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Moths #1
Moths
Moths: A chilling dystopian thriller and a must-read debut for 2021
A divergent future with a thought-provoking feminist slant, perfect for those who loved The Power, The Handmaid's Tale and Vox.
Mary considers tying her teenage son to the radiator.
Olivia flees the bloody scalpel of a surgeon, as he hunts her through the corridors of A&E.
All around the world men are turning into crazed killers or dying in their sleep, as toxic threads find passage on every breath of wind.
Humankind will survive. But only just.
________________________________
‘Out they came, away from natural predators, nesting in damp corners and in the tops of trees, crossbreeding with common cousins and laying thousands upon thousands of eggs. Then… the eggs hatched and an army of hungry caterpillars spread their tiny toxic threads on every breath of wind.’
The threads spell doom for humanity – half of it, at least. All around the world, men are dying in their sleep or turning into rage-fuelled killers. The world, as we know it, ends. However, humanity adapts and society moves on.
Many years later, very few even remember what life was like before the change. Mary does, though, and when an opportunity presents itself, she is faced with soul-searching decisions to make. Will she cling to the only strand of the past she has left or will she risk it all in the name of equality?
________________________________
A divergent future with a thought-provoking feminist slant, perfect for those who loved The Power, The Handmaid's Tale and Vox.
Mary considers tying her teenage son to the radiator.
Olivia flees the bloody scalpel of a surgeon, as he hunts her through the corridors of A&E.
All around the world men are turning into crazed killers or dying in their sleep, as toxic threads find passage on every breath of wind.
Humankind will survive. But only just.
________________________________
‘Out they came, away from natural predators, nesting in damp corners and in the tops of trees, crossbreeding with common cousins and laying thousands upon thousands of eggs. Then… the eggs hatched and an army of hungry caterpillars spread their tiny toxic threads on every breath of wind.’
The threads spell doom for humanity – half of it, at least. All around the world, men are dying in their sleep or turning into rage-fuelled killers. The world, as we know it, ends. However, humanity adapts and society moves on.
Many years later, very few even remember what life was like before the change. Mary does, though, and when an opportunity presents itself, she is faced with soul-searching decisions to make. Will she cling to the only strand of the past she has left or will she risk it all in the name of equality?
________________________________
346 pages, ebook
First published March 14, 2023
122 people are currently reading
5851 people want to read
About the author
Jane Hennigan
4 books86 followersJane is a forty-something mother of two living in Hampshire in the UK. She finally made it to university at the age of thirty-four, studying philosophy and English literature. After graduating, Jane began teaching English and philosophy, squeezing her passion for writing into any spare time she could find.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews
March 12, 2023
4.0 Stars
I have read several pieces of pandemic fiction that have a similar premise with a virus that causes individuals to become violent. I hated all those previous books. I chose to take a chance on another book like this and I'm so glad I did.
Most of the time, this story is written as an action packed violent plot that feels over the top or ridiculous. Yet, Moth takes an unexpected direction. The narrative is quiet and bittersweet. I really appreciated this choice.
The character work in this one is great. I loved seeing the story through the eyes of an older woman, a perspective we don't see enough in fiction. There are other well developed side characters including an individual bringing a queer perspective.
I would this one to recommend to this readers looking for a different kind of pandemic story that is softer and more complex than the usual tropey narratives.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I review books on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheShadesofOrange
I have read several pieces of pandemic fiction that have a similar premise with a virus that causes individuals to become violent. I hated all those previous books. I chose to take a chance on another book like this and I'm so glad I did.
Most of the time, this story is written as an action packed violent plot that feels over the top or ridiculous. Yet, Moth takes an unexpected direction. The narrative is quiet and bittersweet. I really appreciated this choice.
The character work in this one is great. I loved seeing the story through the eyes of an older woman, a perspective we don't see enough in fiction. There are other well developed side characters including an individual bringing a queer perspective.
I would this one to recommend to this readers looking for a different kind of pandemic story that is softer and more complex than the usual tropey narratives.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I review books on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheShadesofOrange
December 10, 2024
I liked the idea of this book. I liked that the main character was an older woman and not a teen, something refreshing in that kind of dystopia but somehow the story manages to feel very sluggish. There isn't much excitement to it even when things are literally life or death and that's somehow quite a feat.
I don't think that I'll be coming back for the second one.
I don't think that I'll be coming back for the second one.
