Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of The End of Men. I really enjoyed this book and found it eerily familiar given the situation the world has been in for the last year. Though the pandemic that the author writes about is a lot more severe, COVID-19 has hit us hard and we are still living with it today.
In reading reviews from others, a lot of people said that they didn't like the number of characters and found it hard to keep track, I actually thought that the number of characters and narratives added to the sense of chaos and frantic energy that is living in a pandemic. By the end of the story you know who the important players are and my favourite narrative was Catherines. I really admired her and Anthony's relationship.
The book details everything in chronological order from Patient Zero, the ensuing panic, the mass death, the creation of immunity tests, the race to develop a vaccine and personal stories from multiple characters whose lives have been upended.
I enjoyed this story because I could relate to the content, I don't know that I would have liked this book as much if we weren't living in a pandemic but since I could relate to the sense of fear, the unknown, the science behind tests and vaccines, lockdowns, panic etc I found myself gripped by this story.
I liked the glimpse we got in regards to life after a pandemic, all the changes in policy and everything. It made me think about what the next few years will look like after COVID-19.
I love how this story is loosely based on gender equality. What would the world look like if it wasn't completely catered to men? This book was relatable and thought provoking and I really enjoyed it given its relevancy in today's society.

It is 2025, and a virus has just been found in Scotland, which is carried by women and attacks men, killing them in about 90% of the cases. Only 10% of the men are immune. Obviously travel exists and this quickly becomes a worldwide pandemic, killing off most of the planet's males.

Hmm, a deadly pandemic, where have I heard of that before? XD

Over more than 1500 days, we follow many different characters, obviously mostly women, including the doctor who first sounded the alarm (and got ignored), an anthropologist writing about people's reactions to the Plague, the Canadian researcher who creates a vaccine...

Many of the stories were accurate and recognizable from what we actually witnessed with COVID (like people dismissing the first whistle-blower, vaccines being protected by patents (did Canadians really have to be the bad guys this time though?)), but others were not. We've seen how selfish human beings really are, so I felt like this book was missing a lot of protests and people complaining. Also, I don't really think that's how vaccines work, where you test it on monkeys, it works, so you go straight to humans. Also, as we now know, when one vaccine is patented, other countries create their own (and then patent them too, but that's not the point...), one vaccine existing doesn't mean every other scientific team grinds to a halt.

That said, I quite enjoyed this book. The short chapters made for quick and easy reading, the multiple points of view meant we got to see many opinions of what was going on. It was a bit like Stephen King's Sleeping Beauties and Naomi Alderman's The Power had a baby, but that baby was actually way better than both its parents put together.

What a dark glimpse into how bad this pandamic really can/could get. I loved the premise that it only affect men and what that would mean for the world. It was terrifyingly real with everything going on in the world. I loved following the different perspectives and seeing how each person was affected differently. Honestly it felt a little too real right now - how things could be if some held the vaccines, how long this could go on for, how the world will look different on the other side. It made it real how different are lives are all going to be. It was so well written and so real. I really enjoyed this story and would he able to easily recommend it!

* Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for an advance copy for review purposes *

Does Christina Sweeney-Baird have a crystal ball? She finished writing the book by 2019, and it was being edited in 2020, right around the time the pandemic started. The premise of the book is around a pandemic that manifests with flu like symptoms and affects men disproportionately. The virus in this book has a way shorter incubation period and significantly higher mortality rate than COVID-19, and in a few months, wipes out most of the world's male population. The story is told from the point of view of several women - the ER doctor that first encountered cases of the disease, virologists investigating a vaccine, people that are living their every day life and lose their husbands, sons, fathers. It is heart breaking. It is a hard read, but bearable (probably a good idea to wait until a vaccine for COVID-19 was available before releasing this book).

The author clearly put a lot of thought around this and try to imagine what would happen if a catastrophe like this happened. Think of male dominated industries - police, firemen, military, medicine, science, tech, transportation... The transformation of the world as it tries to deal with the pandemic, while major industries are facing serious disruption is gripping. There are feminist themes (a particularly powerful scene involving reversal of power comes to mind), but the major underlying theme is grief and coping with normalized loss.

There are no main characters here, but I particularly enjoyed reading Catherine's story. I appreciated the honesty on depicting her grief and inability to be around what she could no longer have. I think the story could have benefitted by a few less viewpoints - some of them only appeared for a handful of pages, and had little impact; their story could have been told at the museum exhibit.

