A terrifying prospect is brought to life by the author in this dystopian novel where women have been silenced. Forced to wear 'counters' that add up their daily word count and if they go past 100 words in one day then they will suffer pain. Women have been forced to give up successful jobs and careers, girls are given sewing lessons at school - this truly is a man's world. And for Dr Jean the only way out is to help the men she despises.

The initial impact of this book is startling! I was gripped by this world that had seen fit to demean half the population all because of the rise of religious beliefs in many States. The way that intelligent women were made to comply, and seemingly have very little support from their husbands' and even sons, in fighting back against their awful treatment. It really showed just how damaging certain messages could become and influence the minds of seemingly level headed men. In her own home she is faced with the viewpoints that women are better off staying at home and 'knowing their place'. Fancy hearing that from your own child - whilst you are doing all your best to raise a daughter who has nightmares and gets awards at school for speaking the fewest number of words in one day..

I did find though that the shock factor of this book did begin to wear a little thin as the story seemed to run out of steam and it moved away from the controlling aspect of those in authority into different areas, but it did a great job of teaching you to be aware of what is going on around you in the world and to be engaged with how views and society is changing! I'm sure a lot of us sleepwalk through life unaware of small changes to laws and thought processes, and that's how easy it is to see those in power start to take control of what you see, what you think and how you can respond.

A thought provoking and fascinating read none the less so can highly recommend it!

My thanks to the publishers for the advanced reading e-copy.

This was powerful, intelligently written and completely terrifying when looked at alongside real life. From the blurb, you may think that it seems a bit far fetched, the sort of dystopia that needs a lot of explanation of how it happened. But actually playing on the "traditional values" that certain types of people love so much, the government shown in Vox manage to easily, realistically bring such a thing to pass.

As you can expect from a book built so much around language, words and communication was such a important part of the book and Dalcher had obviously put so much thought into it. With only 100 words to speak a day, women and girls have to put so much thought into exactly what to say, when to nod or shake their head. It was so interesting how not only did they confine their words so much, it was training them to keep quiet without being obvious.

Jean was a good character. Intelligent and fierce, caring so much about her little girl that she would do anything to get her out of this world that she's found herself in. I loved how much she thought about the past, about how much she and the other women like her could have done to prevent this from happening. The daughter was also a perfect glimpse into what they were teaching the girls at school. The range of characters coming into the novel from just one family, just one woman's viewpoint was really great.

Not one for the faint of heart, Vox is the perfect look into what could become of our world if we keep letting politicians regress us back to the 50s mindset.

I haven’t picked up a proper dystopian novel in years; not since the hunger games and divergent were a thing back when I was in university! They’d started seeming all similar to me and I wasn’t enjoying them anymore, so I took a step back a stopped reading them. When I heard the hype about Vox, I have to admit that I was sceptical; another dystopian? Yes, it may be adult rather than young adult, but my scepticism was still the same plus I’ve also recently read ‘The Handmaid’s tale’ by Margaret Atwood which is also a dystopian novel and I really didn’t enjoy it.

Vox, however, is such a clever and thoughtful book which plays on something that everyone takes for granted – your speech and the freedom to speak. It explored so many different paths including romance, political, intrigue, mystery and obviously the dystopian element, but none of them overpowered the other; the romance was there as a feature, but it wasn’t the main plot in the book for example. Just in case you haven’t heard about Vox, it is set in America in the future where women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day which is monitored by a mandatory wristband every woman must wear. We get to follow Dr Jean McClellan who was a respected neurolinguist (I think that’s what it is) and see how she lives with this speech restriction at home with her 3 children and her husband who works very high up in the government. Something happens, and Jean is drafted back in to help try and sort a problem for the president, but could this be the way to try and fix things for all women?

I loved the home and family aspect; Jean has 3 sons of varying ages and a young daughter, Sonia, who is also limited to 100 words a day and also her husband who I *think* (if I’ve remembered correctly) is the Scientific Advisor to the President, or the step down from such a job (basically very high up in the government). There is a part in the book where she is having a conversation with her older son about the new teachings in school, where they teach about women and their place in society and how they are physically built for staying at home and having children. It really helped show how they started the thinking behind the whole politics very young and how you got extra credit for university by going to these classes, so it became an easy way to get as many people as possible taught about a ‘womans’ place in society’. It was also so heartbreaking to see Sonia, her young daughter not be able to read or write as well as speak despite her being a child. Children are meant to speak and laugh and have fun, yet Sonia and countless other girls can’t for fear of being shocked by their band.

