A review by annierosebel
Femlandia by Christina Dalcher

3.5

This was a really interesting concept - but I felt like the pacing was a bit off? I get that we needed to understand the extend and horror of the economic collapse, but I think that took up too much space at the extent of a satisfying arc about Femlandia, without ever explaining how the collapse happened and how or whether it is men's fault. I also wonder if there were just too many rich details squeezed in - I wanted to slow down and sink into elements, but we kept racing ahead. The dark twists were predictable, and the epilogue was deeply unsatisfying - there was no sense of how we got from the end of chapter 78 to the epilogue, it was a wild leap, and also seems to undo half the message of the book in a very contradictory way? 

It feels like a really interesting idea but just not terribly well executed, with some red flags that make me worry this isn't the kind of feminism I'm interested in supporting. The idea and the concept of cults kept me interested, rather than the story or writing.

****spoilers**** 

The epilogue seems to contradict the idea that misogyny and patriarchy is taught/nature, rather than innate and nurture. The second you have men, raised in a female-led community, they raise up in charge and overpower the women? And are misogynistic? 

Also, it feels a bit disquieting to me to have transphobic characters and just leave it at that without those views being challenged or really explored - like someone said 'what about trans and non-binary people' and the author made the powerful characters transphobic to avoid having to meaningfully engage with the complexities and non-binary nature of gender.




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