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.

I really enjoyed this. The plot twists and turns and doesn't always go where you think it will. The MC is strongly written and the overall narrative was gripping enough I read this in 2 days.

Free copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another thought provoking dystopia by the author of Vox and Q, however I found this book to be a lot darker than the previous reads. It was a great representation that any movement can too far in the wrong direction.

There were a lot of scenes that were difficult to read and I have to warn there are a lot of triggers in this book that I believe should be made very clear for readers e.g. Child abuse, sexual abuse etc.

I found it difficult to like most of the characters but I believe this was because of the situation the characters are in. It didn't leave much room for their true personalities to shine through as they were pushed down by the hardshop of the failing world around them.

Overall I'd still read more by this author. She always takes me to a world that could be possible but at the same time seem fantastical. However this book just wasn't for me. I think there were too many scenes I found difficult to read. But that doesn't mean other readers wouldn't enjoy this book.

This is such a great premise, I hit the request button almost before I'd finished reading the synopsis. Radfem dystopia? What's not to hate/love?!

There is some great world-building in this novel, but unfortunately not all of the narrative choices hit home for me, and some of them are hit-you-over-the-head clunky. There's a subtler way of writing this story, and I wish I'd read that one. The dialogue is mostly serviceable, but sometimes veers into the cringey, particularly in the scenes where our hero overhears dastardly schemes being discussed. The prose is sometimes lovely.

The relationships between the women in the novel - some of whom are womyn - are fascinating, and I wish more time was devoted to them. I wish Miranda got to spend more time in Femlandia talking to its inhabitants and learning about their lives - the logistics of the commune are cleverly imagined, but the book doesn't seem too curious about the potential emotional currents at play.

One thing I loved is the linguistics strand to the narrative, although that does also feed into some of the bleakest and most sinister elements of the novel. Speaking of which, for a book published in 2021 which deals with radfem ideologies, there is surprisingly little engagement with trans/non binary identities. I'm probably grateful for that, in the end.

My thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the ARC.

A very original storyline. Miranda is brought up by Mother who hates every male of the species, so forms a self sufficient commune of only women. They have to procreate to keep the commune going and this is where the problems start. Miranda hasn't seen her mother in years but after the world economy collapses she is forced to seek out the Commune with her own daughter just to survive.

Another thought provoking dystopia by the author of Vox and Q? Yes please!
Christina Dalcher is quickly becoming one of those authors where I'd even read her shopping list if she published it.
Unlike its predecessors, I felt that Femlandia had much darker and violent undertones. The dystopia was also more devastating and sudden. This book was so disturbing but also really good.
There were many flashbacks which made it a bit confusing occasionally but as a Linguistics graduate, I appreciated the fascinating bits about languages.
There was a bit of transphobia which I get was to make you not like a character but I was not comfortable reading it. I did not like all the misandry which I felt was a bit extreme and left me wondering if there is such a thing as being too feminist.
All in all, another good book by Dalcher and I look forward to being scared again by her chilling alternative futures.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was certainly an odd one, although I didn’t expect anything else after having previously read ‘Vox’.
Femlandia is another dystopian future whereby we are thrown right into the chaos. The downfall and disorder are already in full throttle, and we have no idea, to begin with, how the world got to be like this. We initially meet Miranda and Emma as they are losing the last of their belongings and have nowhere to turn for survival. They have a few days worth of food, and Miranda has to start thinking of doing something she swore she never would in order to give her daughter, Emma, the best chance to live through this nightmare.
I found the timeline at the beginning to be quite confusing as Miranda has a tendency to reminisce about how things were a few weeks earlier and if only she’d acted sooner. She intermingles these thoughts with the present and with those of further in the past. So I did find it quite hard to get into the story without knowing the background to the world she was living in and the different timelines she was weaving in and out of.
As the story progresses and we arrive in Femlandia, a sanctuary for women away from the harshness of what is happening to the rest of the world and away from all men. The story moves away from how Miranda can simply survive; she now needs to conform to the idea that all men and everything associated with men is evil. There are many questions about how such a place could thrive without men, and these questions get answered in the most horrific way possible as Miranda refuses to accept everything at face value.
I did enjoy reading this book, but there were times that I got a little confused about what was happening. Such as by the gate when Miranda ends up injured afterwards. I have no idea what happened, did some attack? Did she fall over? It was all a bit blurry, and I thought it would be cleared up later on, but it wasn’t. I was also frustrated with the Emma side of things. If Jen hadn’t have cosseted Emma, maybe Miranda wouldn’t have felt the need to act as she had. However, Jen purposely poked the bear with what she did, so this side of the storyline felt a little weak.
Overall, however, it was an excellent read. Very dark and maybe not the right sort of genre to read when our real world feels like we are living in a dystopian nightmare but ‘enjoyable’ nonetheless.

