3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The concept and ideas in Yours for the Taking, of how humanity might respond once Earth became (largely) inhabitable is well done here. The set-up and political intrigue of a purely feminine (identifying as or born as female) community is intriguing. In Yours for the Taking we span 20+ years to see how things might develop and what it might be like for a new generation to grow up in an indoor only environment.

The issues crop up when it comes to the set-up of the Inside (as it’s called) construction. While the plot, societal commentary, and characters are solid; the actual set-up of the Inside seems quite flawed for me. If you can overlook many of the logistical challenges of how the Inside is maintained then there is lots to like here. However, if you might get caught up on how the Inside manages to have endless fresh water and clean air, or how specific nutrients (like Vitamin D or UV from the sun) and other elements that humans need from the outdoors (not including food as that is addressed) are garnered then you may be frustrated by the lack of details. I had to get over lacking explanations about certain logistics of the indoor space (and its existence for 20+ years.

That said, I was able to largely ignore the bad scientific explanations and instead focus on the social commentary because the philosophical discussions and focus are very engaging. I especially liked that this is the first dystopian book I can think of that actually addresses how the trans community might adapt (or ‘qualify’) in a selected society. As well as handles the range of different sexual preferences in humans. With a large focus on the lesbian lead characters you almost forget there are heterosexual women in this little community (which kind of brings up another issue of where they get their pleasure from; but that’s just another oversight in the end). For me, as a bisexual woman, I could adapt to this environment; although I do wonder what a straight woman might say about living in this environment (or the idea of it at least).

At the end of the day I did enjoy this read. It starts a bit dull but definitely ramps up and intrigued me throughout. I’d have liked the narrative to go back to the plight of the women who could not bear a child (same as myself) but understand there is a lot that could have been analyzed here but might have bogged the overall key story down. If you love dystopian social commentary this one is definitely for you. It focuses on the corruption power can have, and that we need more than one person’s ideological set-up to be truly successful. If you want some extreme feminism ideals, and have ever imagined a world of only women (biological or identifying as) then this might be an interesting read for you. I’m glad to have read it and will recommend it out for some who will find the sociological context interesting; but it’s definitely not going to be for everyone.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I held my review in solidarity with the St Martin's Press influencer boycott, hoping that the publisher would choose to acknowledge their employee's behavior and to share how they protect their readers, influencers, and authors.

Nine months in, I no longer have an expectation of anyone receiving a meaningful response to that simple request.

If SMP chooses to speak up, I will be happy to update this feedback with my actual review.

Easily one of the best books I've read all year. Deeply existential, heartwarming, and thought provoking at every turn, I’m jealous of anyone who will get to read this book for the first time. I look forward to rereading it in the future!

rep: Queer characters, entirely woman main cast, Black butch POV characters, queer POV characters

spice: not really

I couldn’t get into this book. It was hard to understand. The narrator was great tho. Thanks NetGallery.

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC, however I rcieved an ARC of a different book then what was listed. I hate to have to rate this book because I received the wrong book and cannot provide a fair review to this title. Other reviewers had the same issue of receiving the wrong book.

Beautifully complicated. This book raises so many good questions and would be brilliant for a book club.

Yours for the Taking seems to be more about the big picture (including concepts and critiques) than it does about story details. I am all about a near-futuristic world where they don't have to explain every single thing, but I did want a little more explanation on many things in the Inside.

Audiobook talent was wonderful.

The year is 2050 and climate change is destroying the planet. Jacqueline Millender has developed a plan to create a new society entirely made up of women but doesn’t reveal all aspects of her plan to the applicants who want to participate. Ava is thrilled when she is accepted into the new society but is torn when her girlfriend, Orchid is declined. Olympia is just finishing medical school when Jacqueline asks her to join the society as medical director. And Shelby, a young transgender woman willingly leaves her loving parents and sister to become Jacqueline’s personal assistant. As the years go by and Jacqueline watches the group of women from her position in space with Shelby by her side, only Olympia knows of the selfish plans that Jacqueline has made for her vision of a future that may not include men.
I listened to the audio version of this book and it was well done with good narration. I enjoy reading dystopian fiction occasionally and felt like this book delivered a good story while being thought provoking. I wish the characters had been a little more developed - I never really felt like I knew who they were. And while there was good character diversity within the LBGTQ population of main characters, I thought that the story would have been even more thought provoking if a straight heterosexual woman (other than a young adult daughter) had been included in the mix - another dimension of a potential society that excludes men.

Give me a dystopian book, and I will probably enjoy it. Give me a dystopian book centered on women, and the chances increase. Add in queer characters, mental health representation, apocalyptic global warming, and space travel, and there’s potential for it to be one of my favorite books of the year. Yours for the Taking has all these elements and so much more. It’s a book about family, queerness, and survival against all odds. More than anything, though, Yours for the Taking is a striking rebuke against white feminism, corporate power structures, and the generational wealth that upholds and protects both.

