A well written dystopian novel that makes you think about all things political and culture and how do we begin to cross those lines when we want to protect those we love.

This story takes place mainly in 2099 in what is the North American Union. Men have been gone from the planet for over 40 years due to a virus that mutated and killed off every male in existence. While this world without men is peaceful, with no wars, no hunger and no violence, for some of the women who are left, there's a piece of themselves that seems to be missing, and they want to try and bring men back.

Athena is a 19 year old girl who's never known any other world. Born in 2080, she's never seen a male in real life. Only in watching movies from the past does she know what they once looked like. The world Athena lives in is extremely high-tech, and there's currently a project underway to try and bring men back into existence using a special genome (the Lazauras Project). However when the genome supposedly goes missing, Athena finds herself pulled into the investigation and uncovers the horrible truth about what actually happened to men, and who's responsible for the virus.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The feminism is laid on pretty thickly here, but I went into this book just wanting to read the story and not caring about the message. From that standpoint, I liked it. I think it's a bit generous to assume that women (or any society... men included) would be able to accomplish ALL the crazy technology they seemed to have created and implemented in 50 short years, but it was interesting to read about.

While this is definitely not a book everyone will enjoy, I'd recommend it to anyone who finds the premise interesting.

I have been putting off writing this review because it pains me to be negative. This book was different than I thought it was going to be. There was a lot of "technical" verbiage that was, I assume, part of the fantasy world building, but it fell flat. The premise was interesting but the book didn't deliver.

My first novel by this author and enjoyed the premise. Thought provoking storytelling which keeps you thinking, what would you do

This was a well written dystopian story with a very interesting and unique premise. I loved the world building and the concept and thought this was very engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.


Ah this was a trip. It was along the same vein as The Power, but not as intense. Don't get me wrong - it was still fraught with tension and action. In the not-too-distant future there are only women. There are no men due to a wide-spread pandemic that killed all of them. The population comes from insemination and men are non-existent. There is a possible project to reintroduce men however one night there is a theft and the data has been stolen. The only person to solve it is Athena. It's a good story with some thought provoking ideas and would elicit some good conversation in a discussion or book club.

dnf 77%
It was just boring...and too much info dump that just made it all very boring and hard to continue so i ended up to did-not-finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Something about this book didn't quite resonate with me. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it.

Enter the future, 2099, a world partially run by AI with advanced technology, world peace, the ending of poverty and hunger. But also a world without men as a virus wiped them out almost 50 years ago. Scientists have begun trying to alter the male genome so that men can be brought back. The decision to do is filled with a controversy between women, Lonely Hearts, who wish to see the return of men, and other groups who see men as only going to bring the return of violence and fear. The project to rebuild man has just been stolen.

This is the world our main character, Athena Vosh, lives in. Athena is a young struggling artist, trying to find her purpose in the world. The Third Core, a massive AI, selects Athena to join the police in their search for the culprit.

I read this book in audiobook format. I feel it may have tainted my view a little as I found many of the character's voices, annoying, overly whispy, and feminine. It just grated me a bit. As the story got going and I got more into it, it bothered me less but it still did affect my enjoyment.

I think a very fascinating world is explored here, it opens up huge doors for all sorts of interesting conversations which I love. I really enjoy the idea of this book. The element of the AI and its role in society reminded me of The Arc of a Scythe Trilogy and the role/identity of the thunderhead there. In this book that element is a much smaller piece of the story, but still definitely plays a vital role in the story and the lives of the people within this future.

I did not know where this story was going to go, towards the middle I thought I had a guess as to the culprit, not the why though but my guess proved wrong. I was definitely surprised by who did it. The last part of the book was definitely a page-turner. The editorial that is found and points us to the real culprit, is very fascinating. I think it sparked many interesting ideas and love the discussion that it primes for engagement with.

The book ends with our character being the one who decides if men will be brought back into existence or not. Before she makes a decision the book ends. I hated this and it really annoys me. In the afterward the author explained they get a lot of this complaint or people questioning, What did Athena do? He counters, what do you think? What would you do? I believe we can still ask those questions of ourselves and have been given the answer at the ending. It felt a more complete ending was due.

Overall I definitely enjoyed the book, but some elements just did not click for me. Athena was a little too naive at times, her relationship with Naomi and Valerie (Captain Bell) just wasn't quite genuine. I had trouble connecting.

Lastly, if you're wondering what I would decide, do we bring men back or live on without them? I think I would bring them back. With a world with women already in charge and running things. I think we could allow them to return and be kept in control!

