Mythological Women on Top Still Damn the World
Maren Uthaug; Caroline Waight, tr., Eleven Percent: A Novel (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2025). Hardcover: $25.06; Dystopian Fiction. 304pp. ISBN: 978-1-250329-64-6.
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“An inverse The Handmaid’s Tale that asks: What if women took over the world? It is the New Time, a time not so different from our own except that the men are gone. All but eleven percent of them, that is, the minimum required to avoid inbreeding. But they are safely under lock and key in ‘spa’ centers for women’s pleasure (trained by amazons to fulfill all desires) and procreation. A few women protest that the males should be treated better—more space, better food, but all agree that testosterone cannot be allowed to roam free. The old patriarchal cities are crumbling, becoming overgrown; people now live in “round communities.” But if you prefer the slum, that’s okay too. Religion has survived, sort of: women priestesses speak in tongues, inspired by snake venom, as apples are passed around to the congregation. But all social engineering has its costs... Four different lives intersect: Medea, a tiny, long-haired witch and snake whisperer; Wicca, a young priestess who excelled at the ‘self-pleasuring’ curriculum in school and has lost her pregnant lover; Eva, a doctor working in a spa center, and Silence, who lives in an almost abandoned convent. Each will discover the cracks in this women’s paradise. The first novel to appear in English by celebrated Danish author Maren Uthaug.”
The concluding section keeps readers’ interest by introducing a curing syringe of blood to Medea to cure her of drowsiness, or a potentially deadly illness. Though there are grotesque notes of using a dog’s semen and repeat dog-mating references: these are a bit amusing because they are unique, but also repelling. It is also curious and grotesque that she makes an amulet out of a cobra’s tongue before eating the snake.
The opening scene describes a fictional version of Lilith’s conflict with Adam where she refuses to be inferior to him, and so God creates Eve out of Adam’s rib, so she would “obey” him. Lilith was punished for her ambition of equality by being “persecuted, loathed, and mocked”. And the premise of this story is that the balance of power now suddenly tipped towards the “Liliths of the world” who could now “decide who would be on top.” I previously wrote a version of the Lilith story, so I sympathize with using this mythology as inspiration.
Though the intro promises too much, as it suggests it is going to show womankind getting on top of men, and becoming more powerful. But then the content that follows mostly shows Medea’s obsession with her looks, and her attempts to live forever by using blood-magic. How exactly is this empowering? The first mention of “women” appears in derisive comments against “manladies” that Medea fails to understand, as they “weren’t real men, only women with silicone fakes.” Meanwhile Medea is followed by “ratgirls”: this might be something supernatural, or just an insult against ratty girls. The main feminist thing about Medea seems to be that she keeps using the blood of boys, possibly killing them. I guess a murderous woman is on top, but this is hardly radical. I guess the “boys” are still around, and only grown “men” are missing. There is no explanation in the first pages of the novel that men are missing or why they are missing. Some pages later there is a note that “men” had been “wrecking everything” and “nature” had redressed “the balance”. There is almost no action at all, as Medea just keeps worrying about some boy, some dogs, her beauty, looking pretty or not, waking, sleeping. And the lack of men has not really fixed much, as there are “rats” in “huge numbers” running around, “Only females.” What about the “boy” rats? This is all very absurdly confusing, and nonsensical.
There is nothing here that attracts interest to keep reading, and Lilith is my favorite mythological character. There might be interesting things here and there for readers seeking amusement.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

Eleven Percent is a thought-provoking, well crafted novel that explores the subtle yet impactful world of social inequality. The story offers a behind the scenes look at the lives of those on the lower end of the economic spectrum, highlighting both resilience and vulnerability. While the pacing is steady and the characters feel genuine, some might find it a bit quiet compared to more adrenaline-driven stories. Overall, I’d rate it 4 stars. It's a compelling, insightful read that stays with you without being overly heavy.

DNF pretty early on - not at all what I was expecting from this one. It just wasn't for me and not sure I'd recommend it

really good mystery. Kept me on my toes and loved all of the characters and what they went through on this journey. Loved that they a happy ending happened.

It’s hard to give this one a rating, because I while I didn’t love it. I also didn’t hate it. I just don’t think anything of it.

It took me two tries to get into this one, I really had no idea what was even happening in the beginning. It kind of made me change my mind about continuing, but I slogged through it. Snakes, menstrual blood and silicone penises are pretty much the gist of it.

Although, getting to see the 4 different POV’s were interesting and they way they tied in together, and the world building was also interesting, and I kind of stuck around to read more about that.