The book is also littered with a lot of scientific facts in relation to speech and language which were all very interesting. The case of Genie was mentioned, which is a real case study, and really sent home the message of how debilitating it can be to have minimal language and communication in early childhood and that it can be practically impossible to try and learn as first language as you get older. It’s frightening when you start thinking about this and then about how little the young female children in this story are and how damaged their language skills will be which obviously, won’t be much of an issue to anyone in political power in this story as they will be expecting the speech limitation to be a permanent fixture. However, if you start to think about the future where the speech restrictions for women are lifted, then you will end up with an entire generation of young women who have minimal or no language skills or the ability to read and write which is just scary and also disgusting. Christina Dalcher herself has a doctorate in theoretical linguistics and you can tell as she has littered this book with so much knowledge and information about linguistics and also some neuroscience and it’s not overcomplicated either.
This is an extremely thought-provoking book and makes you sit back and take stock of things. I started this book thinking that there would be no-way that this would happen. However, some of the stories we hear are from Jean when she was younger before the speech restriction and other rules were in place and she’s at college with her friend Jackie, who is a lot more vocal about the political climate and doing something to change it. Jackie talks about how you need to stand up for what you believe in, but Jean thinks that the political beliefs are just too outrageous that they will never be voted in. She attends marches but takes a back seat when they become more vocal and violent in some cases and their friendship is such an important and amazing dialogue and part of the book as it really made sit back and look at the picture as a whole. People didn’t think that Donald Trump would be voted in and yet he was, and the same with Brexit. People were adamant that it wouldn’t happen and so didn’t go and vote and low and behold it did!
This book isn’t just great for the political and social commentary, the actual plot was intriguing and as mentioned above, multi-layered. We have the romance between Jean and a special someone that has the potential to maybe be more but not without risk. There’s the scientific aspect of Jean and her team trying to find the cure and the mystery of what’s going on behind the scenes. The short chapters mean that this was an easy read despite the hard topic and I was constantly trying to fit in one more chapter to see what was going to happen next.

I feel like I could go on and on about this book and how great it is and how it makes you think, but the real proof is in you picking this up and reading it yourself. This is definitely worth the hype that is surrounding it and I think it’s a modern classic that should definitely be considered as a mandatory read for teenagers, no just in the US but around the world. It has such important political and social messages and whilst the speech restriction may not be anything that has been mentioned, this political learning can be applied to a lot of other social aspects and not just that, it really make you sit back and realise your own situation and how lucky you may be in your given situation compared to others and that if you have a voice, you can use it. I would definitely recommend reading this and I hope it gets actioned for a movie or TV series.

Hmm, I’m a little torn with this one. Did I like it? Yes. Love it? No.

The Handmaid-style premise was really interesting; a world where women are literally silenced by counters on their wrists limiting them to 100 words a day.

I love the way the story mirrored society today and the way we seem to be split into two types. The first being the type who basically ignores activists and marches and anything political. The second being the type to march, and write letters and campaign to right wrongs. Vox is a cautionary tale that warns about what can happen if we ignore what's happening in the world around us. Especially in the overly controlling, conservative, Christian world.

At the same time, Vox did not really "grab" me. It's poorly plotted and mostly predictable. I picked it up every evening but I wasn't really excited to see what happened next. I felt like the book was slightly too long with everything wrapping up too neatly and too quickly towards the end. I felt like some aspects were under-explored while a lot of paragraphs were dedicated to, often mundane detail.

One example of this was her son. I loved the conflict present in their relationship and I would have loved to read more of it. Again, it was resolved too quickly for my liking. The same goes for her husband Patrick. I feel like his reaction to certain secrets that emerged within the story could have been used to create more tension and friction.

Saying all that, I wouldn't NOT recommend Vox. It's a fun, what if, dystopian read that I'm sure many people will enjoy. You just have to be able to suspend belief for a little while and enjoy it for what it is without asking too many questions.

