Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this ARC. Full review to be found on Goodreads and on my website.

I really struggled to read this with it being book 3. At the time I requested this book, I did not realise this was in fact a series. I will be leaving a good review because of this as this is my error and not the author

While I did enjoy the premise of this book, the focus on gender issues was excessive, to the point where it overshadowed the actual plot. I love that these topics are getting more space and more recognition, but it's important to not exceed because it could lead to the exact opposite of what we're trying to achieve.
The structure of the story was nice, switching back and forth between different timelines.
I liked the way the author portrayed the relationship between the various characters, and how you could feel the general quest of the story was to actually find a place to be ourselves and to belong.

This was not the book I was expecting it to be based on its description. I was totally expecting a ship full of genderqueer folks and some really cool mind-blowing dynamic, and instead, I got a ship consisting of a transman, a trans woman, an intersex kid, a bi woman, and a cis guy which doesn't last for that much of the story. It was interesting to see Connie - the intersex struggle with being intersex in a world without any way to connect to other intersex folks, but the way it played out was just disappointing. There was nothing profound in this book. It didn't point out anything about gender or sexuality that made me think. I'm disappointed.

I struggled a bit more to get through this book than I did the other two in the series, but I found it to be an enjoyable conclusion to the story. I think the thing I appreciated the most about this book is how it explores race, gender, and sexuality in thoughtful and realistic ways.

A Nuanced Book

So, I did not know that this was the third book in the series when I picked it up. That’s my mistake. But I didn’t feel like that put me at a big disadvantage. Elison’s writing really brought me in and made me feel like I’d been there the whole series.

Now, the way in which this story was written took some getting used to. I ended up starting and stopping this book a few times because I couldn’t figure out if it was just me, or if the book was non-traditionally written. Thankfully another reviewer on Goodreads (check out their review here) summed it up much better than I could have: “The book is not plotted traditionally. Rather, it reads from the past and present in equal measure…” I thought I was losing my mind because it kept jumping around. Now, I know that I don’t pay attention to those things when I write my reviews, but in a fully published book it threw me a bit.

As I stated earlier I started and stopped this book a few times. I wanted to love it. It’s main premise is that of Flora. But the actual story is all about gender identity. Every version of it you could imagine is on the table in this novel. It simultaneously felt like Elison was trying to force her beliefs down my throat (though I think be who/what makes you happy) and that she tip-toed around it a bit. I know, that doesn’t make any sense, but this book really baffled me so I’m having a hard time really explaining it.

Overall, an okay book. Not one that I loved and not one I couldn’t finish. I feel like it might need a second read to really get the things that Elison was going for.

One final tour to say goodbye to a series that I've really come to love.

Flora being my favourite character from the last book, I was well excited for this entry in the series. And Meg Elison didn't let me down! This is a thoughtful book - they all are - and it felt like it was more willing to take it's time. We jumped back and forward through time again, a technique I've grown accustomed to in these books, and all over the former United States.

As always, there's great variety in the places, peoples, and cultures we see. The focus was much more firmly on gender and it's spectrum of expression, and I felt it was so well done. Despite people often defaulting to "gender is a spectrum, sex is binary", in reality biological sex is almost as fluid as gender has come to be accepted to be. And given this playground to explore those expressions, Meg Elison is able to play with both the spectrum and people's attitudes towards the whole thing.

But this series always was more than just an interesting thought experiment, and it's the story that carries the reader along - and once again that story is excellent. Flora always did have a feeling of melancholy to her, and this book spreads that feeling into an undercurrent that pops up now and again just to really remind you that the future is bleak.

I enjoyed it immensely. I'll miss this series!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my open and honest review.

As much as I wanted to, I cannot become engaged with this story. It is a post-apocalyptic novel that delves into gender identity. On the surface, this sounds damn interesting. But this story is hampered by its flowery writing style, I think more so than the other books in the series. I tried an audiobook, a paper copy, and an e-reader to see if a different reading device would help, and it didn't. I don't think I am the correct person for this book and I had to DNF at 30%.

Meg Elison’s The Book of Flora (47North, 2019) trilogy is as much about gender as it is about surviving the apocalypse.

The first installment, the Philip K. Dick Award-winning The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, set the tone with a pandemic that destroyed civilization, leaving behind 10 men for every woman. To avoid rape and enslavement in this male-dominated landscape, the eponymous midwife must present herself as a man to survive.

In the next volume, The Books of Etta, set a century later, gender remains fraught but the rules have changed. The midwife’s legacy lives on in the town of Nowhere, where women are decision-makers and leaders. In this evolved world, Etta is allowed to choose the traditionally male job of raider, although she must still pretend to be a man to travel across a sparsely populated Midwest. Fortunately, this isn’t as heavy a lift for Etta as it had been for the midwife since Etta prefers to be called Eddie and identifies as male.