While the subject can be a little daunting, the author does manage it gracefully, and with hope. I can live with hope.

<spoiler>Because we actually are going through a pandemic now, it is harder to suspend disbelief at some elements. I was surprised that the Canadian virologist was depicted in such a negative light, specially looking at the way vaccine rollouts are happening in the world today. And then, it is a bit weird that other researches dropped off the race when a vaccine was discovered; there is no reason for there to only be a single vaccine. </spoiler>

An unbelievable concept. A virus that affects only men. How will this all turn out for the world. Definitely intriguing.

4.5 stars!
It’s Scotland in 2025 and ER doctor Amanda Maclean is startled when an alarming number of patients who are all men start to rapidly die after appearing with what seemed to be a flu hours before. Amanda sounds the alarm with Scotland Public Health but they ignore her, leading to a global pandemic of what becomes known as the ‘New Plague’ which targets only males. Women are left to restructure society and pick up the pieces after the death of 90% of the male population while grieving for their fathers, husbands and sons. Pub day is today for this nail biter, thanks to @doubledayca and @netgalley for my review copies.

Wow. This one had me in tears, multiple times and I am not normally a crier. It’s heavy but soooo good and so interesting. I was grateful for the author’s note at the end that shared that she wrote and finished this before COVID-19 hit. I think part of what made this such a heavy read is the world we are living in these days. So if you are going to pick this amazing dystopian read up, just make sure you are in the right place mentally. I took a break a few times.

There were so many interesting concepts covered. The idea of a society without men has a lot of ramifications and Sweeney-Baird thought of a lot of small details that never would have occurred to me. The aftermath of the plague causes an overhaul in family dynamics, relationships, sexuality, civil unrest, infrastructure and so much more. This novel is written from multiple points of view, sometimes only getting one or two chapters from a perspective (similar to World War Z) and from characters around the world. Even though we only got intermittent glimpses of characters, I felt they were well developed and intriguing (hate that Lisa woman even though she’s from Toronto). I struggled a bit with the parts really focused on science, but I just found this to be such a fascinating read.

The premise of this book drew me in right away and I couldn't wait to read it. It definitely didn't disappoint! The story follows multiple viewpoints as a brand-new virus starts to infect the world - one in which only men and boys are affected.
It takes you from the start of finding "Patient Zero", to the race to find a vaccine, and finally to the aftermath of how those that are left begin to heal and start over.

** Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this book. **

I will say it was interesting to read a story about a pandemic while the world is currently in the middle of one. I did enjoy this book. It is a well written story and the characters drew me in. While it was saddening to read of women losing their husbands, sons and other male family members to a quick moving virus, learning about their lives before, during and after actually felt good. Their strength and resilience in the face what was happening around them and across the world actually gave me some hope for what we are all currently going through. A light at the end of the tunnel.

Thought provoking and surprisingly forward looking based on the current world pandemic. The book is written in a series of first-person point of view accounts by a group of characters from varied professions and how the plague affects them. An explosion of cases, which affects only men, sees the virus become a global pandemic with previously inconceivable implications for every aspect of society.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

It's stunning to realize that Christina Sweeney-Baird wrote this novel about a pandemic, before our current pandemic. Eerie parallels and telling differences make it an interesting read, especially right now. By structuring the novel as a report, recording the experiences of a myriad of survivors and victims, she paints a broad story, and therein lies the strength and weakness of the narrative. While I liked witnessing so many different experiences, it was hard to become emotionally invested in any. That problem was exacerbated by a distanced writing technique. That said, there were many heartbreaking, compelling, courageous and maddening stories all woven together to create a highly readable whole. The part I liked best was the ending -- and its commentary on our present. Well done.
#netgalley

A book about a pandemic during a pandemic? Yes please! I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for my complimentary copy of "End of Men". I thoroughly enjoyed the story as I could relate to it, as will a lot of other readers. We are all experiencing this pandemic.

"End of Men" is about a plague that only affects men and it's fatal. Imagine knowing that you will have to say goodbye to your husband, sons, brothers, male friends and coworkers; and imagine knowing that you are going to die if you are male. Age is not a factor, if you are male, this plague is fatal. After a few years it becomes apparent that some males are immune but to figure out whether or not they are immune they will have to wait it out. Most of the men are susceptible so chances are, goodbyes will be at the forefront.

