Name: Lindy's review of The Book of Etta by Meg Elison
Item: The Book of Etta
Rating: 3
Author: Lindy

Meg Elison

In the gripping sequel to the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, one woman undertakes a desperate journey to rescue the future. Etta comes from Nowhere, a village of survivors of the great plague that wiped away the world that was. In the world that is, women are scarce and childbearing is dangerous...yet desperately necessary for humankind's future. Mothers and midwives are sacred, but Etta has a different calling. As a scavenger. Loyal to the village but living on her own terms, Etta roams the desolate territory beyond: salvaging useful relics of the ruined past and braving the threat of brutal slave traders, who are seeking women and girls to sell and subjugate. When slavers seize those she loves, Etta vows to release and avenge them. But her mission will lead her to the stronghold of the Lion--a tyrant who dominates the innocent with terror and violence. There, with no allies and few weapons besides her wits and will, she will risk both body and spirit not only to save lives but also to liberate a new world's destiny.

The Book of Etta

Anne van de Brug

Lindy

I actually preferred this to The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, if only because Elison's sense of pacing and plotting has improved. You don't have to have read Unnamed Midwife to understand Etta, so I suggest starting with this one and going back if the references in this story intrigue you.

"In the wake of the apocalypse, Flora has come of age in a highly gendered post-plague society where females have become a precious, coveted, hunted, and endangered commodity. But Flora does not participate in the economy that trades in bodies. An anathema in a world that prizes procreation above all else, she is an outsider everywhere she goes, including the thriving all-female city of Shy. Now navigating a blighted landscape, Flora, her friends, and a sullen young slave she adopts as her own child leave their oppressive pasts behind to find their place in the world. They seek refuge aboard a ship where gender is fluid, where the dynamic is uneasy, and where rumors flow of a bold new reproductive strategy."--

The Book of Flora

A.L.L.

Book of Etta is still my favorite in the series, but Book of Flora doesn't disappoint. 

*Spoiler alert beyond this line*

Book of Flora takes a little while to get going. The first 100 or so pages is mostly ruminating on events that happened but not actually talking about them, and a lot of being anxious about events that are about to happen, which is a little circular and feels like wheels spinning. Maybe that was intentional, I don't know. 

Flora is my favorite character, so I was glad we got to spend so much time with her. 

My main thoughts after finishing this book was: "I am getting some strong Left Hand of Darkness vibes from the ending and it makes me want to know more about how the post Dying world develops 100 years after Flora and Eddy, and all them are gone." 

Connie's character seemed a little forced at times, but I guess that was okay. The plot demands. I feel like we should have gotten to spend more time with Connie, but I guess half the point was that we didn't. 

I really enjoy how Ellison handles and plays with concepts of gender and sex and how she writes her characters. Eddy was Eddy until the very end, Alice was Alice, and Flora was Flora. Ellison also has a way of writing sex scenes that flow so smoothly and without fuss that it feels very natural. It never breaks with the rest of the writing of the book. I didn't realize I was reading a sex scene until I was almost completely through it- I had to do a double take once I realized it and then I thought "oh wow- that's actually pretty steamy". Considering most writers can't pull this off with straight characters (so often the scenes seem stunted or our of place), it's exceptionally beautiful that she pulls it off with queer characters. It's something seen rarely and I'm so happy that she does it so well.

Tejumola Niquel

It was ok

I feel like this book was so predictable and I wasn’t surprised about anything that happened. Everything was so easy to predict, but that didn’t deter from the story. I was still entertained and still want to finish the series. There were definitely some parts that I was completely lost and had no clue what was happening. This is all over the place, because that’s how I felt the entire time I read this book.

Anne van de Brug &
The Book of Etta by Meg Elison

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Anne van de Brug &The Book of Etta by Meg Elison

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Join the club

Anne van de Brug &
The Book of Etta by Meg Elison