The notion of choice is one that Elison takes a step further in the trilogy’s latest and final installment, The Book of Flora. Assigned male gender at birth, Flora was castrated as a youth by a slaver, and, as an adult, identifies as female. Although she doesn’t always find acceptance among the communities she encounters, she refuses to hide her gender identity even when traveling alone, preferring the risk of being female to hiding who she is.

“As the world goes from absolute chaos to small pockets of … a more peaceful existence for women, I thought the most gendered person in the series, Flora, was the right person to come to something like peace,” Elison says.

Set in a still dangerous world, The Book of Flora is nonetheless a riot of humanity, full of characters representing marginalized voices and communities incubating new cultures and norms. There’s even a hint of an evolutionary leap that may one day make gender obsolete.

“I was really interested in books like Gulliver’s Travels, but also in the idea of, after the loss of national media and immediate communications, how different our societies would immediately become: we’d have these little pockets of culture where every town would have its own urban legends and every town might have its own religion and every town might have its own courtship rituals. So that that gave me a real opportunity to get weird and I got really weird with it, and it was extremely fun.”

I love this series! A dystopian trilogy that is non-heteronormative. The last book is a fitting ending, although not one I was expecting. Can’t wait to see more from this author!

After finishing The Book Of Etta I felt I had to start the next book right away. It is really rare that I will read books in a series back to back, but this series …is addictive reading. I didn’t even write my review for The Book Of Etta before starting this one!
This book has these genres listed for it Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian which I agree with but, would add it also has action and suspense. The book also touches on LGBTQIA issues too within the context of the book and people being different. Due to content, violence and subject matter this book is definitely 18+.


This book is going to be difficult to review without giving away spoilers. This book begins with diary entries and the story being told from the view of Flora, who we met briefly in book two. Flora has kept records from the “beginnings” of “the dying” transcribed by the Unnamed Midwife, then there’s the parts penned by Etta and those she has come across who have added their stories to the books. Flora begins writing about Bambritch which is an island. Flora explains all the books/diaries are kept in a fire proof chest which is hidden under the floor so if they are attacked the books will survive for those in the future to read. Bambritch has been taking in survivors such as farmers, fishermen etc for some time. These survivors, scouts and raiders all come with the same message for the one named Flora, that “They” are coming! They are many, they have weapons from the old world. Old war machines that cannot be stopped, tanks, trucks with long guns mounted on them. Survivors are saying “they”, have missiles to destroy a whole village and also have plague weapons, like the ones that started “the dying”. Flora isn’t sure what to believe, then Speel, one of the raiders draws pictures of villages this army has destroyed. One of Speel’s drawings shows a large pit the army made villager dig, they then shot those villagers using the pit as a mass grave. The bodies weren’t even respectfully covered up, just left for the bugs and wild animals. Flora has no idea whether the rumours are true, exaggerated or plain lies all she can do is wait for this army to arrive and hope they can either negotiate or survive the armies onslaught.

The book then goes back in time to those that escaped from the Lion of Estiel and the remaining survivors of Nowhere travel to the underground community of Ommun. The Ommun community are quite religious and have a leader called Alma who is quite goddess like in how she presents herself and the way she says she has visions and speaks to the Heavenly Mother. They have a book of scripture and religious songs they sing. The Ommun scripture refers mostly to the heavenly father. It also says Mothers are special. Alma never refers to God as a man, though she speaks to her God regularly. Alma does welcome the survivors and tries to have them integrate into her community as quickly as possible. Alma is continually pregnant and gives birth to twins and triplets. Alma gives out “callings” which are jobs but gives nothing to Flora. Alma clearly doesn’t like Flora and what he/she is. It is clear Alma has no use for Flora and tries her best to ignore her.
The diary entries by Flora reveal there is also a distance between him/her and Eddy who is now identifying as a man most of the time. Flora thinks the reason Eddy is so distance is the fact the Lion of Estiel used Eddy as the woman she was born (Etta) and repeatedly raped her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. All Eddy can think of is ridding her body of its invader. Eddy is aware that Alice knows of some herbs she can mix together that when ingested will cause her to lose the baby. When Alma finds out she is furious as she believes all babies are gifts even those made during a rape.
It’s not surprising that some from the survivors from Estiel and Nowhere choose to leave Ommun in search of a less judgemental settlement. What does surprise Alma is that some of her Ommun settlers choose to leave with this group too. Though Alma allows this group to leave she will not help them in any way at all. This means that they have to climb the long, long ladders to the surface rather than being able to use the lift that they would normally which works with some of the stronger men using a pully system. The book then tells the story of those survivors and how Eddy leads them in a quest to see what the Unnamed Midwife saw on the beginning of her journey. Then the book will go forward to Flora being at Bambritch and the preparations they are making to fight the onslaught of an army with an unknown leader, some say it’s a man that leads, whilst other rumours say it’s a woman. The book keeps you guessing who is leading this army and what it wants to the time it arrives on the shore, across the water from Brambritch island.