Yours for the Taking follows multiple women in a near-future world ravaged by climate change and global warming. Korn has imagined a world where the earth has largely become uninhabitable, the rich have planned an escape to space, and society as we know it has collapsed. “Inside,” an exclusive bunker with mysterious qualifications, becomes the last hope for Americans left alive in 2050.

The main characters in Yours are Ava, Shelby, and Olympia, though the story adds other point-of-view characters throughout its 20+ year time span. These three women are unconnected, except for their ties to Jacqueline Millender, an aging Millennial billionaire. Jacqueline has long been the face of and wallet behind the newest wave of feminism. She is powerful, connected, and the epitome of what we would call “gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss.” As the world spirals out of control, Jacqueline seizes an opportunity to create a whole new society – a women-only society. Yours for the Taking is the story of all the women Jacqueline steps on and pushes aside to achieve her warped dreams.

I loved the heck out of this story. It was intense and incredibly sad at times, but also genuinely hopeful – even at the end of the world. The relationships in Yours for the Taking are realistic; friends grow apart, couples grow distant and separate, and partners think about old flings in passing. It’s also queer as hell, with point-of-view characters that are sapphic, lesbian, masc, femme, and trans. Not all characters are queer, but many are.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all the spectacular mental health representation. There are characters with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and OCD. Yours for the Taking treats these conditions with care and never stigmatizes them. As someone with OCD, I struggle to find that part of myself represented in books. In Yours, there’s a point-of-view character who struggles with her OCD on page. Though her compulsions differ from mine, this was so nice to read. If I have one criticism here, it’s that I hope Korn’s sequel explores OCD and neurodivergence further, and not just mental health. In my experience, OCD is more than its connection to anxiety.

Audiobook:

I read Yours for the Taking by audiobook, which I highly recommend. Yellowjackets and Scream actress Jasmin Savoy Brown narrates the audiobook and does an excellent job with each character. I typically prefer multiple narrators for multi-POV books, but Jasmin Savoy Brown tackled this one beautifully. Each character was distinct, and I was never left guessing whose POV chapter I was in. I listened to this one at my typical listening speed.

Final Thoughts:

Yours for the Taking is a thoroughly enjoyable climate fiction and dystopian novel with notes of Margaret Atwood, Katie M. Flynn, and Emily St. John Mandel. I’m astonished Yours was Korn’s debut full-length fiction work, and I can’t wait for the second book in this world later this year.

Rating: 5+/5 Stars. It’s going on the SFF Infinity Stars shelf. What a way to start February!

Oh my gosh... incredible! What a story! Gabrielle Korn's Yours for the Taking is a futuristic sci-fi delight.

Incredibly clever, truly creative, marvelous characters, there are just so many layers to this tale. Absolutely marvelous.

I really enjoyed the audio performance by Jasmin Savoy Brown as well. They bring this huge cast to life and infuse the story with so much vibrancy. What a captivating audiobook. Highly recommend!

Jacqueline Millender knows the future is female, and as the director of one of the exclusive Insides (an indoor community built to withstand the outside climate crisis), she sets out to prove it. With her women-only society, she's out to show everyone that men are no longer needed. Ava is one of the women accepted into Inside, and she can't help but be a little bit nervous about how the rest of her life will unfold cut off from the outside world. But is what Jacqueline doing REALLY best for everyone? And will Ava ever been happy Inside?

I really wanted to like this book. It has such an interesting premise. Unfortunately one of the major problems I had with this book is that it attempts too much, and a lot of the ideas never get fully fleshed out. This happens with the characters too. There are a lot of them, and none of them ever get enough page time for you to love them. I could argue that Ava gets more attention than any others, so while she is the most fleshed out character of them all, it's not quite enough. Sadly though Ava also gets the biggest WTF ending of this book. Why give Ava love after 30 years only to take it away and push her back toward an ex she'd literally forgotten? As a reader, I did not enjoy this at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me. Moreover, I had a hard time with the narrator's (Jasmin Savoy Brown) halting speech.

This book was so interesting! I love dystopian novels, and this one included a lot of queer and trans perspectives, which I haven't seen before. The plot was very black-mirror-esque, with a focus on an experimental society made up of all women, cloistered in a safe zone called the Inside, as the climate crisis destroys the world outside. Lots of rumination on what makes a woman, and how black and trans perspectives fit into the definition of "woman". This book switches between 3-4 different characters and settings and spans 20-30 years. I loved seeing everything come together at the end and getting justice for the wrongs that have happened!

I listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator! Their pacing and dictation were excellent.

🌈Queer rep: main characters were a white lesbian/queer woman, a black lesbian/queer woman, and a trans woman. Main relationships were FF, and F/NB. Secondary characters included lots of lesbian/queer women, nonbinary people, and a trans man. Secondary relationships included FF and F/NB.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an audio copy of “Yours for the Taking” in exchange for a review.

