Sometimes you read a book that defies explanation, that's entirely unlike anything else you've ever read. The Beauty is one of those books, and I have no idea how to talk about it.

Somewhere out in the wilderness, away from the bustle of civilisation, a commune of men gather round a fire to hear tales of the way things are and the way things used to be. All of the women are dead, buried out in the woods where strange yellow mushrooms grow from their graves. All the women are dead everywhere, it seems, and the surviving men don't know how to continue.

What begins as a fairly typical post-apocalyptic setup (though we don't receive any details about what caused this mass death of women or, in fact, whether this has impacted the wider world beyond the small community we're focusing on) very quickly takes a hard left turn into the realms of the weird. The dead women return from their graves in the form of mute mushroom people who the men find almost irresistibly arousing. They cook, and clean, and fuck, and the men begin to bear their mushroom children, and slowly a divide forms in the settlement between those who see this as wrong and those who want to protect the Beauty - and their new way of life - at all costs.

There's a lot of weird fungal body horror at the core of the novel, as the men become pregnant with mushrooms and their genitals shrivel and fall off. The prose is full of an almost visceral disgust regarding all things bodily, weak, dependent. It makes for an interesting read, not least because much of the "horror" here is so clearly a metaphor for pregnancy and the way women's bodies are treated by society. I suspect that for people who have borne children the "horror" of the transformations the men undergo won't feel particularly shocking at all.

The Beauty doesn't give much away, and on the surface it could be quite easy to read it as a simple "what if men weren't the dominant gender?" narrative, but there's much more going on here than that. Beneath the surface *The Beauty* is concerned with how society constructs gender, and how society tells women that they must be beautiful, and nurturing, and kind, and silent, and constantly sexual, always second to men. Atop that it's also about gendered violence and the way in which society enables it and in many ways rewards it.

Any story about a gendered apocalypse that presents gender as a binary inevitably runs into criticisms of being trans-exclusionary. And given that much of the body horror in *The Beauty* lies in what is essentially a forced physical transition of the men I think it's fairly easy to make that criticism here. It's a complicated one, because this is very much an issue inherent to the "gender apocalypse" sub-genre as it currently stands, but I do think Whiteley takes some interesting steps here. Much of the narrative involves setting up binaries - men and women, young versus old, fact versus fable, humanity versus monstrosity, tradition versus progress - and then blurring the lines until it's no longer clear whether there was ever a divide to begin with. This may not land for all readers, as on the surface it presents an understanding of gender that's at best outdated and at worst has been aggressively weaponised by TERFs in the decade since this novella was originally published. But if you're able to look beyond that and give Whiteley the benefit of the doubt, I think there's still a powerful piece of writing here about power, violence, nature, and the way in which stories shape our society.

Dystopian horror mixed with sci-fi elements. Pretty much unlike anything I have ever read but immensly fascinating and perfect for a dark and cold evening.

I have had ‘The Beauty’ on my TBR for a while, so I was excited to receive an ARC of the 10th anniversary edition.

I’ll start by saying that the horror elements were enjoyable, and had it not been for the overall messaging of the book, I might have liked it more. Unfortunately, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book.

‘The Beauty’ is around 100 pages long, which is why I read it in its entirety rather than just not finishing it. I was truly hoping that it would become more inclusive or take an unexpected turn. But alas, I was left disappointed.

I went into this book knowing very little, which is often how I approach horror and speculative fiction to avoid spoilers. Since finishing it, I have read a few other reviews that reflect my feelings.

Although the book is anything but predictable or 'classic' in its plot and surrealism, it employs a classic 'gender swap' approach. Due to this, many have praised its supposed 'feminist' messaging. The issue, however, is that there are not only two genders... Any perceived 'feminism' in this book is, by definition, Trans+ Exclusionary (aka it is TERFy). I have found little to suggest that this was the author's intent; it is likely a byproduct of the author being heterosexual and cisgender, and therefore not having thought to explore beyond her own worldview when the book was first published 10 years ago. I am particularly upset that this is an anniversary edition that somehow made it to being republished despite this harmful and exclusionary messaging.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.