There are lots of great characters both in this book and within the whole series. As the title says “The Book of Flora”, her earlier life before Jeff’s City is revealed. Her first recollections of being with slave trader Archie. The things he made her do. There are times when Flora feels ashamed and compares herself to her slave trader master as she had to help Archie get the slaves ready to be sold. Then there’s the man who Flora calls father. The father who taught Flora how to hide in plain sight or hide as well depending on the situation.

I think this book deals with some topics that are still very relevant in todays news, with the continuing debates about abortion and a woman’s rights over her own body. This book series also covers subjects about sexual gender with characters that are homosexual, and transgender characters that are females identifying as males (such as Etta/Eddy) and males identifying as women (such as Flora). If I had known about all of the different sexualities, and the different references to distinctive religions within the book/series would I have read it? I am quite ashamed to say the different sexualities may have put me off a little but it would have been the religion would have had me doubting that I would have finished reading the books/series. Having said that I am venturing into reading genres and subjects I may have discounted before. I did enjoy reading this book and in fact the whole series. The differing religions and settlements of survivors gave views of how they dealt with the lack of females. Some settlements had women as possessions, or slaves for sex, purely for men to find a release. Some just saw women being there to breed to keep civilisation going and explained themselves as being right as religion said that was how it should be. Others had women in charge with men as the “slaves”. The book really did give a lot of different prospective on what would happen in such a situation in our present day.

The book was quite complex at times, for example, keeping track of female born Etta, who identifies more as male Eddy. This character has to switch from female to male quite a lot depending on whose company she/he is in. Occasionally it did seem like a chore keeping track of whether the character was Etta or Eddy. In the end this character does end as one person, the one they want to be the most. They find a place to be accepted as they are.

The book/series is a rather though provoking read, which sort of settlement would I wish to exist in? How would you protect yourself as a woman? The book had a lot going on and certainly kept you reading and hating every time you had to put the book down!

As for books I would compare it too, there is the Aftertime Series by Sophie Littlefield (I still have the last book to read), The Last Girl by Joe Hart (which I have read all of) and The Breeders Series by Katie French which is a fantastic YA series (I have read all of) and it’s spin off Second City Series that this book had some similarities too.

„Let’s see what I can grow into, see how long it takes me to reach the light.“

The first three chapters were not an easy read. First Flora‘s pretty horrible childhood and then Ommun and Alma—I am not a fan of her. This book was fighting an uphill battle to make me like it from the start.

Reading this back to back with Book of Etta would probably have work well. I struggled to place everybody, as it was a while since I read Etta and the author made no effort to explain things.

After picking this up and putting it down again for 3 weeks and not even making it halfway, I declare defeat. I do not like any of the characters. I don‘t care what happens next. I don‘t like the plot, it just doesn‘t work for me. I can‘t put my finger on why it doesn‘t. Maybe it‘s me. The first two books got 5 stars each from me. Perhaps I expected too much. I don‘t know, was the plot too aimless? The characters all remained very one-dimensional as well. How can the first book be so great and this one.... not.

DNF at 43%, chapter 18.

I received this free e-copy from 47North via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you! And sorry.

This was a great conclusion to a really interesting series-- I really loved learning Flora's story (though I think my heart will always belong to Eddy) and seeing all of the different ways societies reform themselves in a post-apocalyptic future. I will be thinking about these stories and characters for a long time and I am interested to see what Meg Elison does next!

Meg Elison's post-apocalyptic trilogy wraps up with "The Book of Flora." Like the earlier installments, this novel is set in the ruins of the United States after a plague that wipes out most women. We are introduced to some new locations and new communities, including a city of women and an island that's intended to be a place where no one owes anyone else the use of their body -- not for manual labor, not for pleasure and not for bearing children. At its heart, this book is about gender and sexuality. Elison's characters are wrestling with questions like: What makes someone a man or a woman? What about people who don't fit into that binary? If women are valued because they can bear children, what is the place of women who can't or won't give birth?

