a disturbing book. It grips you from the beginning and doesn’t let go.
It tackles very disturbing themes. Worth reading.

Christina’s previous publication, Vox, marked a new wave of female centric dystopian fiction according to HQ Publishing. Femlandia continues that wave and adds something else to it too – a chilling feeling that although Dystopian Fiction this could one day be a reality. The novel is thought-provoking and totally gripping. Another ‘read in a day’ situation. So clear the decks for this one because you won’t be able to stop until you reach the last pages.

This is a heavy book – there are lot of topics and themes covered. For some it can be a difficult read and after you’ve finished it you’ll likely need time to explore your response and thoughts. There are no perfect characters. They aren’t predictable and they are flawed. The writing is honest and raw. It’s bleak and isn’t designed to be pleasant – it shows a terrifying future without rose tinted glasses and strongly through a ‘What If’ lens.

Thank you to the author, publishers HQ Publishing and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

A big bold cover for a big bold story, Femlandia is a dystopian look at the near future with a provocative take place on the other extreme of the misogyny typically highlighted in such stories.

Miranda doesn’t talk about her mother. She doesn’t want to be associated with the anti-man rhetoric of the creator of Femlandia, a group of women-only communities set up in late 20th/early 21st century America.

But, with the world imploding around her in the midst of a major economic collapse, it’s to the gates of Femlandia that Miranda now turns I search of protection for herself, her teenage daughter Emma, and Miranda’s unborn child.

The story is told mostly from Miranda’s perspective with occasional flashbacks from her mother Win’s perspective. This means the reader understands the very real pain and suffering Win experienced at the hands of men she should have been able to trust, and which contributed to her wish to create a safe sanctuary for abused and vulnerable women.

Whatever your views at the start of the book about the principles of Femlandia these will be challenged by the end.

I found this a really engaging read and raced through it. The characters are really well written and the situations they are placed in, while extreme, remain realistic enough to always bring back the question of what would I do.

I don’t know how I’d survive the breakdown of society, but I definitely would recommend that you read Femlandia.

This is the 3rd book I have read from the author and this one has lived up to the same high expectations of the previous two. A book with a story that dances scarily with a possible reality where women live in their own land "Femlandia" completely independently and unreliant on men. This follows one woman, Miranda, and her daugter, who have no choice but to join "Femlandia" after the death of her husband and the collapse of the economy leaves her destitute, meaning she has no way of making ends meet. However, Femlandia is not quite the utopia it seems.

Wow! Another thought-provoking cracker from Christina Dalcher! Set in a world not far from now, a massive depression has set in and our protagonist has to make her way to a women's only commune set up by her mother with whom she is estranged. Femlandia however is not everything it seems. If you like your dystopia novels dark and twisty, this is the one for you!

Femlandia by Christina Dalcher is a thrilling dystopian tale, reminiscent of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, but much darker. In Dalcher's novel, society has broken down and the world is in the final stages of destruction. Miranda is a 40-something woman with a 16 year old daughter, Emma. Both are fighting to survive in this new world, without the support of anyone. Nick, Miranda's husband and Emma's father, has taken his own life, unable to face the struggles ahead, leaving Miranda and Emma to fend for themselves.
Miranda's estranged mother, Win, set up an all-female utopia - Femlandia - some years ago. It becomes evident to Miranda that the only way she and Emma can really survive now is if they find this place, and Miranda can make peace with her mother.
The pace of the story is fast, and the sense of dread becomes palpable once Miranda and Emma reach Femlandia. As the sinister underbelly of the radical society is revealed, I was on the edge of my seat.
Another assured book by Dalcher.

I was so happy to be able to read this book. It was another great feminist dystopian by Christina Dalcher. The world has gone to pot after a major economic depression, caused by men in power. Miranda and her daughter Emma set of to, hopefully, find safety at Femlandia, a female community. Like most books there are twists and turns and nothing is ever simple. It also makes you question and think about the perspective of right and wrong. Really enjoyed it and recommend.

The world as you know it is ending - it's every man, or woman, for themselves, and to save yourself and your daughter you have to do the last thing in the world you want to do, and then risk losing your daughter anyway. Miranda's only hope is Femlandia, a woman-only commune/colony where they are self sufficient and don't need the outside world, or - more specifically men - for anything. But there's more beneath the surface, and Miranda isn't very good at playing by the rules.
Of all of Dalcher's books, I think this was my favourite - as dystopian as they all are, this one seemed the most 'complete' and the ending hung together with the narrative and didn't seem quite so far-fetched (especially compared to Vox, which ended really quickly and was all tied up in a bow far too neatly).

Christina Dalcher is the Queen of dystopian fiction.

The moment I saw Femlandia, I knew I have to read it, and I needed it NOW.

I truly hope that 2022 financial crash won't happen in the real life! The apocalyptic life which we know only from films and books forces Miranda and her daughter Emma to leave their house. They travel, trying to find a safe place. But nowhere is safe.
Miranda's estranged mother Win, created a "utopia" for womyn (not women, there was no "men" in her dictionary), with their own language, their own rules, and without anyone of the opposite sex.

A cult-like society that happens to be the only successfully running community, where everyone has food, house and a job. Miranda's former friend is there to greet her, she invites her and Emma inside. Everything seems so perfect, and maybe Win actually achieved something beautiful before she died.

Only there are things that don't add up. The coyotes' howls lasting years, even though coyote packs never stay in the same place for that long, giving births to girls only, even though the chances of having a boy are quite high, and the big walls that on the first sight are there to keep the danger out of the colony... but what if they're there to keep everyone from running away?

BRILLIANT. CREEPY. EXCEPTIONAL.

A must read for everyone who loves a good dystopian fiction.