The Beauty is set in a society of boys and men, where women have been eradicated by illness and no longer exist. The men live peaceful nonhierarchical lives until the women, who perished years ago, are gradually replaced by sentient “mushrooms” and all hell breaks loose. The book is a poignant and thought-provoking examination of gender norms and queer identities. It succeeds in deconstructing gender by exploring the reversal of gender roles, and the fluidity of both sexuality and gender identity. It also delves into notions of power, hierarchy, generational gaps, and how these are deeply tied with our understanding of gender and sexuality.

This book is weird. Very weird. At first, I wasn’t sure about it. I love odd and weird but as I was reading it I kept thinking “Is this maybe a bit too odd? Do I want to keep on reading it?” And yet I couldn’t put it down. Perhaps, this is what the book excels at the most: the uncertainty and ambiguity you feel while reading it perfectly emulates and mimics the uncertainty and ambiguity that the characters feel as the book progresses and as they are faced with a series of strange incomprehensible challenges. Reading it was therefore quite the immersive experience as I got the sense that I was in the thick of it with the characters, I too felt what they felt: they were not quite sure what was happening was good for them but they coudn’t get away from it. I was not quite sure what I was reading was the book for me but I also couldn’t get away from it.

It is at times deeply unsettling and uncomfortable - in a way that makes you confront your own ideas on gender - as well as disturbing and disgusting, particularly in the scenes with body horror.

I’ve read reviews where people ridicule and dismiss this book as preposterous and mad. The irony of these reviews is that, by doing so, people are playing out exactly what the book also aims to explore: it is a lot easier to ridicule what we don’t understand, than to stop and think critically. A lot of those reviews just prove that the book is right in its portrayal of how, when faced with that which is different and unknown, the default knee-jerk reaction is often to reject it, dismiss it as ridiculous, and sometimes lash out with violence.

This book is a tenth anniversary edition of The Beauty and it also includes The Arrival of the Missives, a very clever feminist coming of age story with a feisty intrepid protagonist who, I dare say, is impossible not to love. While this story is completely different from The Beauty, it is as thought-provoking and gripping and manages to both critique patriarchal society and the science fiction genre itself. One could describe it as “that 90’s ‘What´s Up?’ song by 4 Non Blondes, but make it historical science fiction”

*sings “I realised quickly, when I knew I should, that the world was made up of this brotherhood of man…” *

Disquieting dystopian science fantasy

In two short novels, Whiteley conjures up worlds where to take control of one's own destiny means burning down every single bridge behind you. The lead title, The Beauty, refers to the strange new lifeforms that proliferate after all women in the world die of a mysterious, terminal sickness. In their stead are The Beauty, ambulatory fungal creatures that could be female, but which overwhelm the remaining men in a small commune, and in their union offer something of hope and equally of horror. There is never anything comforting in The Beauty, and the body horror is strong in this one.

The accompanying title, The Arrival of Missives, is more like a traditional short story, zigging one way and then zagging in the final moments. Set after the Great War, a young woman decides that her schoolteacher is her perfect match and so she sets her cap at him, only to become embroiled in his messianic role on behalf of otherworldly heralds. With the moral to always look a gift horse in the mouth, the novel breezes along but fails to express how the final and most supportive relationship develops, leaving me hungry for a lot more.

Three stars, for the strangenesses.

The writing was slick and alluring, instantly I felt drawn into the story and its characters, especially the mysterious death of the women. However, I felt that the plot moved too fast at first, then slowed to a snails pace for the rest of the book. The Beauty, Bee herself, was an incredibly interesting concept, one I wish was explored more. I felt like this scrapped the top of the barrel of what could have been in exploring femininity, female allure and sexuality.

Unfortunately had to DNF as I couldn’t get into the writing style and found it hard to understand. But it is a very interesting concept so I’m sure some people will love this and find fascinating.

This book includes the story The Beauty and the story The Arrival of Missives.
I really enjoyed both stories. The first is quite horrendous in terms of body horror and an uncomfortable but interesting read. The depictions of gender and relationships are a little stilted but overall I found it really though provoking.
I think I slightly preferred the second story, The Arrival of Missives which follows a young girl who has a crush on her teacher. He is hiding a strange secret which affects the trajectory of her life. Just very cool and unique stories.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

This tenth anniversary edition of The Beauty comes with additional short story The Arrival of Missives, also by Aliya Whiteley which I have included in my review.