I absolutely loved this book! I was so engrossed by the characters right off the bat. Her writing is out of this world, if you've been in a reading slump this is a great place to start, it absolutely blew me away!

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. What a great idea though it has been done many times before tis seemed fresh and I enjoyed it.

When I found Athena's Choice on NetGalley I was immediately intrigued. The premise sounded so interesting and like something I might love. I wanted to start reading right away ... and then the pandemic happened, life got hectic and I completely forgot about the book. I'm glad I finally read it!

As expected I enjoyed reading the story and the general premise a lot. I especially loved the descriptions of all the new technologies that are used in the future. I'm still waiting for that food printer!
Some reviewers mentioned that they didn't like all the inserted articles from newspapers, Wikipedia, essay, etc. Honestly, I quite liked that. It enhanced the worldbuilding for me and made the story more believable. However, I love to get as much information as possible and I always enjoy this format.

The characters were ok. I didn't really care for Athena but loved two others. Sadly, we didn't see enough of them.
I would have loved to read more about the different groups of women who wanted to either bring men back or thought men are dangerous and women are better off without them. There were glimpses of an interesting discussion but sadly, it was a bit superficial and not detailed. Maybe that's to be expected with a short book like Athena's Choice.

Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read for me. I can definitely recommend it!
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for this free review copy!

This was a hard Did Not Finish for me.

I'm all for a dystopian world where there are no men, believe me, I am but the way the subject was approached in this title was just.. weird. Trying to piece together what was actually going on was a little difficult at first, the dialogue and the layout was just confusing. The main character Athena really didn't feel like a real person, I felt like we were just seeing her from the outside.

The thing I did like was the idea of what the world she lives in is like. Set in the future and all the cool future stuff isn't something widely talked about in dystopia so that was nice!

1.5 stars.

This was one of those books where it is populated with females only because all men became extinct due to a virus buuuuuut the main character, Athena, wants to falls in love with a man. She wants to be embraces by a "strong muscular and hairy man"! *eye roll*
I honestly thought it would be more intricate and all but sadly it wasn't and I didn't enjoy it.

So somehow, Athena gets entangled in this heist that stole the only male DNA with a nonsense reasoning to kick the story going and it just went downhill from there for me. Secrets are thrown here and there in the end which saved the book a bit for me but not so much.

The world building and technology was very interesting and I loved every news chapter but I disliked everything else really, especially Athena and her decisions. The only character I loved dies which made me enjoy the book less. The ending was open-ended and I didn't really care whichever choice she makes because it's easy to imagine how things were going to be in either route.

Overall, if it wasn't for the audiobook, I think I would have hated the book. The narrator was amazing and I loved her voice. The sypnosis actually summarizes the entire book which thinking about that made me feel like I wasted my time. I hate when books spoil the entire thing like that.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

* a big thank you to the author, netgalley, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange of an honest review*

Okay, so I really liked the concept of this to start off with but I found it kind of lacking in depth. The main character, Athena is pretty bland and I can kind of tell that the author doesn’t really know how the female mind works. While it’s impressive that he managed to create an all female world it never felt like it was truly female dominated - especially as men are a huge part of the plot and women missing men etc. It kind of removes it from being feminist and makes it male focused again.

A lot of the references are obvious and not very subtle and I kind of got bored with the vagueness. There’s little exploration of friendship dynamics between Athena and Nomi, I’m just meant to accept they’re best buddies. However it’s clear that Nomi likes Athena and I don’t see why that wouldn’t be openly discussed. I kind of also find it hard to believe that almost everyone wouldn’t be in same sex couples this long after men ceased to be. If anything it would make more sense since they can control genetics.

I don’t know, this really fell flat for me and everything felt too easy for Athena and everyone. It just didn’t sit within believability for me.

Enjoyed this YA. Intriguing premise and it's written well.

It's a bit of a fairytale that losing men means healing everything else, but the author does some intriguing things with it through the growth of Athena's character.

How do we handle the nonbinary? In real life, gender is also not so simple.

I Will request for the library as it's a book that will make young people think.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book!

This was the story I needed right now, so well written and intriguing! The pace, the details. Everything about this was perfect. I would definitely recommend giving this a shot.

I love a great dystopian novel and was so intrigued by this premise. There are ups and downs, but I would definitely recommend if you are into science fiction and other-worldly stories.

Athena's Choice is a very interesting science fiction novel. It touched on themes of importance and was a quick, engaging read!