𝘼 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮

I love any sort of feminist dystopia, speculative fiction novel, but some are better than others. Taking place in 2230-ish (my calculation based on references in the story) in a crumbling village much like something found in pre-indoor plumbing Europe, boys are institutionalized and used for procreation or trained as sex slaves. The premise isn’t shocking. It’s been done before by Christina Dalcher in Femlandia and The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird—and they did it much better.

Eleven Percent had a super unique premise and definitely didn’t hold back, but honestly, it just wasn’t for me. It was really sexual (like. . .a lot), and I kept waiting for the story to go somewhere, but it never really felt like it had a clear point. I had to drag myself through parts of it because it felt more like vibes than plot. Some people might love how weird and out-there it gets, but I just couldn’t connect with it the way I hoped to.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for my eARC of Eleven Percent by Maren Uthaug. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

When I saw this was marketed as an inverse of The Handmaid's Tale, I was sold. What I read, however, was not what I was expecting and frankly a little disappointing.

I don't think I was the target audience for this book as I didn't really understand the point/what the author was trying to say. It was so muddled down with talk of snake whispering and menstrual blood. We also see a character so shamed for being a male that they're hidden and then undergo surgery to have female parts. Sexuality and sexual acts were rampantly discussed throughout the book, so if you're not into that I wouldn't pick it up.

This one wasn't for me but I know there is an audience for it out there!

Thanks, St. Martin's Press!

Probably the most bizarre book I’ve ever read in my life. The writing seemed disjointed and what in gods name was even the point of the story? That men are oppressed? Ok cool.
Was it supposed to just be a dystopian story and nothing more? Idk.

The novel takes place a few hundred years in the future in Copenhagen, Denmark. Four women are the main characters of this novel — Medea, a tiny witch with an affinity for snakes; Wicca, a Christian priestess who delights in sensual pleasures; Eva, a doctor who works with juvenile males at a spa center; and Silence, a plant whisperer who hasn’t spoken in decades and lives with the witches who took her in years earlier. (Medea is the first woman I met in the book and was astonished with her abilities with the snakes.) The Evolution occurred several generations earlier when women reclaimed dominance over men after centuries of subjugation. These foremothers are thought to have corrected the social order. In the beginning, women had ruled the planet until men took over and oppressed them, usurping earlier feminist belief systems. At the time of the Evolution, women had lost interest in sex with male partners. As a chemistry teacher in the novel helpfully explains, this was nature’s last effort to save the species. When they were no longer blinded by oxytocin (known as the “love hormone”), women “could suddenly see men for what they really were. . .” It is believed men contributed to their own downfall by having “too much faith in their genitals’ ability to give pleasure.” Eleven percent is the portion of the male population allowed to live. Men are not considered human yet are kept around for purposes of reproduction and sexual pleasure. Uncontained testosterone is considered dangerous and therefore not allowed free range. Instead, men are kept locked up in spa centers where Amazons train them tirelessly on sexual performance and all manner of kink. The sexual menu includes a broad range of male types. Perhaps the spa visitor would enjoy a Lloyd instead of the usual Chris this time? Spa scientists are on hand to administer medication immediately after sex to stop oxytocin in its tracks. In this time, 11% of men—enough to keep the genetic pool sufficiently varied—are allowed to survive infancy, only to be kept captive and heavily medicated. Definitely not for the squeamish, the novel follows four women who have trouble dealing with the system in which they have been raised. Medea and Silence are witches who live in a convent with an elderly “sister” and a nameless 7-year-old boy they have raised in secret. Wicca—Medea’s lover and a priest in the now-matriarchal Christian church, in which cobras play a critical role—worries that she won’t satisfy the mothers who have raised her to follow in their footsteps as priests. And Eva is a doctor with a potentially damning secret she’s held since childhood. Though it’s not clear whether the rest of the world has also been transformed, or just Denmark and its Scandinavian neighbors.

The author builds her brave new world with care and confidence, gradually revealing a civilization in which all new buildings must be round or ovoid, testosterone is viewed as poison and “manladies” with silicone penises service customers in the dodgier parts of Copenhagen. Self-designated Amazons are assigned to teach the captive males their varied sexual “jobs.”

The author has written a dystopian novel that involves a feminist takeover. It’s a horrifying, beautiful, and at times truly disgusting story of a mostly female society. I must include a warning in that there are some scenes that are “questionable.” Overall, I found the novel quite fascinating. I must admit that it is intrigue me with how they saw men. It left me with some questions that I will be wondering how that world would answer them. I do recommend this book As I haven’t read a novel like this for some time. It is a wild book to read.