Started reading this after finishing another story that was set in a Utopia. Felt saddened and disappointed after finishing this book - not because the book was poor but because of the two possible futures, this oppressive dystopia is a more realistic future.

The premise is intriguing and I was completely sucked-in and riverted after only a few pages until the end. My only complaint is that the ending seemed a bit rushed and everything was tied up with a neat little bow. The author is sending a clear and important message: Words matter. You have a voice, use it.

"I keep reminding myself it isn't my fault. I didn't vote for Meyers. I didn't vote at all actually."

Statements like 'Well I'm a Christian and I don't know anyone like that' or 'I'm a white male and I don't act like that' are counterproductive. You are living in a bubble. Just because it doesn't apply to you doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and people who do have extreme beliefs, do make their voices heard. Oppressive movements are only able to gain traction when we are all complicit in our compliance.

Vox is to the 21st century what 1984 was to the 20th century.

Let me start by saying that Vox should be compulsory reading material for everyone. Give it to them at school and let them learn the meaning of oppression, control and what happens when the bible-thumping patriarchal system not only takes society back to the dark ages, what happens when it takes it a lot further than that.

This book made me angry, so furious I had to put it down and come back to it multiple times. My inner rage was begging to punch some of the characters in the face. To hurt and annihilate them completely.

Let me also say that without a doubt if this ever became a reality I would fight tooth and nail to oppose this kind of regime, for myself, my daughters and every other woman in the world.

With that said please take note of the regimes already dictating this type of oppression towards the female gender in the 21st century. The oppression and persecution of same-sex couples and homosexuality. Don’t ignore the laws being put into place or abolished in supposed democratic Western countries, that undermine women, gender equality and power over our own bodies. Be aware of so-called conservative political parties trying to control your life in the name of an imaginary power, and in the name of a book written by man for men.

I can’t imagine a world where I am forbidden to speak more than 100 words a day. I mean sheesh I find it a challenge to cope with the minimal Twitter characters, let alone not speaking more than a 100 words a day. Or living in a world without being able to write, communicate or read whatever or whenever you want to. It’s a complete horror scenario. Unfortunately it is also already a reality in many countries for women.

In the name of yourself, your daughters and granddaughters, insist on your place and your rights in this society and in the future.

Dalcher speaks from the bottomless pit of concern and fear the majority of us carry around with us. For some it will be forgotten in a goldfish moment, for others it will be buried in denial, but for the majority I hope this will be a warning and a call to arms.

The premise is a work of brilliance and also a shadow of foreboding, cast upon us by those who presume to know what is best for everyone often based on their own sense of self-importance and religious beliefs.

This book is incredible! The premise is scarily possible, especially the way the world is heading now.

In the US, females are only allowed to speak 100 words per day. There are dire consequences if they exceed that limit. Men have all the control, all the power. That is, until they need a woman to help them.

In this thought provoking, scary book, we see a world I hope we never have to live in. Excellent storytelling!

This book is so powerful, and if you love the Handmaids Tale I'm sure you'll love this just as much if not more.
It's such a terrifying concept that really had me thinking and wondering just who I would use my 100 words on, and towards the end I could barely put the book down wanting to know what happened.
Definitely one to read.

This book has a lot of hype around it and I have to say it does mostly live up to it. It’s a really on-the-nose story that I could actually visualise happening in the future, and that’s a very terrifying thought.

The story mostly follows Jean and I would argue that her daughter is also an important character in the book, as it shows how the counters affect the younger generations who are growing up with this being the new normal. The contrast of Jean’s daughter against her sons was a defining moment for me as it put everything into perspective and it hit me quite hard. The discussions about the boys education was another important moment for me. The addition of Religious Studies as a new subject, which is essentially propaganda about the role of women and men in the new society. It was scary to watch how Jean’s oldest son got sucked into the propaganda so quickly and started believing what he was told. It put into perspective how easily something like this could happen.

For me the family moments are what defined the book for me, and the moments that really stick in my head. I thought the ending was a bit rushed, all of a sudden everything happened and was over. I understand why it had to be told second hand and how that fits into the narrative, but it was a shame to miss the action. But with that being said it would have probably been a whole other books worth of plot, and it would have drawn attention away from what Dalcher was actually writing about.