This is one of the more unique stories I’ve read recently. It moved at a quick pace, and was engaging throughout. I would have liked more voices in the audiobook because there are a lot of characters, but that’s my only complaint.

I’ll definitely recommend this to others!

4.5 stars.

This incredible, thought-provoking book imagines an all-female society after the world’s current climate crisis comes to a head. It begs the questions: What would it look like to remake the world without the patriarchy? Would the climate crisis even exist if it hadn’t been ignored by rich men in power for so long? What could children accomplish if a matriarchal society existed instead of a patriarchal one? What would those same children fear? Would the tribal idea of “us vs them” exist without men? Would war?

It is a mediation on many things, including: climate change, extreme wealth, child development, the refugee crisis, racism, gender politics, sexism, bodily autonomy, cisgender privilege, homophobia, the patriarchy, complicity, surveillance, privacy, consent, tribalism, and societal norms. Despite all the heavy social commentary, this never failed to entertain me. There was a pervasive feeling of conspiracy and unease throughout, that kept me on the edge of my seat, anticipating what what going to happen next. Honestly, my only complaint is that I wanted more… The story wraps up fairly quickly, and—in my opinion—with too little fuss considering the circumstances.

With all the gravity and implications of books like The Handmaid’s Tale, Chain-Gang All-Stars, and How High We Go In The Dark, but also with the delicate strangeness of books like Sea of Tranquility and Leave The World Behind, this book shouldn’t be missed. This is an excellent debut novel by Gabrielle Korn, and you better believe I will be running out to buy whatever she does next the day it drops. Thank you so much to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Yours for the Taking is a page-turning and engrossing story spun out of an interesting thought experiment - since women have been so harmed by the structures and shackles of patriarchy, what would happen if there were a world of only women? With beautifully nuanced characters and excellently illustrated treatises on the issues surrounding traditional feminist precepts, the complexity of gender identity, and the societal implications of trying to pave a path toward a better future, this speculative novel does a better job of explaining the nearsightedness and cis-normative pitfalls of white feminism than any internet think-piece I've ever come across.

This novel was incredibly interesting and I definitely enjoyed the topics it explored. I liked the way it took to explore the psychology of the characters and the choices the author made in progressing the plot. While personally I would have been ok with double the size of the book for more in depth exploration of everything, I definitely do think that it makes the genre really accessible for someone less acquainted with sci-fi. I thought the plot worked well as an audiobook and I enjoyed the narration.

This book was not at all what I was expecting and yet I still enjoyed it so much!

The dystopia, the climate talk, the romances, all of the points of view work together to create a terrifying reality that felt all too likely to not be unsettling.

I really enjoyed how intergenerational this book became, which I was not expecting, and the whole cast of characters were well fleshed out. There are some really interesting conversations about consent and what does it mean to have and make choices in this book that really transform it from a generic climate-based scifi to a well written and thoroughly thought provoking title.

I listened to the audiobook and the narration is very well done and the characters are made pretty distinct from one another, so I was never confused about who was speaking even with all the different point of views we get through out the story. I would have wanted to see a bit more about the other Insides and more about what happened to those projects after the events of the book, but that is really outside the scope of what this book is really addressing.

Definitely give this a read if you like scifi/distopia books and or books with lots of LGBTQIAP+ characters!

There is a lot to think about as you read this story and it’s certainly an interesting read. I rounded up to 4 mainly because I love a book that makes me think. However, it felt never ending and I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I read Yours for the Taking around the same time as The Future by Naomi Alderman and while the plot lines are completely different, they had the same dystopian vibe/atmosphere. The writing is comparable, and I think if you like one, you’ll enjoy the other. You’ll also enjoy this book if you like climate fiction, queer ensembles, and ethical debates; but it’s not a read for everyone.

It’s 2050 and the Inside Project is ready to accept their applicants. Jacqueline Millender a women’s rights advocate and billionaire has funding and treated the project as her own personal experiment.  As arrival of those accepted into the Inside begin to arrive, they notice that the lottery to enter might not be as random as they thought.

Set in the future, Yours for the Taking is told over decades of years and we switch between a group different POVs and follows various girls and women as they make their way in a dystopian/utopian world. It’s hard to describe this book without adding spoilers but it touches on some heavier philosophical and moral questions. Ideas such as a women-only society, how society chooses who to survive, speculation on how a patriarchy/matriarchy society would function and has functioned in the pass and much more.

I did a combination of reading and listening to this book, and I will say the audio narration helped me to full enjoy the story.


Yours for the Taking is out now. Huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for my copies in exchange for an honest review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

I found the writing the most interesting when exposition is just being doled out. The dialogue was mediocre and it's biggest issue is that many of the characters seemed very similar so I had a hard time differentiating between them. They narration is fantastic.

Good book very interesting premise. A great example of how power can go wrong and makes you think about how we are moving forward with our world