Imagine a world where, if you’re female, you are only allowed to speak one hundred words a day. When you utter word one hundred and one, your wristband will shock you. The more you exceed your quota, the greater the shock.

Not only that, you are no longer allowed to work. You’re no longer allowed to read. You’re not allowed to own a phone, computer or anything that connects to the internet.

Your child’s education is no longer educational; they will learn how to become a submissive housewife but that’s about it.

Welcome to Jean’s world. Run as fast as -

And that’s already one hundred words. Now you’re silenced for the rest of the day. Your wristband’s counter will reset to zero at midnight.

“I’ve become a woman of few words.”

In Jean’s world, the word count may be small but the indoctrination is big. People saw this coming. Some protested. Others sheltered behind denial, sure that something like this couldn’t actually happen. It did.

They didn’t think it could get any worse. It could.

““This would never happen. Ever. Women wouldn’t put up with it.”
“Easy to say now,” Jackie said.”

I was hooked for the first half of the book but the second half seemed to unravel. Some things were a bit too convenient. The ending was a bit too rushed and seemed to go against the message of the book up until that point. I didn’t connect with the characters.

Still, this book made me think about the things I consider to be rights and how easily they can be removed. It made me angry every time I thought about how easily this fiction, or something similar to it, could become fact.

Reading just a few reviews has made it obvious how divisive a read this book has been. It’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer but it made me think so it did its job.

“Think about what you need to do to stay free.”

Content warnings are included on my blog.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

The new government is in power and overnight everything has changed. 70 million women have lost their jobs, bank accounts are frozen and passports invalidated. Boys and Girls go to school separately and Girls are no longer taught to read and write at school. They are taught to be housewives. The men earn the money and the women spend their days in almost silence. Jean McClellen is only allowed 100 words a day as is every woman and little girl in the country. They have a counter on their wrist to make sure they speak no more than 100 words otherwise 1000 volts of electricity will shock them.
This book is set in dystopian America somewhere in the future but unknown how far in the future it is. I wasn’t a fan of this book but mainly because it wasn’t really my cup of tea. However it is clearly very well written and I would recommend it to people who like this kind of book. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited about reading this book. Unfortunately I couldn't connect with the main character, and I had to DNF :(

I’m a bit torn with this book. There is promise of a story of a dystopia that creeps in from allowing, or inviting, the wrong people into power. The ideas are clearly drawing from The Handmaids Tale which sets a very high standard to live up to. There are parts of the plot which go completely against my ideal of this being a feminist dystopian; with strong female characters who don’t quite meet expectations.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

Do you ever want to kick your own butt? *palms face* Seriously! Why oh why have I left this book to linger on my kindle for over two years?! Two freaking years, people!! *shakes head* Utter, utter madness.

Coz let me tell you, this story was the easiest five stars EVER!

I need to give special thanks to Hannah and her recent shoutout for buddy readers. Without her who knows *shrugs* how long Vox would have languished on my never-ending TBR pile.

Yet *taps chin*, when I think about it, maybe we’re actually a pair of evil geniuses. Given recent current events, I can’t help thinking that this was the PERFECT time to pick this book up *snorts*.

I don’t even want to contemplate a world in which women were restricted to one hundred words a day! (Add to this the penalty for swearing?! I would quite literally be fu...dged! *smirks*) Unable to read or write. Where our one and only function was to be an army of Little Suzy Homemakers. One word: horror. *shudders* Nope *shakes head*, not happening.

This is the fate that has befallen renowned cognitive linguist, Dr Jean McClellan. For her daughter and future generations to come, Jean will risk it all to break this corrupt system.

The one resounding thought I had whilst reading, which caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end, not to mention the trail of goosebumps, and shivers down my spine, was how completely plausible the storyline felt.

Fast paced, thought provoking, suspenseful – Vox was a thrilling debut which made me rethink my aversion to dystopian themed reads. And that’s saying something!

I think it’s safe to say that this story resonated with me. We each have a voice. Let’s shout/sing it from the rooftops – we will never be silenced.

I love the premise of this dystopian book, totally shocking and a warning about what could happen. I loved so much of it and the narrative was gripping, but the end frustrated me beyond belief - it was too neat and tidy and ended far too tidily in a way that I just couldn't imagine ever happening after such a huge wrench in society having occurred. Love and hate in equal measure!

Weirdly found this very tough to get into and not very rewarding. I had high hopes as I love the themes but I found it quite slow.

What a brilliant debut novel. You will be left speechless with the adventure it takes you on. I have no words to describe how good it is. Outstanding springs to mind though.

*Disclaimer, I work for the book publisher of VOX*
I loved this book - fast paced, gripping, and a scary dystopian vision of the overturning of womens' rights, Christina Dalcher is a powerhouse of an author!

A new story that I've not read before. It's powerful and thought-provoking which seems fitting in the current climate.

A powerfully plausible dystopia. It also made me consider the advances of science, and how easily bioweapons could destroy a nation. It was quite chilling, especially considering Jean's children and how easy indoctrination is. Whilst structurally the plot has some flaws, feeling rushed and glossed over at times, this is a book that will stay with you for a long while after that final page. Perfect for book groups and will spark a lot of discussions.

I couldn't finish this book. I thought I was going to love it, as I do love books in this genre but I couldn't suspend disbelief enough for VOX unfortunately. A DNF for me :(

This was a really great read. I sped through it, I wish it had been longer. Interesting concept about a future where females can only say 100 words a day. Highly recommend.