The Book of Flora is the 3rd volume in The Road to Nowhere trilogy, a dystopia set in the aftermath of a disease that wiped out 98% of the human population. As the name suggest, this book centres around Flora, one of the characters I enjoyed in the 2nd instalment. As such, I was excited to start reading about her adventures. Meg Elison's writing is beautiful as ever, however the book soon became a dictionary of sexual challenges and orientations. While I appreciated a moderate amount of diversity in the other two books this time it seemed that it took over any plot. To be honest, I wished the author stopped after the 2nd volume although I gave this one 3*.

The Book of Flora (The Road to Nowhere, Book 3), by Meg Elison (47North)
I loved the first book in this trilogy (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife), the “origin” story of the collapse of civilization when most women die in a plague, and the heroism of the unnamed protagonist, who records her survival – and transmits her midwifery skills to ensure the next generation. Although I was uneasy about the portrayal of men as either bullies/gangleaders/rapists or gay, I went along with it for the sake of the story, which was as gripping (it won the Philip K. Dick Award) as it was grim. The second installment, The Book of Etta, was also grim, for many of the same reasons, but intrigued me with its treatment of LGBTQ folks in a world where controlling women’s bodies and maximizing their fertility are the keys to humanity’s survival.
Flora, a transwoman and silk weaver from Etta, is the central character in the third book. The story is just as dramatic, with a cast of intriguing characters, strong narrative prose, and a nice balance of pacing. Yet I found myself with increasing resistance to the portrayal of men and of relations between the sexes (however many sexes there are). Some of this may have been due to recently reading several of Alexander McCall Smith’s The Number One Ladies Detective Agency novels, set in Uganda, which include some of the most genuinely good, kind men in contemporary literature. Maybe America goes the way of savagery, but it was hard for me to imagine someone like Obed Ramotswe or Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni behaving that way. Afrofuturism may point the way to a compassionate path through dystopia. At any rate, The Book of Flora kept me turning the pages, but it isn’t a world I’d ever want to live in, which is not the purpose of literature, anyway. I’m glad to have ventured into Elison’s dark, terrifying future, and see this trilogy as an important contribution to the examination of power, sex, gender, and culture.

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything in particular about it. Although chocolates and fine imported tea are always welcome.

I couldn’t make up my mind about this book. It is quite fragmented to read jumping between past & present. It is a post-apocalyptic dystopia which delves into gender identity like nothing else I’ve ever seen before.

I appreciated the main characters who accepted people based on who they were as a person rather than viewing all those who live non-conventionally as something to be feared or disgusted by.

I didn’t really understand where the narrative was going and felt like the ending was a little random.

Overall 3/5

The Book of Flora by Meg Elison is a recommended concluding book in the postapocalyptic series that started with The Book of the Unnamed Midwife.

Picking up from where the second book, The Book of Etta, left off, The Book of Flora tells the story of Flora. Now living in a community on Bambritch Island that is awaiting the invasion of an army headed for them, Flora tells her story looking back over the last forty years. She tells of life in the underground city of Ommun, her visit to Shy, and travels across the post-plague land until she reaches Bambritch Island. The novel switches between the story of the past that led her to her present situation, and the present as the community waits to be attacked. Flora's story includes that of characters found in the previous book.

At this point, having read all three books in the series my advice would be to read the first in the series, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, and then stop. Parts of this final book in the series make it worth reading if you have already read the second book, but this time the whole book really fell flat for me. What I mentioned in the review for the previous book holds true and is multiplied tenfold in this final installment. "The focus and anxiety over gender questions among several characters is almost overwrought, taking up more pages of anxiety than would seem necessary in this changed world." In this concluding narrative, the pages and pages and chapters of focus on gender identity is simply too over-the-top. I get it, don't beat me up with it, state the facts while establishing your characters and get on with the story. I'm reading for the plot and character development. Please don't lecture me. I forced myself to keep reading only to find out who was going to attack and what happened. (I'm being generous with my rating.)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/05/the-book-of-flora.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2810362990
https://www.librarything.com/work/21598253/book/168458427
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1125096285684621312

This was a very interesting take on a post-apocalyptic america. I loved how diverse the characters were. I'm not going to write a full review, because I derped and didn't realize that this was the third book. That being said, I had no trouble following along and I will definitely be giving the first two a look.

I adore this whole series. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife being my favorite followed closely by this book.
Although Flora was not one of my previously favorite characters, this book made me absolutely fall in love with her. She has such an accepting outlook on life and ultimately that is all she is looking for herself' acceptance.
With important themes of race and gender and sexual orientation, and what it means to be pigeonholed and viewed as one particular way.
It was a brilliant read! It is a brilliant series.