This is a quietly terrifying book, it won’t get your blood-pumping in fear but you’ll start feeling trapped and afraid very quickly. It works so well and I think this is going to go down a storm.

Can I write this review in one hundred words?!
The band on their wrist is not a fitness tracker, it tracks the amount of words they say and if they go over, it hurts!
Imagine a world for women like that, one where you also can't work or make small talk.
The Pure movement has taken over America and Jean struggles to survive in the new world. Jean, her husband Patrick and their children learn the hard way of how to cope as a family under the new government, which many women fought to stop coming into power.

YES! After a run of books this month that haven't blown my mind, I'm so glad that I read this. POWERFUL is the word for this book.

The world described in this book isn't so far away from being a reality at this point - women have a restriction of 100 spoken words a day and are banned from reading, writing and any other form of communication.

Once that step has been taken in America, it's only a matter of time (scarily little time) before the little girls aren't able to read, write or want anything more for themselves - it's terrifying.

Dr Jean McClellan, the main character, is a neurolinguist so it's through her professional eyes that we see everything unfold. This includes a wider view of what banning language will do to women in the future, which makes it a whole lot scarier.
She's the perfect main character for this story, she's a well educated and strong willed woman but by being politically inactive and just rolling with the punches as they come, she's complicit in allowing this to happen. It's a not-so-subtle call to arms for women to vote and make their voices heard, by presenting the extreme consequence of not using them.

She watches the men around her from her silent viewpoint. They don't all behave the way she expects, some of them exceed her expectations and others absolutely tank. It's a thought provoking selection of the kind of behaviours and responses you might see from men in this situation.

I'm filled with enthusiasm for this book and would love to hear what other people thought about it, especially the men!

They say your days are numbered…but what if your words were too? The thought provoking and thrilling debut of the year is here, and is definitely one you won’t want to miss out on.


This book completely blew me away. I didn’t really know much about it before I went into it, but that worked so well for me. I was honestly gripped from the first page, and it was all I could think about every time I put it down.

The story was not only so unique and well written, but also extremely terrifying. As I was reading I kept thinking about what it would be like to only have 100 words each day, and the thoughts were truly intimidating.

The world was built so thoroughly and each character developed in the best way to create such tense story. I loved Jean so much and the way she was determined to create a better world for her daughter was beautiful.

Her relationship with Patrick was written so well, and really kept me on my toes. I felt for Jean as she had to deal with Patrick and Stephen in particular, it was so hard to see how the women were being treated and hit me hard in places.

The pacing was brilliant, and every character worked perfectly together to help build this uniquely thought up concept.

The ending was done so well. There was so much that happened, and my emotions were just flying everywhere. I felt so satisfed when I finished it, and can’t wait to read another book by Christina.

This is a debut that you need to watch out for; with it’s wonderful writing style, it’s deadly concept and brilliant world building – this is truly the book of 2018.

My words are choking - it’s rage evoking.

The thoughts in my head are running away - NO - in my mouth they must stay.

A society where men reign supreme - surely this is just a bad dream?

(35 words)

Timely, terrifying and absolutely riveting - VOX is a hugely important book of our time. I leave it feeling enraged and yet empowered. Highly recommended.

Thank you Netgalley for my review copy for an impartial review.

Welcome to the world of female dystopian horror. This really is a remaking of The Handmaids Tale but on a more understandable reality. The idea is original - curtailing women's rights all the way down to their right to free speech. I loved how this book is told from the perspective of a professional woman and the way that she thinks like most educated women thinking that she would not have to fight for rights and for them to be taken away so quickly and irrationally. This book is shocking as it is so believable - this could happen, this is not pure fiction - it is possible. Not sure what it does for other readers, but for me it has made me more woken up to the world of politics and women's rights - vote, people, vote! And speak up before our voices are taken away....

Jean McClellan's life changes overnight when females suddenly have no rights. Jean must stay home, cook and clean and look after the children. But most importantly, females can only speak one hundred words a day. If they speak more, they get an electric shock from their counters.
Jean is scared for her young daughter's future. If Sonia is encouraged not to talk will she develop as she should?
What will Jean do when she is given a chance to get her voice back, even if it's just for a few weeks?