August 5, 2021
Moths is a game changer in dystopian fiction. I loved this book. It's a brilliantly disturbing and disturbingly brilliant work of dystopian fiction set in a world radically altered by a catastrophic series of events, which began 40 years before.
I am going to avoid spoilers here, but you can't really discuss this book without discussing its key plot points. If you haven't yet read it, you might want to steer away from reading reviews. I read this book without knowing anything about it beforehand, which I think increased my enjoyment, and the book's impact on me as the story unfolded.
Mary, the books protagonist, is in her 70s. She's one of a decreasing number of people who remember the world is it used to be, before a plague that no one could have predicted changed everything.
The 'Moths' of the title are literal, not figurative, ones, and the toxic threads they produce devastate everything. Their poison affects only men - and it affects every single man - resulting in almost immediate death, or worse, violent murderous psychosis. Through flashbacks and the shared stories of the principal characters, the reader experiences the horror of a world where even the most loving, caring male relation becomes a dangerous monster.
There are scenes here, like one in a hospital and another in a suburban garden, which will stay with you. This book is literally nightmarish. It worked its way into my dreams.
The current-day world of Moths is a female-dominated one. The pockets of men who still exist are either the heavily sedated 'infected' or uninfected men living in institutions like the one that Mary works in. These men are kept away from the outside world and the risk of infection. They are imprisoned and infantilized; too young to remember a world before their sequestered existence.
This book is different from other feminist dystopian works like 'Widowland' or 'The Handmaid's Tale', in that it's women who hold the power here. As the story progresses, Mary discovers that things in this post-moth world may not be what they seem. The book unearths fascinating ethical questions about personal freedom, the greater good, and hundreds of years of societal patriarchy.
The world-building in this book is remarkable. The author takes an incredible premise and makes it entirely credible when seen through the eyes of the book's characters. What is all the more astonishing is that this is Jane Hennigan's debut novel. She has seriously hit the ground running, here. Moths deserves to be read widely, and discussed passionately. I will eagerly read whatever book Hennigan next writes. I can't wait to find out where she takes me next.
I am going to avoid spoilers here, but you can't really discuss this book without discussing its key plot points. If you haven't yet read it, you might want to steer away from reading reviews. I read this book without knowing anything about it beforehand, which I think increased my enjoyment, and the book's impact on me as the story unfolded.
Mary, the books protagonist, is in her 70s. She's one of a decreasing number of people who remember the world is it used to be, before a plague that no one could have predicted changed everything.
The 'Moths' of the title are literal, not figurative, ones, and the toxic threads they produce devastate everything. Their poison affects only men - and it affects every single man - resulting in almost immediate death, or worse, violent murderous psychosis. Through flashbacks and the shared stories of the principal characters, the reader experiences the horror of a world where even the most loving, caring male relation becomes a dangerous monster.
There are scenes here, like one in a hospital and another in a suburban garden, which will stay with you. This book is literally nightmarish. It worked its way into my dreams.
The current-day world of Moths is a female-dominated one. The pockets of men who still exist are either the heavily sedated 'infected' or uninfected men living in institutions like the one that Mary works in. These men are kept away from the outside world and the risk of infection. They are imprisoned and infantilized; too young to remember a world before their sequestered existence.
This book is different from other feminist dystopian works like 'Widowland' or 'The Handmaid's Tale', in that it's women who hold the power here. As the story progresses, Mary discovers that things in this post-moth world may not be what they seem. The book unearths fascinating ethical questions about personal freedom, the greater good, and hundreds of years of societal patriarchy.
The world-building in this book is remarkable. The author takes an incredible premise and makes it entirely credible when seen through the eyes of the book's characters. What is all the more astonishing is that this is Jane Hennigan's debut novel. She has seriously hit the ground running, here. Moths deserves to be read widely, and discussed passionately. I will eagerly read whatever book Hennigan next writes. I can't wait to find out where she takes me next.
January 22, 2022
Dark, at times bleak, dystopia. A plot convenience here and there, but overall this was a good page-turner and I'll definitely be reading the sequel when it's released.
May 21, 2022
I picked this book to read for the feminist book club i'm a part of this month, because of the cover and the blurb saying it was a dystopian novel with a feminist slant. But i'm not so sure this book is really feminist... It feels more like how an anti-feminist would envision the world being like if "those pesky feminists" got their way.
November 1, 2024
Great concept, poor execution
It starts well, but the writing and world building declines after those first pages. The author keeps telling everything and repeating the same information over and over again. It's a genius concept with so much potential but the execution isn't there.