THE BEAUTY

Having read Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley earlier this year, I would really like to spend some time in her brain, because all three books of her that I have read have been completely crazy and so very different from anything else I’ve read. The Beauty is no exception and seems to really divide readers. 6 years ago all of the women in this camp of survivalists (and possibly of the world in general) have died of a fungal disease, but when Thomas notices a new large fungus growing on their gravesites, The Beauty, a new race of sentient feminine mushrooms are discovered – can they replace the women and ultimately, do the men want them to?

It's a crazy premise and a crazy read through and through. It’s a very short story and to be honest, I wish some extra detail had been given. I would have loved to know more about what happened to the women and whether the same thing was happening around the world. I also thought the ending was very weak – it seemed to peter out to a bit of a boring cliffhanger at the end. I also thought it was odd that the men couldn’t remember what the women were like, despite it only being 6 years since they’d gone. The action ramps up though and the story gets progressively weirder. It kept my interest throughout.

THE ARRIVAL OF MISSIVES

I’m not really sure why this book had been grouped together with The Beauty for this edition, as they are both very different books. In the aftermath of the Great War, Shirley becomes enamoured with her school teacher Mr Tiller. However, Mr Tiller holds a terrible secret which will change Shirley’s life for good.

I think the sci-fi elements actually ruined this novel as a lot of it was left unexplained. I was expecting the twist to be that Mr Tiller was a normal teacher who manipulated Shirley into doing what he wanted. The sci-fi element muddied this, and I left the book a little confused at the ending.

Overall The Beauty and The Arrival of Missives are both very different books, horror mixed with sci-fi and a dose of the absurd. Worth a read as they are both so short. Thank you to NetGalley & Rebellion Publishing – Solaris for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not normally a sci fi reader but this book totally had me hooked from the beginning so much so that I read it in a day loved it

Thank you for the opportunity to review

3.5 stars - "Men could attack, hurt, maim and murder the things that came too fast, too suddenly, like love, like beginnings that involved the death of the old way."
I will never be able to look at mushrooms the same again. The Beauty is a disgustingly weird read - huge emphasis on the weird. I found the premise of this book to be extremely unique and definitely unlike anything I have read before. Whiteley shares a whimsical writing style which I enjoyed and highlighted a lot. Be warned though, this is book is very, very... very strange and an uncomfortable read at times, definitely a horror novella I will never forget.

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley is set in a world without women. In an attempt to save their womenfolk from the sweeping plague that is wiping out the female population a small group moves to a remote woodland location, an admirable but failed attempt and the small local graveyard soon fills up.

Aware that there's no future for them the remaining males are a tight-knit group and their nightly meetings around the fire are the focal point of their community and as with such communities worldwide and across the millennia a big part of these meetings is the fireside storytelling with young Nate the narrator keeping the story and the memory of the women alive. On a visit to his Mother's grave one evening Nate notices a strange fungus spreading across the site ,fungus that evolves into something that changes the life of everyone in the camp.

This is an often shocking but thought-provoking book that explores many gender-related themes without being preachy while staying an entertaining read .It's very easy to see why this novella received so much acclaim when it was first published 10 years ago ,it's an intelligent and often disturbing story that could be read as somewhat bizarre fantasy tale but hopefully most readers will recognise it for something a lot more than that.

Another Whiteley novella, The Arrival of Missives, is included in this edition ,and while The Beauty is excellent,this is just awesome . The story of a young woman just after World War 1 who is told that she has the chance to save the world. In a few pages life in a post war rural village with it's traditions, expectations of it's young people and the thoughts and feelings of an intelligent girl wanting more than that life offers are expertly woven.

These stories were my introduction to Aliya Whiteley's work and I'll certainly be reading more. Both stories are surprising,thought-provoking and ,just as importantly to me, while the plot of any book is obviously important, the writing is superb. I finished this book and I was still thinking about both stories and the various topics they explore a few days later.
Intelligent and Entertaining.