There are a variety of characters in this story including doctors, CDC workers, and news reporters. We have the opportunity to see how the plague impacts each of them. The women must learn to adapt and they start to run the world learning how to take over male prominent jobs and roles. It's a different world now for sure.

"End of Men" is a debt novel and it's fantastic. I highly recommend to other readers who like this genre.

Thank you to Netgalley and penguin random house for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book, and to find that this is the authors debut novel actually shocked me! This book read like something a seasoned author would have written, in my opinion. This book was so thought provoking, well written, and was an absolute page turner.

I was also shocked to find out that the author wrote this novel in 2018, when so much of what was in it was reflective of today’s events. While the nature of the virus in this novel is quite different, it definitely made many connections to what we’re dealing with now.

Now for my favourite part- the characters. This novel follows the perspective of many people in different countries, each one so unique (which I find can be hard for an author to give each POV a distinctive voice). We have the perspective of a doctor, anthropologist, nanny, scientists working on the vaccine, public service agents, etc. This gives you a good understanding of how a virus like this might effect many aspects of the world. The novel also finds great ways to connect the characters (we especially find this in the last half of the book). There were moments of comedic relief, especially from certain characters which kept the heavy subject matter a little lighter. I had moments of tears and laughter.


I liked how this book was also distinctly broken down into different parts- the beginning of the virus, the active time of the virus and then the healing of the population via vaccine, repopulation efforts and filling essential jobs that were male dominated, like waste disposal. It felt like this book addressed any random questions you may have of this theoretical scenario while reading- the “well, what if...” thoughts that pop into your mind are answered.
Overall I definitely suggest this book. The writing was accessible and easy to understand, the characters were all great to read, and it even addressed many issues with today’s society as it is which I appreciated.
Review will be posted to my bookstagram @inkedhemlock on 04/21/21

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: April 27, 2021
Christina Sweeney-Baird’s novel, “The End of Men” had me completely riveted. To discover it was a DEBUT novel? Colour me impressed.
In 2025, a mysterious plague-like illness is spreading across the globe; it seems to only affect males and very soon, sons, husbands and fathers are dying off. As the world of science scrambles to find a vaccine, the rest of the world waits on bated breath, while trying to put together some semblance of “normal” in a world that is completely different from the one before it.
“The End of Men” is part (reverse) “Handmaid’s Tale”, part “Contagion” and obviously, completely relevant. It is a thought-provoking novel that hits close to home in every way. Sweeney-Baird’s novel has already been optioned for a movie, and there is absolutely no questioning why.
“Men” is not solely a story with feminist themes (although obviously they do arise), it is a story full of loss and grief, desperation, and the human condition (both the positive and negative aspects of it). There is no one who will read this novel, especially in these times, and not have a deep connection and emotional reaction. I found the race for the vaccines (and the self-serving quest to profit from it) to be both eerie and informative.
In most disaster novels or end-of-the-world dramas, especially in movies, the story is centred in the United States, and many other countries either get occasionally mentioned or ignored completely. As a Canadian, I was impressed to see the relevant role that my countrymen (countrywoman actually) played in Sweeney-Baird’s novel (although I apologize, of course, because she was completely unlikable), so props to the author for recognizing the global effect of a pandemic, sans the Hollywood interference.
“Men” is completely page-turning, and the ending provides the bittersweet resolution I expected. Although the subject matter is dismal and grim (so are the times we are living in, am I right?) Sweeney-Baird manages to bring a little bit of levity and hope.
“Perhaps recovery is too great a goal. We can never regain what we have lost and we must accept that, mourn that, grieve what cannot be and find a new way to exist”.
Sweeney-Baird says that she started this novel in 2018, pre-pandemic, and its realism is so startling and shocking, I may consider believing in fortune-telling and psychic abilities. The only thing I’m sure of is I want more from Sweeney-Baird. Hands down, the best debut novel I’ve read in a long time, and one of my all-time faves already from this year!

You’d think by now I’d be sick of reading about a world-wide pandemic, but apparently not! The End of Men hits close to home: it’s an exciting, tragic, impossible-to-put-down, page-turner of a novel about humankind’s fight against its own extinction. In the end, it teaches us what is most important in times like these: to remember those we lost but to carry on fighting for those we haven’t.