Vox was a thought-provoking and scary read.
I liked Jean and I felt sorry for her - it would have been so hard to go from everyday life to being so restricted. I liked that the female characters in Vox were so strong.
The plot was good and held my attention. It went in a different direction to what I was expecting but I found the science interesting.
The concept of Vox was very scary but mainly because I can imagine it happening. Especially with the way things seem to be going nowadays.
The writing style was easy to follow. I'm intrigued to see what else the author writes.

Overall this was an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

After loving The Hnadmaids Tale I couldn't wait to read this, it is similar as set in a dystopian future set in the very near future in an America which has been taken over by fundamentalist Christians, this sees them enforcing traditional family roles using new technology such as a wrist band that shocks if the 100 word limit is reached. This book was shocking but page turning. Would definitely recommend.

I was very apprehensive going into this book because (brace yourself..) I was not a fan of The Handmaids Tale (ducks for cover..) The main reason I thought I would try this one out despite that, was the 100 words angle. It really interested me, especially being that, most days, I can chuck out 100 words before breakfast!

Dr Jean Mclellan was a renowned neurolinguist on the brink of a huge medical breakthrough when she finds herself imprisoned in her own home. She is now a reluctant housewife with a 'bracelet' attached to her wrist that counts every word she utters. If she goes over the allowed 100 words per day she will be electrocuted. As if this wasn't bad enough, she has to watch the same happening to her 6-year-old daughter. Along with her word limit, her education is also being limited to only things that she will need to be of service to men in the future. Jean is angry with herself for not seeing the signs and ignoring friends that told her something like this was going to happen, but what will she do when they need her and the expertise that they so readily stopped her from using?

Like I said, I did not enjoy The Handmaids Tale, but I really enjoyed this. While being mainly dystopian themed, it also felt a bit like a thriller and I think it would be great on-screen. I felt it started off a little slow, but thinking back, that may have been my initial misgivings of the genre clouding my judgement. It didn't take too long for me to be drawn into this very thought-provoking story that is more than a little scary in this current climate of government unrest and leaders having ideas that could snowball into a movement that would destroy our lives as we know it.
Compelling and very interesting story that will make you think.
Sidenote - Fave book cover so far this year!

Rating 4.5/5

Wow, I almost don’t know what to say. This is a book that I think will have a lot of people talking with a lot of varying opinions. This will sound like an odd thing to say because I found this book amazing but at the same time, I didn’t really like it.

The concept is phenomenal, in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale, it is a scary dystopian future where women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day and are only allowed to be homemakers. In a world that does seem as if it is indeed at times going backwards this definitely resonates because it feels as if it wouldn’t take much of a tipping point for something equally as bad to happen in real life.

I was seething at the injustice and the fact that so many people didn’t act, that they were able to brainwash the kids and have everything in place before anyone even noticed what was happening. It is scary to think that such extremists could get into power and cause irreparable damage to a nation.

I was interested in how it got to that point and enjoyed the flow of information as it goes back and forth between Jean’s present experience and how it led there. I also enjoyed as we started to see how people were fighting back, and how Jean copes with suddenly being able to talk and work again, although some of the science went over my head.

The writing was engaging, a bit drawn out in places maybe but the one thing that let it down for me just a little bit was that I didn’t really connect with Jean the way I thought I would, she is probably the most realistic portrayal of how most women would end up but I kept thinking that she would have more fight and that I’d be rooting for her, I think that is totally a personal thing though.

I do think that this is the kind of book that you have to immerse yourself in to find out how you feel about it. I loved it and didn’t want to put it down but I also didn’t like it, just how mad I felt when I was reading and it definitely gave me a lingering sense of foreboding, but I suppose it is all part of the book’s genius.

Vox by Christina Dalcher is my favourite book of the year so far. It strongly reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale which is high praise coming from me as The Handmaid’s Tale is my all- time favourite book.

The average human speaks sixteen thousand words a day but in Vox women and girls are limited to just 100 words a day. Jean is one of those women and though she is unhappy with her lot there is nothing she can do or say to change it until one day a powerful man asks for her help.