It starts well, but the writing and world building declines after those first pages. The author keeps telling everything and repeating the same information over and over again. It's a genius concept with so much potential but the execution isn't there.
January 4, 2022
It's more common in dystopian novels for women to be the repressed/ inferior sex (Only Ever Yours, The Handmaid's Tale, Future Home of the Living God) so I was really looking forward to exploring this concept.
Toxic threads originating from moths infect only those who are biologically male. Once contaminated, the men die or turn violent, leaving the women to form a matriarchal society.
Set decades after the outbreak, the book follows Mary and Olivia- two women who remember the day it all began.
The flashbacks are the better part of the book. They're well written, the characters and their emotions feel real. It's chilling and and raw. Mary making her son his favourite meal and covering him with a blanket as he's tied to the radiator hits hard.
"We weren't watching the TV, my husband and I, that first night of the infestation. We were both watching the slow, even breathing of our sleeping son. Out, then in. Out, then in. Out."
The pacing of the present day is a lot slower but it does pick up after the halfway point. The characterisation could be dialled down by 20%. The men all act and sound like infants and the women are unfathomably bitchy.
Also, paradoxically, there are also some odd gender stereotypes... At one point it's mentioned that the women didn't struggle with cars after the men were infected because...it was easy to learn from a manual. Were there no women who knew about cars before?
Some things are never explained- How does this affect technology, manufacturing and farming? Why can't the women just run everything the same way as before? How did countries lose contact with each other? Why are CDs rare?
It's a powerful book nonetheless. The violence enacted by the infected men is horrific beyond measure but also nothing that hasn't been done to a woman by a man in today's world.
The sexism towards the men is also nothing we haven't all heard directed at a girl before.
"Oh, Mary, don’t be ridiculous. Their brains aren’t wired for complex ideas....they’re just men – emotional and fragile."
I don't think I could call this a feminist book. The entire world falling apart in the hands of women is eh...not a great look
Toxic threads originating from moths infect only those who are biologically male. Once contaminated, the men die or turn violent, leaving the women to form a matriarchal society.
Set decades after the outbreak, the book follows Mary and Olivia- two women who remember the day it all began.
The flashbacks are the better part of the book. They're well written, the characters and their emotions feel real. It's chilling and and raw. Mary making her son his favourite meal and covering him with a blanket as he's tied to the radiator hits hard.
"We weren't watching the TV, my husband and I, that first night of the infestation. We were both watching the slow, even breathing of our sleeping son. Out, then in. Out, then in. Out."
The pacing of the present day is a lot slower but it does pick up after the halfway point. The characterisation could be dialled down by 20%. The men all act and sound like infants and the women are unfathomably bitchy.
Also, paradoxically, there are also some odd gender stereotypes... At one point it's mentioned that the women didn't struggle with cars after the men were infected because...it was easy to learn from a manual. Were there no women who knew about cars before?
Some things are never explained- How does this affect technology, manufacturing and farming? Why can't the women just run everything the same way as before? How did countries lose contact with each other? Why are CDs rare?
It's a powerful book nonetheless. The violence enacted by the infected men is horrific beyond measure but also nothing that hasn't been done to a woman by a man in today's world.
The sexism towards the men is also nothing we haven't all heard directed at a girl before.
"Oh, Mary, don’t be ridiculous. Their brains aren’t wired for complex ideas....they’re just men – emotional and fragile."
I don't think I could call this a feminist book. The entire world falling apart in the hands of women is eh...not a great look
August 5, 2021
I raced through this book in a couple of days -the story was utterly gripping. It was fascinating to consider a world where women were in charge and men are infantilised and marginalised. It raised some really interesting questions about gender roles. What would happen if centuries of patriarchal manipulation was overturned? There is nothing tub-thumping about this book though. It’s written with sensitivity and humour. I wholeheartedly recommend- perfect if you like immersive stories that are fast paced and get you thinking.
November 23, 2023
I happened to stumble across this one while browsing the Book Outlet during one of their recent sales and I knew I had to have it. I hadn't heard of it before and wondered why, after reading the description. I mean, it's got me written all over it!
Pandy fiction where the silken threads from a rare breed of poisionous moths affects only human males (and birds), either killing them in their sleep or driving them into violence and madness... uhm yes please!
Like most pandemics, it hits fast and countries all over the world are forced to jump into action to protect the women and isolate the men while they try to figure out how this is spreading, in order to slow the death count, and determine why it's only impacting males.