The End of Men is a deeply moving story of a deadly virus targeting the male population only, and how the wives, sisters and daughters, and the few remaining men, must learn to adapt to rebuild the world from the ground up. The End of Men is both fascinating by how accurate it was in predicting a global pandemic (it was written from 2018 to 2019) and terrifying when we think we could have faced (and still could one day face) a deadlier virus than COVID-19!

Honestly, every time I’d read something that also happened in our real-world pandemic, like flights being canceled as countries close their borders and certain people being carriers without any symptoms, I’d get a little thrill at feeling like I’ve lived through it as well.

The End of Men is narrated by an array of different characters, living in different countries. There’s the doctor who treated Patient Zero and who tries to find the origin of the virus; there are the virologists and epidemiologists, trying to understand the virus in order to create a vaccine; there are the politicians, working to rebuild the system and keep their countries from falling apart; there’s a journalist, fighting to tell the truth; and there are simply women, who are trying to cope with their losses and carry on with their lives as best as they can.

To say this novel wasn’t an emotional journey would be a lie: but it was also inspiring and a little hopeful. It was great to see the other side too, the after-pandemic. I think we can all use some after-pandemic musing.

I give The End of Men four-and-a-half stars! I really recommend this book, even if you’ve had it with this deadly virus talk: trust me, you won’t regret it.

Warning: this book will also make you want to hug your boyfriends/husbands/fathers/sons/brothers.

When I was writing fiction, I authored a 20,000-word novella called “Good Boy.” It was about a society where men had been killed off mysteriously by a plague, and the only “men” available were synthetic replicas who were kept as pets by women. I’m not sure if the story was terrible — I’m the worst judge when it comes to my own work — but the piece remains unpublished for two possible reasons: one, I was unable to come up with a convincing enough virus that would kill off most of the world’s men (I was trying to link the plague to a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) and, two, I felt that I was kind of beaten to the punch by a comic book called Y: The Last Man, which is about the last remaining male human on earth and his pet (male) monkey. In any event, I guess I was wrong about the novella’s salability because here’s a new book about a virus that kills off slightly more than 90 percent of those carrying a Y chromosome called The End of Men.

It’s odd reading a book about a pandemic during a real pandemic, but author Christina Sweeney-Baird wrote it just before COVID-19 hit in 2018 and 2019, and it’s just only now that the novel is what it is: a prescient look at the world in 2021. (Except that this book is set between 2025 and 2031.) The plague that fells men begins in Scotland of all places, and is transmitted between humans at a frightening rate: women are the carriers of the disease, men die within hours or a couple of days of contracting it and exhibiting flu-like symptoms, and the virus can live on untreated surfaces for roughly 38 hours. The virus is discovered by an emergency room doctor named Amanda MacLean (note that first name: A Man, Da — or short for Dad). When she tries to inform her superiors of what she’s been able to piece is going on, she gets shot down presumably because she’s viewed upon as a hysterical woman. If the history of the coronavirus — which is less lethal — has shown us, this aspect of the novel seems a little forced because of course people would take the warning seriously.

The End of Men succeeds as escapist fiction because, while you might disagree with certain aspects, the worldbuilding has been at least thought out. When only roughly 10 percent of males surviving the pandemic, Sweeney-Baird posits that most women would become lesbians to not miss out on sexual relationships with others. (Which I’m not sure is an aspect of the book I believe, so, again, there’s that.) The author has come up with a semi-plausible reason for the virus that doesn’t involve mad cow disease, so I’ll tip my cap to her for that — even though I saw that the science of the virus was questioned in a negative review I read on Goodreads by someone who presumably knows more about this stuff than I do. The End of Men is a “what if?” romp through the question of how the world would survive if half the population was suddenly wiped out. It’s an entertaining romp at best. It’s not perfect, but there are interesting angles to be explored by the premise: such as what do you do when doctors — a male-dominated field — suddenly die off? How do you replace them? What do you do about the army and police and other male-dominated professions? The answers may not be realistic in the end, but at least they’re thought out to a greater or lesser degree.

