Great premise. However, I found the writing and execution to be lackluster.
I just felt confused more often than not. And the pacing was rather slow. I just expected the other shoe to drop and it never did.
Feel like the author could have taken this farther.

Eleven percent is a unique take on what a matriarchal society could look like. The social differences in a world like this is fascinating. It really makes the reader think philosophically and is on some ways ironic to think that such a world does not exist. Having a male dominated world seems to fit our societal narrative more. This concept is what makes the book unique and intriguing. The story from Denmark is a unique take a reverse Handmaid's tale!

I really wanted to be obsessed with this story. I was very interested in the idea behind it, the dystopian world in which men are not at the center of it. I think this is a novel I would try and read again at another time.

Upon picking it up I felt from the beginning I was confused about what I was reading. I wasn't quite clear on the characters, the setting and plot. I think if I hadn't read the synopsis I would be very confused. I think it was also a little slower paced for me, that is a personal preference.

The cover is absolutely stunning!!! I really love having a book that is written by an author outside of the United States where I live, it brings new perspective.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

This is a strange dystopian/utopian (?) book. I was pulled in immediately by the premise of a reverse Handmaid’s Tale. This book does have Handmaid's Tale vibes, however it is more focused on the lives of the “oppressors” (women) and not the subjugated (men). Eleven Percent is set a few hundred years in the future, and the world is run 100% by women. It’s not just a matriarchal society - men are stored away at spas and are used solely for breeding purposes. Men don’t participate or exist in day-to-day life (or at least they aren’t supposed to).

This book was just okay. Eleven Percent is mostly a narrative about how four characters interact with each other and move within the world they live in. The characters’ stories are somewhat tied together, but there is not much of a plot. I did enjoy some of the feminine themes in the book, like serpents and Amazons. Some of the ideas it brought forward were really interesting, like how a trans person would exist in a world like this, how women would build cities, or how religions might change to accommodate a new reality. There is some world building, but it does not delve deep enough to be satisfying. There were a lot of unanswered questions, such as the history of how this world came to be, the life of males and what happens to them (you do get a small glimpse of this & it reminded me of the book Tender is the Flesh), etc. Not much gets revealed.

All in all, it was a decent read but not amazing so it gets 3 stars from me. I will note that it was fun and cathartic to read during a very enraging election cycle.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Eleven Percent.

The premise is SOO intriguing I was eager to read this when my request was approved.

Sadly, this missed the mark for me and I wonder if it's because it's translated from the Dutch since there's so much lost in translation.

I also wasn't a fan of the writing style and tone, maybe due to the translations.

The narrative is slow and dull and I couldn't help wondering, "What's the story? What's the point?"

There's some world building yet not enough.

The writing is almost chaotic in awhile; there's too much description about snakes and period blood, but little exposition on the new 'world order.'

Why so much discussion about snakes?

It takes a lot to make me squeamish but the frequent mentions of period blood grossed me out so much.

In a world where most of the men are wiped out, it seems gender and sexual prejudices still reign and I'm not sure why.

There were so many things I didn't understand, the religions, the priestesses, and it all went over my head.

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand what's happening because I really wanted to like this.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't such an extreme sci-fi scenario. I loved the premise in the blurb, but the execution was a little more hard core sci-fi than I thought it would be. I think I was hoping for more of a Station Eleven/Handmaid's Tale vibe. I can see that this book was well thought out and well written, it just wasn't for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eleven Percent is a unique, thought-provoking dystopian novel unlike anything I’ve read before—eerie, bizarre, and utterly absorbing. The world-building is fascinating, exploring complex themes around real-world crime issues and the unsettling impact of testosterone on human behavior. Each woman's perspective offers something compelling, with flawed, imperfect, and morally gray characters that feel authentic. I appreciated the absence of a neatly wrapped ending or a clear moral, making it refreshingly realistic and a fitting comparison to The Handmaid's Tale. I highly recommend this for fans of dystopian stories centered on nuanced female characters. However, it’s not for the faint-hearted; check the content warnings before diving in.

w o w, okay!! this was insane and chaotic but in the best way. i'm glad i went back to dive into this. the writing is great, easy to read and to follow. the characters are messy and that's what i love about them.

Not for me. I requested this to read in October, as I always like to stock up on "spooky stories" to get me in the Halloween mood. This wasn't quite what I expected, and not my favorite.

3.5 rounded down. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for my honest review.

As a feminist and long-time fan of The Handmaid's Tale (pre-tv show) I was intrigued by this book's premise. I also enjoy the experience of reading translated books to notice the differences in tone, pacing, and language. This one was really good and captured contractions and humor nicely. Finally, Denmark was the most recent new country I visited and it was fun to catch little peeks of Copenhagen.

Onto the book itself. This is not a plot-filled adventure or drama or romance. This is a character study split between four characters: Medea (a convent snake witch), Wicca (a Christian priest), Silence (a mute convent gardener), and Eva (a doctor living in the same house as Wicca).

Each chapter, though not labeled well (ARC oversight, maybe) is one of the women in 3rd person POV either reflecting on the central present-day problem or remembering her past that led to this situation. This way we learn about the dystopian, anti-male, communal, sex-positive matriarchal society post-"Evolution".

Medea's first few chapters were heavily snake-focused and really hard to get through. She didn't reveal much about the world, its structure, or the other 3 POV characters. But by 30% we had Wicca and it got interesting as the story broadened with religious upheaval and personal drama.