The book starts about 40 years post-pandemic, following a carer named Mary, who works at one of the facilities that houses the uninfected men, where she and other staff members do their best to provide the men the best life they can while protecting them from the constant threat of the moths. Yes, even 40 years later, the world hasn't figured out how to exterminate the species or properly vaccinate or cure the men. And through some creative flashback chapters, we learn more about Mary and her life before the pandemic, and how women have managed running the country without the men post pandemic.
While wiping men off the face of the planet is not new in fiction (Afterland, The End of Men, The Men), Hennigan breathes new life into the genre. One where the men don't know any other life. And where the women are taught about them in school, but unless they sign up to Contribute (become impregnanted with a male child that will immediately be turned over to the goverment and raised in one of the facilities) or visit the facilities for recreational sex, they may live their entire lives without ever having seen one in person.
When Mary learns from a new co-worker that there might be a vaccination after all, and that the women who are running the country are willing to kill to keep it hidden, she finds herself heading down a path from which she might never return.
After 40 years of keeping the men contained and calm, what would happen if they were reintroduced into society?
It's really good you guys! You gotta give this one a read.
Pandy fiction where the silken threads from a rare breed of poisionous moths affects only human males (and birds), either killing them in their sleep or driving them into violence and madness... uhm yes please!
Like most pandemics, it hits fast and countries all over the world are forced to jump into action to protect the women and isolate the men while they try to figure out how this is spreading, in order to slow the death count, and determine why it's only impacting males.
The book starts about 40 years post-pandemic, following a carer named Mary, who works at one of the facilities that houses the uninfected men, where she and other staff members do their best to provide the men the best life they can while protecting them from the constant threat of the moths. Yes, even 40 years later, the world hasn't figured out how to exterminate the species or properly vaccinate or cure the men. And through some creative flashback chapters, we learn more about Mary and her life before the pandemic, and how women have managed running the country without the men post pandemic.
While wiping men off the face of the planet is not new in fiction (Afterland, The End of Men, The Men), Hennigan breathes new life into the genre. One where the men don't know any other life. And where the women are taught about them in school, but unless they sign up to Contribute (become impregnanted with a male child that will immediately be turned over to the goverment and raised in one of the facilities) or visit the facilities for recreational sex, they may live their entire lives without ever having seen one in person.
When Mary learns from a new co-worker that there might be a vaccination after all, and that the women who are running the country are willing to kill to keep it hidden, she finds herself heading down a path from which she might never return.
After 40 years of keeping the men contained and calm, what would happen if they were reintroduced into society?
It's really good you guys! You gotta give this one a read.
February 27, 2023
Truly excellent! Tones of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and 1984 - I never thought I’d read anything as good as these two favourites ever again but this is up there…
Mary is alone in a terrifying world where everyone she loves deserts her. She’s strong though, she’s managed to get by and do the best she can, giving the men in her care the best life possible.
I particularly liked how the author uses the past and present to describe the demise of society. When it all goes wrong it’s REALLY bad. The violence is shocking and quite hard to read. I imagined more than once how this might feel as a mother of boys. Harrowing!!
Would things really be better if women ran the place? As a women I’ve always thought we’d make better decisions and run a kinder society but now I’m not so sure. This book points out that power, control and greed are just ‘human’ I guess.
Easily 5 stars, really impressed and enjoyed every page.
Mary is alone in a terrifying world where everyone she loves deserts her. She’s strong though, she’s managed to get by and do the best she can, giving the men in her care the best life possible.
I particularly liked how the author uses the past and present to describe the demise of society. When it all goes wrong it’s REALLY bad. The violence is shocking and quite hard to read. I imagined more than once how this might feel as a mother of boys. Harrowing!!
Would things really be better if women ran the place? As a women I’ve always thought we’d make better decisions and run a kinder society but now I’m not so sure. This book points out that power, control and greed are just ‘human’ I guess.
Easily 5 stars, really impressed and enjoyed every page.
January 31, 2024
The premise of this one is that a new species of moth has emerged and spread throughout the world. This moth releases a toxin that only affects biological males, sometimes killing them, sometimes driving them into a permanent state of violet psychosis. The story takes place a few decades after this happened, in a mostly female world where a small number of men have been able to be kept safe in carefully maintained clean facilities.
Now, I was a little bit leery to pick this up, because it sounds like the kind of thing that misogynist anti-feminist podcasters would *imagine* feminists write. “Ha ha ha, those awful men get what they deserve, and now women rule all! Yes! YES!” kind of thing. But that is not at all what this is; this is a very well done thought experiment, in classic science fiction tradition.
