Femlandia: The gripping and provocative new dystopian thriller from the bestselling author of VOX

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I really enjoyed, “Vox,” by Christina Dalcher and, although I haven’t yet got around to reading her previous novel, “Master Class,” I was intrigued to read and review her latest. Like “Vox,” this is dystopia, but set within the boundaries of a society that we recognise. In VOX the main character, Jean, was a doctor of linguistics, who's husband worked with the government to come up with a method of silencing women.

There’s a scene where the MC and her daughter finally reach Femlandia and there has to be a spot search upon entry. Understandable, right? Except they make them take all their clothes off to make sure they’ve always been a woman.Near future America is easily a frightening place in any imagination, and in Christina Dalcher’s third novel Femlandia, America in 2022 is a completely broken, lawless society. After a massive economic breakdown, things rapidly fall apart, supply chains run dry, violence is the only thing that works, there is little food to be found, and everyone is left scavenging as best they can, both for food and safety. 40-something Miranda and her 16 year old daughter Emma have been trying to eke out a survival in their home, but Miranda knows that they won’t be able to stay there much longer. There aren’t many options for them, other than to go to the one place Miranda had sworn off from years ago—Femlandia, the women only commune her mother Win had established before the world broke, a community that is ‘Women Oriented. Self sufficient. Cooperative. Safe. Accepting. Natural. Free’. Miranda Reynolds always thought she would rather die than live in Femlandia. But that was before the country sank into total economic collapse and her husband walked out in the harshest, most permanent way, leaving her and her sixteen-year-old daughter with nothing. The streets are full of looting, robbing, and killing, and Miranda and Emma no longer have much choice—either starve and risk getting murdered, or find safety. And so they set off to Femlandia, the women-only colony Miranda’s mother, Win Somers, established decades ago. There are so many triggering subjects in this book which are hard to digest including extreme violence, rape, invest etc. They probably give you nightmares all month long. Are the secrets and foundations Femlandia is built on safe for Miranda and Emma, or could they be more dangerous behind the walls than the horrors outside? What will they have to sacrifice for their safety? And do they really NEED men? Miranda Reynolds’s mother was an extreme feminist and is known around the world for starting colonies known as Femlandia. These are meant as a safe space for abused women where they live in self sustaining isolation from the rest of the world around them.

Miranda tried to remain so positive throughout this book. She suffered quite a lot and had her teen daughter to care for as the world crumbled around her. In a last ditch effort to keep them both alive she turns to Femlandia.Welcome to the feminist utopia Femlandia: womyn-oriented, self sufficient,cooperative, safe, accepting, natural, free place promises the women a world without men equals to a world without worry as it’s advertised by cofounder Jennifer Jones.( she seems like playing daughter part better than Miranda) For Miranda, who struggled to agree with many of her mother’s outlooks on life, Femlandia is the last resort now that life outside the gates is so dangerous for her and her daughter Emma. Upon arrival though, the utopia of Femlandia isn’t quite what it seems and Miranda begins to discover dark and sinister secrets. Miranda did not want to move to Femlandia, but the country where she was living was collapsing and danger was all around her. So, she and her daughter, Emma, had no choice but to move to a colony of only women, that Miranda’s mother, Win, founded years before. At first, it almost seems utopian, but then something is off. Men are not allowed, but babies are born; only girl babies. Miranda becomes more and more disturbed by what is happening, and nothing is as it seems.

before her mother's death, miranda had been estranged from her for many years, #notafan of the great win somers' beliefs, methods, or showboating public persona. miranda married young and lived very comfortably for twenty years, until circumstances (i.e. world goes boom) led her to beg for entry from femlandia co-founder jennifer jones—the woman who slipped into the daughter-shaped void miranda left in her mother's life. A master of the feminist dystopian novel…A no-holds-barred thriller and thought-provoking read for fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Naomi Alderman’s The Power, and Kim Liggett’s The Grace Year.”—Library Journal When the country collapses, Femlandia is the only place to go for Miranda Reynolds and her daughter Emma. Living off the grid seems almost idyllic upon arrival. It’s only once Miranda steps inside that she realizes Femlandia’s methods are barbaric and that her mother and her former best friend, are responsible. And the key to all of it is in the author's note. The author tells us that she didn't like how some people reacted to her book VOX. And that's fair. As a writer myself, I can understand being annoyed by people misinterpreting your work or using it for a purpose you didn't intend. Femlandia the book isn’t about a feminist utopia like Charlotte Gilman’s Herland was, or even a dystopia (again, who gets to decide what is what, anyway?). It is a jittery thriller about how all and any extreme shifts of power result inevitably in human cruelty, regardless of who is in charge of whom. Power, the desperate need for survival, the evolutionary circles which human society seems to turn in—these are all valid and strong concerns for Dalcher in Fermlandia. Subtlety sadly, is not a strong suit here, not in the community, nor the book.Which brings me on to my next point - portraying this whole community as a cult, and choosing to name their leader Jen Jones, is incredibly tasteless. I find it impossible to believe this is a coincidence, and I find it painfully unnecessary and cheap. the trans issue is a pretty good example. the femlandia leadership has a very staunch policy when it comes to transfolk—if you have, or have ever had, a penis attached to your body, you are unwelcome: Miranda Reynolds always thought she would rather die than live in Femlandia. But that was before the country sank into total economic collapse and her husband walked out in the harshest, most permanent way, leaving her and her sixteen-year-old daughter with nothing. The streets are full of looting, robbing, and killing, and Miranda and Emma no longer have much choice—either starve and risk getting murdered, or find safety. And so they set off to Femlandia, the women-only colony Miranda's mother, Win Somers, established decades ago. Finlandia became a symbol of Finnish nationalism. While Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia performances within the empire had to take place under the covert title of “Impromptu”. I really enjoyed, “Vox,” by Christina Dalcher and, although I haven’t yet got around to reading her previous novel, “Master Class,” I was intrigued to read and review her latest. Like “Vox,” this

A chilling look into an alternate near future where a woman and her daughter seek refuge in a women-only colony, only to find that the safe haven they were hoping for is the most dangerous place they could be. If this was promoted as a thriller with an evil group doing evil things, I wouldn't mind it too much. But people, and mostly women, will read this expecting it to be something very different. And many won't care because their "feminism" is full of empty slogans that do nothing to fix the problem, so I'm sure they'll love the misogyny of this book. But critical thinkers like myself...well, we see things differently.This is music about national identity. It captures not only the vast, majestic landscape of Finland but also its national pride at a crucial moment in the country's history. Usually I enjoy Christina Dalcher’s books. Neither Vox nor Q (AKA Master Class) were particularly complex books, but there was a thematic consistency to them and the storylines were straightforward if not nuanced. Decades ago, a group of women banded together to form a women’s only colony, free from the rules of the states. Surviving off the land, they become wholly self-sufficient.