“If anyone told me I could bring down the president, and the Pure Movement, and that incompetent little shit Morgan LeBron in a weeks’ time. I wouldn’t believe them. But I wouldn’t argue. I wouldn’t say a thing. I’ve become a woman of few words.”

Via Jean we learn that every woman and girl have to wear a ‘bracelet’ with a word counter on. Once it passes one hundred the wearer receives a shock. The message is clear that women should be seen and not heard.

Reading about Jean’s experiences is enough to make anyone angry thinking about the type of society they live in, but it was the experiences of her young daughter Sonia that really made my blood boil. Sonia also has a counter and it never goes above 40 a day. Then one day someone demonstrates what happens when the wearer exceeds their count and the next day she wins a prize at school for using the fewest words. She is rewarded for her silence.

“…if the three R’s weren’t now reduced to one: simple arithmetic. After all, one day my daughter will be expected to shop and run a household, to be a devoted and dutiful wife. You need math for that, but not spelling. Not literature. Not a voice.”

Jean is a very strong character and one the reader will empathise with. It’s the little things that got to me when reading about her situation, things like being unable to read her daughter a bedtime story or comfort her when she had a nightmare.

There were signs prior to the change in the status of women, things like women no longer being able to obtain a passport. Signs Jean didn’t notice until it was too late to escape. Jean’s old friend Jackie had tried to warn her and others before it happened, but she had thought she was overreacting.

The most infuriating character for me was Jean’s husband Patrick. On the surface he was harmless enough because he didn’t agree with the system, but he certainly didn’t do anything to fight against it either. He was compliant and thought his wife should be too to make things easier.

Women in Vox don’t have access to books or writing materials anymore as part of the system.

“It’s the little stuff I miss most. Jars of pens and pencils tucked into the corners of every room, notepads wedged in between cookbooks, the dry erase shopping list on the wall next to the spice cabinet. Even my old refrigerator poetry magnets, the ones Steven used concoct ridiculous Italo-English sentences…Gone, gone, gone. Like my e-mail account.

Like everything.”

Jean struggles in her new life to adjust to the way the men in her life have reacted to the change in circumstances.

“I don’t hate them. I tell myself I don’t hate them.

But sometimes I do.

I hate that the males in my family tell Sonia how pretty she is. I hate that they’re the ones who soothe her when she falls off her push-bike, that they make up stories to tell her about princesses and mermaids. I hate having to watch and listen.

It’s a trial reminding myself they’re not the ones who did this to me.

Fuck it.”

During the course of the book we see Jean commit small acts of rebellion with very little fear of the consequence because she knows that they won’t kill her for it.

“They won’t kill me for the same reason they won’t sanction abortions. We’ve turned into necessary evils, objects to be fucked and not heard.”

The author has a clear message for the reader, for women in particular – use your voice, use your vote or lose the right to complain about the situation you find yourself in. Jean didn’t vote for this new order, but she didn’t vote at all.

I read the entirety of Vox in just a few hours because it was so good. I can’t wait to reread it.

There are many words that come to mind at the close of this book alongside a host of emotions. For one, I feel both unsettled and angry. This is a profound and scary read with a potential realism that should make any woman or man, for that matter, look over their political shoulder. I am a political animal so this book took my worries about misogyny and ran them to worse-case scenario.

Imagine a world where a misogynistic man is voted into power in the US (hold on, that sounds familiar) and over a relatively short period of time women are silenced. That is all I am going to say to the context of the story because it makes great, chilling reading.

The heroine, Dr Jean McClellan, a neurolinguist finds herself at home, running the house and so damn angry. Angry at her husband, her son and most of all at the powers that be. It is an utterly fascinating tale, a little imperfect at wrap-up but nonetheless absorbing. The parallel story of Jean's son, Steven was one of the most powerful elements of this story for me about how impressionable children/young people could potentially be brainwashed. I really liked where this particular element ended up.

There are some strong male characters in the book, some good, some bad and some weak but trying to be better. I appreciated the mixture and it felt real.

So, if you want to be challenged, if you like a story that mirrors contemporary times and moves it on fantastically, then this might be a read for you. In the meantime, I'll be creating a new genre over here called dystopian-realism.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

Reviewed for JoandIsaLoveBooks Blog.