The protagonist of this book is an old woman working as a carer in one of these clean facilities. She’s one of the shrinking minority who remember clearly what the world was like before the change, and as such views the men under her care rather differently than her younger colleagues do. We also get flashback sequences to when the change happened, when she was a woman with a husband and teenage son.
The flashbacks are very reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse story. The mysterious illness appears and spreads rapidly, the survivors huddle together to survive, and society struggles to rebuild in the aftermath. The effects of this affecting half of the population are very well thought out. Many of the men die outright; many others are killed as they descend into violence. Those who go mad also tend to die quickly, because they’re uninterested in caring for themselves. Only some small number, who are able to be kept sedated by the use of rapidly diminishing stockpiles of drugs, are able to be kept alive. And many, many women died as well, often at the hands of their loved ones, in very horrific ways. And global society collapsed, so even more died, and *then* there is the problem of the continuation of the species when there aren’t any stable males around. It’s extremely, extremely dark, and utterly heart rending.
The present day is better, in many ways. Society has stabilized, a female-only world has been built, and true artificial insemination has been perfected. When a male child is born (which only really happens because of government incentives, because the artificial insemination process means the parents can reliably choose the sex of their child) they are immediately whisked off to a clean facility to be raised there. No parental bond is formed.
Resources were incredibly strained in those early years after the change, and keeping males safe was both extraordinarily difficult and with no margin of error. Very little time or energy could be spent actually educating these males, so much was going into keeping them alive. So the few men that exist are childlike, and regarded as such by the majority of the population who haven’t ever seen or interacted with a man.
Except, of course, there are *other* uses for men. Most women in this new world are, naturally, involved with other women, but there are still of course those who are still heterosexual, or those that are curious. They can (after going through decontamination procedures, and paying the necessary fees) enjoy the company of a man for a few hours.
As I said, this is an excellent and thoughtful exploration of a very tragic question. Very highly recommended. It works well as a standalone, but there is a sequel coming out in a few months that I’m now very much looking forward to.
Trigger warnings on this book: Sexual assault (both violent and coerced); grooming; graphic violence; suicide.
My blog
Now, I was a little bit leery to pick this up, because it sounds like the kind of thing that misogynist anti-feminist podcasters would *imagine* feminists write. “Ha ha ha, those awful men get what they deserve, and now women rule all! Yes! YES!” kind of thing. But that is not at all what this is; this is a very well done thought experiment, in classic science fiction tradition.
The protagonist of this book is an old woman working as a carer in one of these clean facilities. She’s one of the shrinking minority who remember clearly what the world was like before the change, and as such views the men under her care rather differently than her younger colleagues do. We also get flashback sequences to when the change happened, when she was a woman with a husband and teenage son.
The flashbacks are very reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse story. The mysterious illness appears and spreads rapidly, the survivors huddle together to survive, and society struggles to rebuild in the aftermath. The effects of this affecting half of the population are very well thought out. Many of the men die outright; many others are killed as they descend into violence. Those who go mad also tend to die quickly, because they’re uninterested in caring for themselves. Only some small number, who are able to be kept sedated by the use of rapidly diminishing stockpiles of drugs, are able to be kept alive. And many, many women died as well, often at the hands of their loved ones, in very horrific ways. And global society collapsed, so even more died, and *then* there is the problem of the continuation of the species when there aren’t any stable males around. It’s extremely, extremely dark, and utterly heart rending.
The present day is better, in many ways. Society has stabilized, a female-only world has been built, and true artificial insemination has been perfected. When a male child is born (which only really happens because of government incentives, because the artificial insemination process means the parents can reliably choose the sex of their child) they are immediately whisked off to a clean facility to be raised there. No parental bond is formed.
Resources were incredibly strained in those early years after the change, and keeping males safe was both extraordinarily difficult and with no margin of error. Very little time or energy could be spent actually educating these males, so much was going into keeping them alive. So the few men that exist are childlike, and regarded as such by the majority of the population who haven’t ever seen or interacted with a man.
Except, of course, there are *other* uses for men. Most women in this new world are, naturally, involved with other women, but there are still of course those who are still heterosexual, or those that are curious. They can (after going through decontamination procedures, and paying the necessary fees) enjoy the company of a man for a few hours.
As I said, this is an excellent and thoughtful exploration of a very tragic question. Very highly recommended. It works well as a standalone, but there is a sequel coming out in a few months that I’m now very much looking forward to.