Where The End of Men falls flat, though, is that it is told from multiple points of view from different characters in the first person singular in chapters that could read like short stories. While there are characters whose stories are told throughout the book, there are a handful of characters who are introduced only to be never heard from again. The other problem is that Sweeney-Baird is not a strong enough writer yet to disguise her own voice. What does that mean? It means you’re stuck with characters who sound similar to one another and so you may have a hard time keeping characters straight. It also means that when men important to these character’s lives die, there’s little emotional impact. You’ll never forget that these are just characters in a book who are not real.

Still, The End of Men can be exciting. My favorite bits involve a scientist from Toronto who goes against the Canadian stereotype of kindness and humility and demands that she be paid handsomely for discovering a vaccine for the virus. (In comparison, when Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin to treat diabetes, they only demanded that the patent of the medication be given away for free so that they could get insulin into the hands of as many people as possible who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.) Of course, it’s also interesting to see how the novel maps against the real-life COVID-19 pandemic and what keys it has to solve our current pandemic riddle. It’s kind of too bad that this bit of speculative fiction didn’t remain speculative. As they say, the truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction and The End of Men is proof of that. The inverse is also true: the fictions of this book are sometimes more perplexing than what we’ve gone through with COVID-19. Take this as you will.

All in all, The End of Men is a mediocre read. It’s kind of mindlessly fun because it keeps you at arms’ length from really caring about any of these female characters (and one from the male point of view), but it’s also not taut for the same reason. The novel could be said to be a thriller without too many thrills, and it is a book that has more questions than answers. (I’m wondering how come there wasn’t more rioting and looting when the men were dying off. Surely, men would turn violent and women have the potential for this trait, too — so it’s odd that this wasn’t explored in any great detail beyond a relatively minor incident in one American city.) This book was only started three years ago, and it does have a bit of a slap-dash feel to it. Still, I have to give Christina Sweeney-Baird some credit: she has succeeded where I haven’t been able to in writing and publishing a semi-believable story about what would happen if most of the world’s men died. Could there be any hope for “Good Boy” seeing the light of day? Only time will tell, I suppose. Until then, you have The End of Men to keep you company, as flawed as it may be.

It is interesting that the author wrote the first draft of this book prior to COVID on a what-if premise. One of those cases where your science fiction becomes your science fact.

For me, the story itself would have been much more interesting if it had been pared down to a few key voices. I understand that it is supposed to be the compilation of Catherine's anthropological study of the plague, but there were stories introduced that just didn't go anywhere and therefore felt unnecessary. Like the nanny. Her flight and attempted theft of her employer's private jet was left hanging unresolved for hundreds of pages. What's-his-name on the boat, did he live or die after receiving the crate of food (we find out the answer to that about 20 pages from the end).

If the story had followed only Amanda and Catherine, or perhaps one woman who lost everything and one who didn't, it would have felt very immediate and personal. Instead, with so many voices, I felt very distanced from the story, especially in the second half of the book.

I want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this amazing book of speculative fiction. Its author wrote this brilliant, thought-provoking debut in pre-COVID days during 2018 and 2019 from a vivid imagination and research. Little did she know that by the time her book was ready for publication, that we would be experiencing a true pandemic of death, hospitalizations, lockdowns, distancing and mask-wearing. At the time of writing my review, Canada is undergoing the worst spike in cases since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, with new fearsome variations becoming widespread. Since we have to import all vaccines, there is a slow rollout and locally up to 4 months wait for a second vaccine. It was ironic that in the book, the first vaccine was invented by a female scientist in Canada wanting great wealth and glory from selling her vaccine to the government and then worldwide.

The events and emotions the author describes in this book seem very believable and frightening. I can't speak for the science involved that is well explained for the reader. With the rapidly mutating and increasing variations of concern, I had to wonder if a gender-specific strain could be possible.

The author speaks of a near-future time in 2025 when a lethal disease starts in the Republic of Scotland and is deadly only for men and boys. Everyone becomes a carrier, and it spreads rapidly to other nations and continents with devastating results. Only about 10% of males are immune. For the others, death rapidly follows the infection. Dr. Amanda MacLean, working in a hospital in Glasgow, futility treats the first patient (Patient Zero) and soon realizes other men are exhibiting the same symptoms. She reports her belief that she has witnessed the beginning of a plague, but her concerns are dismissed as hysteria and ignored.
As death and chaos spread globally, we are taken on a journey into the hearts and minds of various individuals worldwide as they cope with profound loss and grief, the necessity of restoring some social order, and the difficulty of rapidly producing an effective vaccine. The resulting loss of men and boys profoundly affects women and girls left behind and on society and nations. It challenges ethics, morality, fertility issues, and the meaning of family. Women now are needed to fill mens' jobs in government, manual labour, technology, the military, medical and scientific fields, etc.

