Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: speculative fiction
Review: Here's the thing: The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper is the absolute gold standard for books about all-female societies. Dalcher's latest has something to add to the genre, but frankly I'm not sure that a book will ever be written that measures up.
One issue that seems to always crop up in books of this type is the somewhat obvious: "What do we do with the men?" and its corollary: "How do we procreate?" It is this question that frequently drives the narrative tension in the book, as the main character first uncovers the big secret and then wrestles with her own morality over what to do about it.
Femlandia follows in this mold, although Dalcher throws in a few twists of her own, making this a novel both about female-only societies and one about cults. Miranda Reynolds, like Dr. Jean McLelland of Dalcher's debut novel, Vox, is a woman who takes immediate (and possibly reckless) action as soon as she's decided which is the right path. This rush to action creates an unevenly paced narrative, as things move along at a nice dramtic pace for the first 3/4 of the book, and then the action in the last quarter plummets off a cliff. Although I give Dalcher a lot of credit for pulling up the reins for a well-done epilogue.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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