Trigger warnings on this book: Sexual assault (both violent and coerced); grooming; graphic violence; suicide.
My blog
April 1, 2025
Yeaaahh very cool. Was in need of a book with a strong, ever developing plot and Moths delivered. Even though it’s a series I do feel like it can stand well on its own and couldn’t have predicted the ending. While described as having a “feminist slant” I do feel in some ways gender norms were upheld but it did make me have a little think.
March 22, 2023
Mutant moths that kill half of all men and turn the other half into violent maniacs? Sign me up!
I will admit that the main reason I read this book is because my friend's mum wrote it and he has been telling me about it for over eight months now (I have been getting very hyped). BUT I will be making my mum and grandma read it next.
Moths is a little like if The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power had a baby, but with a older main character torn between wanting to forget the past and wanting to honour it and an array of LGBT+ characters backing her up.
Love blooms, in all its forms, despite the world around it, forming the threads that hold us together.
TW for intense (slightly gratuitous) scences of violence against women including There is also a lot of very dubious sexual relations between characters that may or may not be able to consent properly.
PS: Hi Jane, I know you're reading this, could I maybe get an ARC of Toxxic, I promise I'll write a review and tell all my friends please?
I will admit that the main reason I read this book is because my friend's mum wrote it and he has been telling me about it for over eight months now (I have been getting very hyped). BUT I will be making my mum and grandma read it next.
Moths is a little like if The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power had a baby, but with a older main character torn between wanting to forget the past and wanting to honour it and an array of LGBT+ characters backing her up.
Love blooms, in all its forms, despite the world around it, forming the threads that hold us together.
TW for intense (slightly gratuitous) scences of violence against women including There is also a lot of very dubious sexual relations between characters that may or may not be able to consent properly.
PS: Hi Jane, I know you're reading this, could I maybe get an ARC of Toxxic, I promise I'll write a review and tell all my friends please?
March 22, 2023
This is an honest review of the NetGalley eARC; all opinions are my own.
Full spoilers but left unhidden because I do not recommend reading this book.
A feminist (definitely not) thriller (questionable) in a dystopian future that makes absolutely no sense. I kept saying I was going to put this book down, but then it shocked me again with a new level of ridiculous nonsense and I kept reading to see what it would pull next. One positive note to start off: I enjoyed having an elderly main character who was encumbered by her age in a realistic way.
Mary lived through COVID and just when everything was getting back to normal, a plague of moths came bearing an infectious disease that only affects men. I was immediately suspicious of the feminist integrity of this narrative because Mary’s best friend Claire is a trans woman who seems to exist solely so the author can affirm that trans women are men and affected by this plague. There is one flashback scene later in the book where Claire, whose fate was uncertain to the reader up to that point, is revealed to have succumbed to the disease and is hospitalized with all the men. Then, she is taken to another facility and no conclusion to her story is given despite a throwaway line at the very end that Mary considered her a best friend. Mary’s reason for this is that she had no way to find Claire because she assumed she had never legally changed her name despite being medically transitioned so she wouldn’t know how to find her, which makes no sense.
On the topic of trans people, there do not seem to be trans men in the story at all, though there is one odd reference to a woman who has had a mastectomy/top surgery scars because (paraphrased) “some women just feel their breasts get in the way.” Queer women are quite prevalent though, and many wives are mentioned throughout the story. The secondary main character Olivia is a lesbian, but she is murdered and framed for killing and “grooming” a “helpless” infantilized man. She was a POV character but after she is killed the rest of the story is just continued from Mary’s perspective only which seemed like a very odd choice from a writing standpoint.
The book is not a thriller really, it’s quite slow in the beginning and any time things seem to be getting a little interesting it is interrupted by a flashback or forward to share the two storylines of Mary and sometimes her coworker Olivia experiencing the original outbreak and their present where they are dangerously close to considering that maybe men deserve an equal place in society.
Anyway, the worldbuilding. The disease only affects people with a Y chromosome (no one with is immune) and they have a 50/50 shot of relatively instant death or becoming “manic” (the book’s term, kind of offensive to people with bipolar disorder) and being unable to control the base male urge to… hurl horrible insults at women and kill them in cold blood (sometimes portrayed in an evil conniving way, sometimes portrayed as senseless), and/or kill themselves in their moments of lucidity when they realize what they’ve done. The only way to protect men (and the reason they still exist 40+ years later) is because they are kept in clean facilities and constantly monitored, not allowed much education or opportunity. Women are offered large incentives to carry a male baby and give it up to the government. We meet a character whose family is not getting enough food rations because none of them want to do that. Keep in mind that they apparently have in vitro fertilization tech advanced enough to always know and choose the chromosomes of children.