While I was excited to read this due to the premise, I am sort of at a loss for what I got. I kind of get what Uthaug was trying to do here, but I wish it was more clear? I felt completely lost while reading; there are time skips within the same page, and no real break in the flow of the novel so it was often only through context clues that I would understand we traveled to a character's past. This could possibly just be a misstep with translation, but it really brought me out of the narrative because I was confused very often. I do think Uthaug was creative in what she was trying portray (a future society where men are almost non-existant and how women might perceive or think of men if that were the case) - most of it made some sense to me but I do think stereotypical expectations of gender norms were still present and rendered on the side of bioessentialism? I also feel like Uthaug tried to be inclusive and include trans characters but that too just felt like weird representation? Idk, it was a weird and confusing experience that I just didn't vibe with.

Definitely a unique, thought provoking book. Eleven Percent is set a couple centuries in the future where women have entire control over society. Men are confined in centers and are only allowed to be 11% of the population to allow for varied breeding. Religion is…weird and somehow Christianity has remained with some peculiar customs. We have four intersecting women and we learn about their current lives and also their pasts.

I’ll go ahead and say right now if frequent talk of menstrual blood is an issue for you then sit this one out. There’s also quite a bit of snake content and some heavier themes of gender identity. Not sure what genre this would be considered - dark lit fiction? It had some really interesting ideas and some concepts I could absolutely relate with regarding misogyny. I enjoyed this read but it never totally grabbed me like I hoped it would. I would have loved to understand more of the snake whisperer connection. When one of the characters has an episode during a service the book seemed to be heading in a really unique direction, but Uthaug pulls in a different direction. Overall, I’d recommend this book but to a likely very niche group who appreciate dystopian thought provokes with some funky customs.

I'm not sure this was the book for me honestly! Something in the messaging may have got lost in translation, but I was liking the first part and then it went downhill from there. I'm sure a lot of people will love this, but you definitely need to be a specific type of person, and that's not me (unfortunately, since this concept sounded so good!!) [1.5 stars]

Eleven Percent is an extremely weird novel that seems to mainly show that a women-led society could easily become as sexually fetishized and domineering as real-world male ones, and use the same religious and nature myths to justify it.
The story is told out of order, to emphasize and reveal the ways characters hide their own or others' attributes to try to conform to society, and the twists and turns as things are revealed.
The descriptions are intricate and language evocative, especially when it comes to the snake worship, the conditions under which the 11% of males are kept for breeding purposes, and especially all the ways people change their bodies to play with societal norms -- adding and removing appendages as they see fit for pleasure or survival.
Turn the gender dysmorphia up to 11!

This book started so many thoughts that I don’t even know what to say. Such a bizarre and dystopian read! I feel like I should have something smart to say about our society after reading this book, but the only words in my mind are “WTF”.

Unfortunately this one was a DNF. The menstrual blood cakes, snakes, and dead wolf-dogs turned my stomach and couldn’t get past it. Thank you for the ARC, but this one was not for me.

“God then created Eve instead. "I have made her from your rib, from a part of you that neither walks nor thinks nor speaks, so she shall be ready to obey your will," said God to Adam. And she was. Especially after she saw what happened to Lilith.”

What a way to start the novel I loved that!!

However over all I think this book was just okay??

It’s a weird and dystopian and i feel like I should have something smart to say about our society and religion and men and the patriarchy but after reading this book, but the only words in my mind are “HUH?” I was honestly confused most of the time and i really don’t know how to feel. But i mean extra points for having weird magical blood cookies in it. LOL that was definitely different!!

anyways I love translated fiction and dystopian novels but this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me!!

Sorry, but I had to DNF at 36%. I finally called uncle and couldn’t do any more.

The menstrual blood cakes were one thing, but the masturbation was just too much.

I typically love dystopian tales, but this one was just way too bizarre and uncomfortable for me to continue. But thanks for the opportunity to read this one.

Eleven Percent is a sharp and thought provoking novel that explores power, gender, and control in a future where women rule society. Maren Uthaug’s writing is clear and compelling, and she builds a world that feels unsettling, but also deeply relevant.
It’s a bold read that sticks with you, and not just because of the story itself, but because of what it quietly challenges you to consider long after you’ve finished. I absolutely loved the weird, unsettling darkness of this novel and am so glad I got to get an early copy! Thank you so much for the eArc, can’t wait to get a physical copy when it comes out (:

Eleven Percent is a unique, thought-provoking dystopian novel-totally gripping, unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
An interesting story, well written and extremely thought provoking.
The writing is fascinating and held me glued to my kindle from the first page.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.