There are experiments to seize baby boys at birth and isolate them in hopes they can be saved, and older boys not yet displaying symptoms are placed in remote areas to survive the pandemic. Women wanting to bear a child have been told they are to be chosen by lottery for artificial medical insemination, but many hopes are dashed. It is a lie, as the government is actually determining their selection by socio-economic status, age, and health and not by chance. The scarcity of men leads to an online dating site for women to meet other women. Food is rationed, and there are arguments about whether junk food and sweets be included for the comfort they bring.

After the vaccine is introduced, people can once again travel when their country is 99.9% vaccinated, and their destination is the same number vaccinated. Many countries do not meet this qualification. China has fractured into several different states, many democratic and run by women. Terrorist organizations no longer inspire fear since the male terrorists are gone.

I did find this a slow read because it was told from the experiences and emotions of numerous people across the planet. I thought this slowed down the narrative and detracted somewhat from the flow of the story. I can understand the reason for this, but it made the plot feel disjointed. I wondered if the narrative concentrated on several key characters, it would be a shorter, smoother read. It might have increased my emotional involvement and made it feel that it progressed at a faster pace. Nevertheless, this was a stunning, thought-provoking novel, and I hope we never experience anything like this in real life. It is a book I will long remember. The author has written an amazing first book, and I hope that she writes more novels, and I would definitely read them.
3.5 stars raised to 4.

The End of Men is Children of Men (Film) meets .... well, the experience we all had to go through last year with covid, but this story has only the men dying out.

This story was interesting because it asked what would happen to a world without men and how society would crumble and/or thrive. It went through different perspectives and give their reaction to it, which was cool at the start, and then it gave me whiplash because there were so many perspectives, and even with the names I lost who was who - some of them were almost the same person.
The story dragged a lot, and it didn't hold my interest enough, even with a somewhat interesting idea.
It did touch on the question of what happens to transgender men & women but ONLY BARELY.


Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing me with this arc. All my opinions on this book are honest & my own.

Rating - 4.5/5 ⭐️

I received an advanced copy of this book and, despite it not being my standard genre, I really enjoyed it and would absolutely recommend it to others!

The story begins with the discovery of a lethal virus that only affects men and which results in their death within a matter of days. Over the course of the book (a period of 5 years) we discover that while a small portion of men are immune to the virus due to a gene variation, approximately 90% of the world’s male population is eradicated.

The book traces the course of the virus via a number of sources - the Scottish doctor who treated “patient zero,” the men stranded for two years on a ship off the coast of Iceland, the Canadian doctor who ultimately discovered a vaccine and the family mandated to shelter hundreds of boys in the remote Scottish highlands, forcing them to isolate their only son in a shed for months to ensure his safety.

The book is often harrowing and difficult to read. There are a number of characters who take desperate steps to save their husbands and sons and instead are forced to watch helplessly as they all die.

Despite the grim nature of the book, the book ends on a very positive note. The author makes a point of showing not just the devastation caused by the virus, but also how the survivors forge a new way of life. It is inspiring.

A year and a half ago, I likely wouldn’t have been interested in this book and, if I had read it, it would have fallen squarely within the science fiction realm. This is unfortunately not the case in 2021 and the book feels all too possible.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read an arc of The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird. This book is released on April 27, 2021 and is definitely worth buying. 👍📚

Once I started this book, it was difficult to put down. The author uses numerous characters to provide different perspectives on how the "Plague," as it's referred to in the novel, is impacting various people, industries, and parts of the world. While that may sound like a lot to keep up with, I found it easy to keep track of who was who, and was invested in everyone's story, which kept me turning the pages.

The one thing I was hoping for more of was details on how life changed on a more day-to-day level when the male population dwindled. The author does give some insight into how things changed, but it felt like it was from a more broad, world-wide perspective as opposed to from the viewpoint of an individual woman. I was also hoping to see more of these differences highlighted throughout, as opposed to being mostly provided at the end. For me, that was the only thing keeping this book from being a 5 star read.