Of course, as far as the narrative is concerned, these men would still be much more dangerous than women, who the book claims are just naturally weaker and less capable then men, so they are also given testosterone blocking medication to keep them docile unless it’s their time of the month to earn money for the government as sex slaves (they don’t get paid at all and this isn’t even for reproduction, so I wouldn’t call them sex workers). The men are basically infantilized and given crayons while they’re locked up.
As women are not as good as men in this book, and /obviously/ not that many of them were educated or had important jobs in our current world, they have lost a lot of the infrastructure that used to exist. In fact, the infrastructure like cell service fell apart on the very first day of the pandemic despite that making absolutely no sense (several weeks later the main character is able to use satellite navigation in a car). There are no cell phones, only landlines. There doesn’t appear to be television or computers either, entertainment seems limited to theater of some kind. The roads are in extreme disrepair and after 40 years old transit hubs still exist all busted up in the middle of a supposedly affluent city. Oil can’t be drilled for, so everything is somehow electric now even though that seems incongruous with the rest of their tech abilities, these vehicles have also been made all terrain to deal with the bad roads. Clearly, women don’t know anything about banks either, because there is some kind of barter system that uses paper credit slips and travel vouchers? But if you have an old quarter pre-pandemic pay phones do work. It’s a bizarre collection of circumstances that kind of just shows the narrative thinks women aren’t capable of running a society, and that no thought was put into the worldbuilding’s logic. I can only suspend disbelief if there is internal consistency.
So, what is feminist here? Clearly not the world itself, which paints all men as evil and all women as weak and incapable.
The government is not feminist either, with the Men’s Welfare Association the heart of its evil, wanting to keep men subjugated. There is one good government official and some scientists though, as it turns out there’s a vaccine that’s been developed, but the MWA are keeping it secret and only giving it to their pet sex slaves. Also apparently negotiating with Australia (the book is set in the UK) to give them the vaccine (how did they travel there if there’s no transportation?). There have been men’s rights movements that were put down in the past, because women are unwilling to go back to how things were before.
I guess the most feminist part is how the people who don’t want equality are cartoon evil bad guys, but Mary isn’t much better because the reason she wants men’s rights is to save her sons (both the one who is infected and living in a sanatorium and the baby she was pregnant with at the time of the plague beginning, who is now a vaccinated man). The most feminist character with a decent size part (Olivia) gets murdered by the MWA.
Back to the plot, though. Mary and company sneak a man out and prove their vaccine works, so they want show proof of it to the world. As addressed, technology is very limited and cameras (photo or video) do not appear to exist anymore, and they therefore employed Mary’s help in the first place because she has one. The only smartphone/video recording device still in existence, which after 44 years of being squirreled away in Mary’s dresser still works and holds a charge. I legitimately do not understand why this technology no longer exists. The end gets a bit thriller-ish with the evil MWA making Mary choose if she’ll give up her sons to save all men, and her managing to subvert them even though she’s in hospice as the book ends. There’s a bit of a weird fever dream scene where she hallucinates herself as a “feminist” moth who wants to kill men. The evidence is out there (somehow) and men might get rights someday. The end?
What the hell was this book. Legitimately.
Full spoilers but left unhidden because I do not recommend reading this book.
A feminist (definitely not) thriller (questionable) in a dystopian future that makes absolutely no sense. I kept saying I was going to put this book down, but then it shocked me again with a new level of ridiculous nonsense and I kept reading to see what it would pull next. One positive note to start off: I enjoyed having an elderly main character who was encumbered by her age in a realistic way.
Mary lived through COVID and just when everything was getting back to normal, a plague of moths came bearing an infectious disease that only affects men. I was immediately suspicious of the feminist integrity of this narrative because Mary’s best friend Claire is a trans woman who seems to exist solely so the author can affirm that trans women are men and affected by this plague. There is one flashback scene later in the book where Claire, whose fate was uncertain to the reader up to that point, is revealed to have succumbed to the disease and is hospitalized with all the men. Then, she is taken to another facility and no conclusion to her story is given despite a throwaway line at the very end that Mary considered her a best friend. Mary’s reason for this is that she had no way to find Claire because she assumed she had never legally changed her name despite being medically transitioned so she wouldn’t know how to find her, which makes no sense.