There are some questions in life that we have all wondered at some point. Like what would happen if all the people on the planet disappeared. Or what if gravity failed? Or if money all became worthless? Well in Femlandia, society has collapsed, leaving no value in money, or much else. The breakdown of all social norms followed, and fast. Supermarkets quickly ran out of food, riots became common, muggings, house burglaries even more commonplace. People got desperate, and if they didn’t have it, and you did, they would try to take it.

Miranda Reynonlds was already coming close to the poverty line before the total economic collapse. Her husband had left her and her 16 year old daughter, Emma, with nothing. The power had been cut off, debt collectors had taken her car, her furniture, even her pots and pans. Then when things couldn’t look much worse, they suddenly were. Riots, looting, suicides, murder. Miranda decided they had to leave the city, and fast. If they stayed they risked dying. Of course leaving was a risk too, but better to try, right?

When they left she only had a vague idea of where to go, but as they walked, the idea formed in her mind. Femlandia. The women only commune, a safe place for women, from all walks of life. Years ago Miranda swore blind she would never enter Femlandia again. But she needed to make sure Emma was safe. So she made the difficult decision.

When they arrive, it is paradise. An off grid, self sufficient, paradise. There is food for everyone, a pool, and beautiful cottages. Everyone shares workloads, everyone is happy. But when Miranda looks further, the cracks begin to show. Then Emma starts to turn against her. What seems like the perfect society quickly proves to be anything but. Just how far will Femlandia go to keep Miranda from the truth? And what exactly is the truth?


*I received this book from NetGalley for review but all opinions are my own.

After a catastrophic economic collapse that has seen everyone fighting for survival in a world where civilisation has all but broken down, Miranda seeks out the only place that she can think of which might be safe for herself and her sixteen year old daughter - Femlandia, a women-only commune set up by her estranged mother some years ago. At first sight, Femlandia seems to be a haven, even if the community's ideals aren't quite Miranda's own, but as she learns more about the place, she discovers the dark side of a society set up not by feminists but by misandrists.

I really enjoyed this book. It was gripping and powerful, and very thought-provoking, from the first page right to the epilogue, particularly surrounding the ideas of choice, coercion and control. Is it ever possible to have a community which is completely equal?

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I loved the combination of dystopia and utopia in Femlandia - the world as we know it has collapsed, and we see one woman's vision of how women can live free from the fear of men. The dark side of the Femlandia community raises so many questions about how those who are subjugated by one group, should then treat that group if they come into the same position of power. Is it OK to treat your oppressors how you have been treated by them?

The epilogue raises even more questions, as the Femlandia founders' predictions of what would happen if men were allowed into the community begin to be realised - were they right all along? Is it only a matter of time before what these women were fleeing is realised all over again?

I would love to see a sequel to Femlandia, maybe how the community - if it still exists - has changed, or not, and similar, or not, it is to what women were fleeing way back in the twentieth century. Fascinating. I will be mulling the questions raised by this novel for a week or more!

A futuristic thriller set in a world where women rule the roost, was as compelling as it sounds! The mother and her daughter embark on a perilous journey into Femlandia which at times reminded me of Alice falling down the rabbit hole... A suspenseful and frightening read!

I really, really want to read this book but unfortunately the formatting on kindle is so poor that I can't get through it. Random numbers are littered throughout sentences and sentences break and start again in odd places.
Such a shame as I have loved this authors other books.

