Intriguing premise that could have felt like a SJW lecture, but refreshingly did not. It felt science-fictiony. But it just trails away at the end, and the author doesn't seem to want to commit to the path she's led us down (presumably to retain her cred with allllll the different kinds of readers.) Sadly, trying to please everyone pleases no one.

Book Review:
The XY by Virginia Bergin
Publication Date: 01 Nov 2018
read courtesy of netgalley.com

I wanted to like this more than I did, and one of my hold-outs was that it felt more cavewoman-ish than future-society-ish. I presume that the dialog and use of language was intended to show that society's catastrophe had caused a setback to 'progress,' but it made the characters sound less sophisticated instead of people who learned from past mistakes. This is especially true since they still had electronic communication and tablets. [On the other hand, if the author used this dumbed-down language because the readers are young adults, that's even worse.]

The XY also didn't tackle the stereotypes and preconceived notions of gender. Though it did dismantle and deconstruct them, the gender-assigned traits as our current society identifies them still played a dominant role in the characters' motivations. I felt as though the traits were magnified rather than neutralized. While I don't mind that Bergin used the genders in this way, it felt like a disingenuous way to show that society had improved - or even just developed - if the story was intended as a thought experiment.

I was especially surprised that Bergin skirted (pun intended!) the issue of sexual pleasure (not merely procreation) within an all-female society, except when it referenced males. It felt like the elephant in the room. For example, though River said she loved Plat, the love was undefined and stated with no more explanation than Plat was River's best friend. (Plat, by the way, was a weak character and seemed to exist only to be River's society-based moral compass.)

Regardless, as far as storytelling, Bergin did do some things rather well. Mumma Zoe-River, as the middle, transitional generation of the story, flipflopped her character's personality and actions to match the split situations in which she found herself. And though the ending came a little abruptly, Bergin provided a satisfying conclusion that matched the protagonist's, River's, personality.

In spite of its flaws, this book would make a good reference point for a book group on which to start a discussion on gender.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and I would have liked the world to be a bit more fleshed out but it's an interesting concept.

Thank You Net Galley for the free ARC.

I really liked the premise of this book - in camps of women, there are no males and have not been for a while. They have been wiped out by a virus that the women carry and are immune to. So, the last males were sent off to colonies of other males. Girls growing up in the women camps don't have any idea what boys even are - until one shows up.

Interesting book, having read The Power recently I couldn't help but compare. Who rounds the world focuses on a genderless (?) society of women who with three generations in don't consider gender until a boy is found.

There is not a lot in the way of action going on until the second part of the novel. The world building of this new world without men, where men are only traded for their sperm, is very slowly done. The first part of the book explores River and her little town and the structure of their rebuilt society.

I did like the character of River eventually, when we first meet her she is often sullen, cross and very very proper with not much in the way of personality. As the story grows her personality seems to grow too as we learn about her passion for engines and what this means for her future and society's future.

The story has some really important messages for today including the environment and how we're damaging it now to gender equality and rape. Not a book for younger readers.

This book shows us a very interesting world but not one I would like to visit!

I loved The Rain and The Storm, so I was excited to read this new title by Virginia. Sadly, it just wasn't as good. The first part was fine, the Global Agreements and the explanations of what life is like now. But things got more and more confusing as they went on, and by the end I wasn't sure exactly what was happening. Did River give Mason up in the end? It *seemed* like her mother stopped her, but I'm really not sure what was going on.

Fantastic idea, brilliant writer, sadly mismatched somehow. But I'll be watching out for her next one anyway.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.