I think the book could've used more narrative structure and more overlap between the POV chapters. We would spend a long time in each backstory and world-building before refocusing on the current problem of hiding a secret male child.

Honestly, I wanted an idea of larger politics, social structure, idea of money (or is that patriarchal), the wider world beyond Scandinavia, technology beyond curing cancer and extending lifespans, and if heterosexuality had truly been bred out. This was a fascinating premise but I think the author kept it small and focused on the day-to-day of "regular" women. Interesting, but not incredibly entertaining for me, at least.

This was a DNF for me, but I got a pretty good ways in and so will review. The premise felt like an interesting one, if not terribly original. However, the world building was very long and convoluted and the novel felt a bit like a movie whose best scenes you see in the preview. The blurb was better than the book, I guess.

This story was somewhat dark, scientific and really makes you think about societal standards and how they can be taken to the extreme ( in real life and fiction). I enjoyed this book although it did take me some time to get into and it's not something I would've typically picked up. I thank NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. It will be one that sticks with me.

I enjoyed this book but it was definitely a slow burn for me.

It was advertised as a reversal of the Handmaiden's tale and I think since I went in with that mindset it took me a little while to get into the book. The book was in fact of reversal of the Handmaiden's Tale in terms of how the society is run; the author writes of a futuristic society ran by women, where men make up 11% of the world and are never present unless needed, but that's where the similarities end. The book wasn't meant to be some sort of revolutionary tale of fighting against the system described but simply a slice-of-life tale approaching the subject of how our society would like if it was a matriarchal one.

Once I realized this, I was able to get into the book a little more. I enjoyed the multiple POV'S and being able to see different women's perspectives of this "ideal" society, however I couldn't tell if the book was trying to make a positive or negative case for this new dystopian future (maybe that was the point, but that also didn't feel clear to me.)

I think this book would be perfect for a book club read, the premise is intriguing enough with how it approaches gender roles and expectations within society that would be interesting to discuss within in a group setting.

Overall, it took me a while to get into the book, as it was description heavy and sometimes unclear but it was still a solid read! I definitely think this one of those books you might have to read more than once to fully understand.

Snakes, rats, rat snakes, cakes made from menstrual blood, man-ladies with silicone members, a convent of witches including one four feet tall with hair laced with bird droppings and other dirt down to her knees—all have their parts to play in Danish author Maren Uthaug’s “Eleven Percent.”

It’s a dystopian tale that takes place in the Frederiksberg section of Copenhagen (currently home to the Tivoli Gardens) hundreds of years from now. Society has become a matriarchy in which males constitute only 11% of the population, have no civil rights, and can live only in “centers” where women use them for procreation or pleasure.

While Ms. Uthaug’s imagination and world-building skills are impressive, the world she’s built is not one I want to spend any more time in. Her characters strike me as woeful and dour. And even though I’m a third of the way through, I have very little idea of the plot, where the conflicts are, or what’s at stake. So, for me, this is a DNF.

Even though “Eleven Percent” is not for me, I believe others may well feel differently. It is well imagined and written, and the world-building is prodigious. Readers into dark, dystopian tales who are not squeamish about sexual content, squalid conditions, and/or other repellant subject matter may want to give it a whirl--at least read a sample.

My thanks to NetGalley, author Marta Uthaug, and publisher St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a complimentary ARC. All of the foregoing is my independent opinion.

This was a unique concept and enjoyed the overall feel of the story and how different the world was. I was engaged with the world and how the characters interacted with that world. It was written well and was engaged with everything that happening, I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and was glad I got to know each characters.

I picked up this arc knowing that it was a translation of a book from another language, as the blurb was intriguing and I was curious to see how the plot played out. Unfortunately, I think some of the books meaning was lost in translation, and it was a bit difficult to get through. I think the concept was interesting and I wish I could read it in its original format, as I know that this is a story with the potential to be so great, if the translation wasn't quite so wordy and drawn out. Overall, this is probably a book that should only be read in it's original format and language, as it doesn't hit with the same level in the English translation.

This read was refreshing with it's unique characters and storyline. It was well paced and kept me entertained throughout. Really enjoyed.

Chaotic and thought provoking! Took me a little bit to get into the book but once I did, it sucked me in. Set in “the New Time” where there’s only 11% of the male population left who are kept in “spa’s” and are used mainly for pleasure and procreation. This book has The Handmade Tale vibes but in reverse. Great read and worth adding to your bookshelf!

Dubbed an "inverse Handmaid's Tale," I was immediately intrigued. I'm not sure what exactly I expected, nor can I say definitively that I liked Eleven Percent. But I can say it was engrossing look at a dystopian society where women have taken over the world. As expected, there is a lack of violence and characters speak about how much freedom they have to do as they please in a manner that is safe. But I found the menstrual blood aspect weird. I guess maybe I was expecting a more realistic dystopia and got one that was more fantastical. I feel like I was driven to finish more because I wanted to see where it went (sadly, nowhere very interesting) and not because I had any emotional investment investment in the characters.

I did like the characterization shown--the characters were absolutely realistic and not painted as some basic universal beauty. I thought that the way the women's stories were intertwined was neatly done, though I think it could have been a more shocking plot twist if we'd never gotten anything from Silence as Silence.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Eleven Percent was SUCH a good read. It was speculative & reflective of our current society. I think readers that enjoyed The Power would equally love this book, as the tones are extremely similar. There are many trigger warnings for this book, but if those aren't a concern, I think that it made for just the right amount of uncomfortability. It was perfect. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.