I’m a huge fan of Christmas Dalcher’s work having really enjoyed Q and Viox and was delighted to find an early copy on NetGalley .Even more amazing was that it coincided with me discovering how to load NetGalley books onto my kindle
Feminism and Dystopia are amongst the best topics for a novel and I had very high expectations of this book .
After reading some reservations mainly in the set up for the “end of the world” in this case it was a global financial crisis .I would have liked more about this as I felt the story too quickly ended up with a depopulated scenario with the main character and her daughter amongst the very few survivors without really looking into the how this happened
Once the pair had reached the women only refuge of Femlandia the story picked up and the characters gradual realisation that all was not right was sinister and exciting
I found this book much lighter than her previous magnificent novels ,this one was more Stephen King than Margaret Atwood .If you are in the mood for a quicker less thought provoking read though I think this book will be for you .I’d pack it in my suitcase or kindle next time we are able to fly to a beach holiday
A tiny end note was that this was the first time I’d loaded NetGalley onto my kindle and I was disappointed by the formatting there were numbers at the end of every line and odd setting of lines which made reading a less enjoyable experience.You could say well wait abs but the book when it’s published and you are probably right but then I am trying to develop a book blog and mostly concentrating on books about to be released

This was a fascinating, Dystopian story about a commune purely for women and female children. The concept was interesting but the way things were done was appalling. I liked the conclusions "what goes around, comes around."

Loved Vox and was looking forward to this. Somewhat more brutal than Vox and bleaker
I thought it was a good read but did have problems with the layout and format- large gaps/missing text/liberally scattered numbers all over the place and the author's name inserted randomly.
This did make it difficult to get into so I think I will need to get a copy when it's finally published and reread

This is not an easy read - in fact some of the book is downright disturbing. It is the 'next step' on from dystopian novels such as 'The Handmaid's Tale', 'The Power' and Dalcher's own 'Vox'. There is almost a welcome balance in that the world may not necessarily be a better place run by women, and that actually some women can be violent and hateful to their own.
It is certainly thought provoking, the plot well executed and characters compelling - you just might need to remind yourself that on the whole people are nice afterwards!

3.5/5 stars. This book was enjoyable, but nothing overly special. I much preferred Vox and felt the writing style wasn’t to my taste in this book, nor did I enjoy how the characters were written.

However, it was still a good dystopian book which touched on some important issues

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

**3/5 stars.**

Femlandia follows Miranda and her daughter Emma in an alternate near-future, where America has sunk into economic depression and their only hope is to try find and settle in one of the country's female-only camps, known as Femlandia. It was a fast-paced and gripping dystopian, though largely more different to Dalcher's earlier novel Vox than I'd expected.

The concept of the novel is an extremely interesting one, and I think perhaps the best thing about the book was how it made me think, though it was thought-provoking to the point of being disturbing, so to say I enjoyed it wouldn't necessarily be true. I enjoyed Vox when I read it a couple of years ago, and I certainly prefer it to this. I'm sure there will be people who will really enjoy this book, but I'm sorry to say that it was just not for me. I'm unsure how to really phrase how I feel about it, but a lot of it just didn't sit too well with me, and while the novel was gripping it was also often uncomfortable to read.

Content warnings: suicide, gore, starvation, sexual harassment, sexual assault, animal death, death, murder.

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. Once they do manage to get inside the colony, Miranda begins to wonder if things are worse than she imagined, the price for safety may be higher than she is willing to pay.
This is a dark book , with a disturbing theme and it makes for unsettling and thought provoking reading. I found it hard to put down, it gripped me even more than her previous books. I found it fascinating that the author took the idea to the extreme, so that the women only world was not the utopia that so many might imagine. There were definite cult vibes , and I thought the exploration of the impact of abuse on the victim was interesting.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Christina Dalcher is an excellent writer, and "Femlandia" like "Vox" and "Q" doesn't disappoint. Set in times similar to ours, "what if" the American government put schools on hiatus and the banks essentially ran out of money? Times look desperate for Miranda and Emma, and they seek out the only place they know of, Femlandia. Is it the answer to their prayers or a new type of hell?