Great read. An easier read than the Handmaids Tale but along the same lines. Good for a YA Fiction.

In troubled political times this book didn't feel too far fetched at all and makes a great companion read to The Handmaid's Tale & The Power.

I think <u>Vox</u> has been selling better in the UK than the US. Understandable. The novel is set in a near-future USA, and I imagine it's too close for comfort for many potential readers.

A criticism I've seen is that "Christians are the baddies." It's a reality - there simply aren't enough Jews, or Muslims, or Hindus, or any other religious people able to run for president, have enough people to support them (misinformation campaigns to malign opponents are far too common), and to form a cabinet of oppression.

"But Christians don't want to limit girls' and women's speech." Yet they do want to limit access to abortion - a choice that should be available without judgment for anyone able to conceive. We've all seen how when women speak out against a man, a group of men, or men in general...the backlash is ferocious. Especially if the women speaking are WOC, or immigrants, or non-Christian - even more so if the women have intersectional marginalisations.

We know there are some Christians out there who are wonderfully inclusive and welcoming to minorities. Who don't seek to judge or oppress. Who instead assist and support the marginalised. Who shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, treat the ill. Who help refugees, asylum seekers, and those fleeing violence.

Unfortunately, those good Christians aren't as numerous or powerful as the bad Christians. With a vice president who has links to conversion camps for LGBTQ people, <u>Vox</u>'s society is not unthinkable. And without enough checks and balances to secure human rights, it could happen in reality - not just in fiction.

You'll notice straight away that <u>Vox</u> is cis-normative. There's no mention of trans or enby people, but we can extrapolate and realise they were likely imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. Men and women found in same-gender relationships have their children taken away. They're forced into hard labour, into sex work, imprisoned in a cell with no human contact except for a person of the other gender. (To force them to breed.) They're tortured, and murdered.

Cis women and girls (not found to be same-gender or both-gender attracted) at least have 100 words on their counters. But the Pure folks have made sex before marriage a crime, adultery a crime, disobeying their husband a crime... And the single women are forced into sex work, with zero words allowed. (It's not a choice. It's get married, or get prostituted.)

It breaks your heart to read of young girls fitted with their word counters in colours and designs of their choice. How words are turned into a competition - those who speak the least are rewarded. The positive reinforcement that conditions them to be silent. How even released from their counters, their words don't flow immediately. How they're not taught to read or write; but work with numbers, food, child-rearing, obeying and pleasing their potential husbands.

How Pure men-to-be - like the protagonist's teenage son - demonstrate to young girls what will happen if they go over their daily word limit. (Electrocution, increasing in strength. It's not a demo, but what happens to the wife next door is gruesome.)

Even readers without a maternal instinct will hurt to think of three-month-old girls fitted with counters before they've even learned to speak words.

Author Christina Dalcher has a doctorate in linguistics, a topic that plays a major part in <u>Vox</u>. If you want to take down a regime, you have to do it from within...and Dr. Jean McClellan is able to when enlisted to help treat the president's brother, who has Wernicke's aphasia.

The neuroscience appealed to me, and I loved learning about the brain and lab work. But it also gets confronting. We know mice and rabbits are involved in lab testing.

I'd forgot about the primates.

This is a novel, a world, that I'll be thinking about for quite some time. More than anything else, it stresses the importance of being involved in the political process - not only voting; but also marching, campaigning, protesting. EVERY election is important - federal, state, and local. EVERY election shapes government and society. Do not become complacent. Do not rely on the kindness or basic decency of others - they can't be trusted to not vote against extremists. Listen to WOC, because they know history and work hard to prevent oppression occurring in the future. But they can't do it alone. They need white women, and men of all races, and anyone privileged in any way to stand with them, to support them, in order to create a better future for every person in existence. A society is SOCIAL, but we've been conditioned to be selfish, to put only us and our loved ones above everyone else. But we need to look outside our bubbles, to form alliances, to work together. To create change, we can't work alone.

Get reading, get listening, get learning. Most importantly, get loud and get active. NEVER GIVE UP.

Absolutely loved this books. So much so that I went and got an exclusive sprayed edged edition from Waterstones!

This book was totally far-fetched, with unbelievable plot devices culminating in the most absurd denouement imaginable. I suspect it was written in a rush, attempting to be topical, but it doesn't begin to compete with other recent feminist dystopias

The average person speaks 16,000 words every day. Set in an America that does not feel very removed from the current day, half the population has been silenced, with women limited to only 100 words a day. They are controlled via a bracelet on their wrist that starts shocking them as soon as they go over the allocation for the day. The erosion started slowly, with a strongly religious authoritarian government in control of America, stripping away women's rights bit by bit, removing their right to hold jobs, to have an education, to learn to read and write, and finally to speak.
Our main protagonist, Dr Jean McClellan watches in horror as the changes creep into her world, and starts to process things according to the traditional five stages of loss - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. However, she refuses to enter the final acceptance stage and stays angry, determined to find a way to bargain a better life for her daughter and other women.
This is a fascinating read, especially as there are horrendous parallels with the insidious creep of policy changes currently being seen in America. It felt worryingly and scarily close to home at several points. This is a cautionary tale that should be compulsory reading right now, to ensure that fiction doesn't start to become fact. A troubling and timely highly recommended read.