The End of Men

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird was absolutely wow! A virus that takes over the world feels a little bit close to home but this is absolutely gripping. Had already heard amazing things and can understand why. I was absolutely hooked and devoured this audiobook. There were quite a lot of narrators to get my head around and it take a bit of time for me to get used to this, but they were great.

This will be a bit of a long review, but I think this book deserves a long and detailed review (spoiler free)

Well, I just finished listening to The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird… And I have to immediately say this is an amazing debut novel!

If you’re going to read about a deadly virus, a plague, a pandemic, and actually feel it is relatable and not “just pure fiction”, the time is definitely now.

A mystery illness starts off in Scotland, or, I should add, “The Independent Republic of Scotland”, in the year 2025 (scarily not too far from now).

This illness is only affecting and killing men. All men, no matter their age. And quite quickly it begins to spread worldwide, killing around 90% of the world’s male population, from newborn babies to elderly men… The world is now filled with widows, childless mothers and so much devastating grief and loss.

Does this seem a bit far-fetched to have a virus that is only affecting and killing men? No, not at all. Maybe not on this scale, but medicine does prove that there are certain illnesses or conditions that women may be carriers of but that will only affect men. This book simply took it to an extreme level and the scientific explanations given in the story as to why and how this was possible and was happening was extremely well researched and very plausible.

This starts off in 2025 and it takes us through a journey of just little over 4 years from the start of it, showing us all different types of people (differences in social status, location, ethnicity, age…) but also takes us through the excruciatingly painful process to find out why it happened, where it came from, how to cure it or treat, why some men are immune, what will become of the world after this massive “wipe-out” of men worldwide… and also the political aspects, the financial aspects, the lengths to which some people will go to in order to save themselves or to, worse, profit from this horrible pandemic.


I’m glad the audiobook features a full cast of different narrators, because we get to a point where we’re being told too many stories almost at the same time, and it helped to differentiate them all (and I also had to take some notes to not forget who was who and what where they doing and what their role in the main storyline was…).

I do not want to go into specific details, so I won’t spoil the book for anyone, but I have to say… I felt it was extremely relatable because a lot of what was written in this book… has happened during the covid-19 pandemic, though for us in the real world, this is still far from over… And to know that this book was written BEFORE coronavirus was even a reality is… scary. In so many ways it was almost a foreshadowing of what was coming, though, obviously, the author did not write it with that intention.

This book was realistic, terrifying (and a bit graphic at times, so be aware of that), filled with loss and heartbreak in so many occasions, well thought out and just a phenomenal read.

But you also need to keep in mind that this story is that of a somewhat ‘resolved’ pandemic, as it takes course over several years, so I suppose we can say that, in our real lives, we’re somewhere in the middle of this scenario.

I have to sing my praises to the author because this truly is masterpiece debut novel.


PS: I need to add a little side note, hopefully not a spoiler, but there was just a short moment in the book where I actually laughed out loud, which is the scene with the male member of parliament who is immune and someone says “it’s as if the virus took one look at him and said ‘no way in hell am I getting near that’”. I’m sorry, but it was just hilarious, because I sometimes also have similar thoughts about some people who are just a complete cancer in society but it seems they’re always immune to the worst things in life…


Thank you kindly to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK Audio and, of course, the author Christina Sweeney-Baird, for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

#TheEndofMen #NetGalley

What a gripping audiobook! Particularly having listened during the Covid-19 pandemic. The narrators were great as was the storyline. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stomach the story given today’s restrictions and fears for the future but it did illustrate how strong we humans are and our ability to adapt and overcome the unthinkable. My thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for a copy in exchange for my honest review.