On the topic of trans people, there do not seem to be trans men in the story at all, though there is one odd reference to a woman who has had a mastectomy/top surgery scars because (paraphrased) “some women just feel their breasts get in the way.” Queer women are quite prevalent though, and many wives are mentioned throughout the story. The secondary main character Olivia is a lesbian, but she is murdered and framed for killing and “grooming” a “helpless” infantilized man. She was a POV character but after she is killed the rest of the story is just continued from Mary’s perspective only which seemed like a very odd choice from a writing standpoint.
The book is not a thriller really, it’s quite slow in the beginning and any time things seem to be getting a little interesting it is interrupted by a flashback or forward to share the two storylines of Mary and sometimes her coworker Olivia experiencing the original outbreak and their present where they are dangerously close to considering that maybe men deserve an equal place in society.
Anyway, the worldbuilding. The disease only affects people with a Y chromosome (no one with is immune) and they have a 50/50 shot of relatively instant death or becoming “manic” (the book’s term, kind of offensive to people with bipolar disorder) and being unable to control the base male urge to… hurl horrible insults at women and kill them in cold blood (sometimes portrayed in an evil conniving way, sometimes portrayed as senseless), and/or kill themselves in their moments of lucidity when they realize what they’ve done. The only way to protect men (and the reason they still exist 40+ years later) is because they are kept in clean facilities and constantly monitored, not allowed much education or opportunity. Women are offered large incentives to carry a male baby and give it up to the government. We meet a character whose family is not getting enough food rations because none of them want to do that. Keep in mind that they apparently have in vitro fertilization tech advanced enough to always know and choose the chromosomes of children.
Of course, as far as the narrative is concerned, these men would still be much more dangerous than women, who the book claims are just naturally weaker and less capable then men, so they are also given testosterone blocking medication to keep them docile unless it’s their time of the month to earn money for the government as sex slaves (they don’t get paid at all and this isn’t even for reproduction, so I wouldn’t call them sex workers). The men are basically infantilized and given crayons while they’re locked up.
As women are not as good as men in this book, and /obviously/ not that many of them were educated or had important jobs in our current world, they have lost a lot of the infrastructure that used to exist. In fact, the infrastructure like cell service fell apart on the very first day of the pandemic despite that making absolutely no sense (several weeks later the main character is able to use satellite navigation in a car). There are no cell phones, only landlines. There doesn’t appear to be television or computers either, entertainment seems limited to theater of some kind. The roads are in extreme disrepair and after 40 years old transit hubs still exist all busted up in the middle of a supposedly affluent city. Oil can’t be drilled for, so everything is somehow electric now even though that seems incongruous with the rest of their tech abilities, these vehicles have also been made all terrain to deal with the bad roads. Clearly, women don’t know anything about banks either, because there is some kind of barter system that uses paper credit slips and travel vouchers? But if you have an old quarter pre-pandemic pay phones do work. It’s a bizarre collection of circumstances that kind of just shows the narrative thinks women aren’t capable of running a society, and that no thought was put into the worldbuilding’s logic. I can only suspend disbelief if there is internal consistency.
So, what is feminist here? Clearly not the world itself, which paints all men as evil and all women as weak and incapable.
The government is not feminist either, with the Men’s Welfare Association the heart of its evil, wanting to keep men subjugated. There is one good government official and some scientists though, as it turns out there’s a vaccine that’s been developed, but the MWA are keeping it secret and only giving it to their pet sex slaves. Also apparently negotiating with Australia (the book is set in the UK) to give them the vaccine (how did they travel there if there’s no transportation?). There have been men’s rights movements that were put down in the past, because women are unwilling to go back to how things were before.
I guess the most feminist part is how the people who don’t want equality are cartoon evil bad guys, but Mary isn’t much better because the reason she wants men’s rights is to save her sons (both the one who is infected and living in a sanatorium and the baby she was pregnant with at the time of the plague beginning, who is now a vaccinated man). The most feminist character with a decent size part (Olivia) gets murdered by the MWA.
Back to the plot, though. Mary and company sneak a man out and prove their vaccine works, so they want show proof of it to the world. As addressed, technology is very limited and cameras (photo or video) do not appear to exist anymore, and they therefore employed Mary’s help in the first place because she has one. The only smartphone/video recording device still in existence, which after 44 years of being squirreled away in Mary’s dresser still works and holds a charge. I legitimately do not understand why this technology no longer exists. The end gets a bit thriller-ish with the evil MWA making Mary choose if she’ll give up her sons to save all men, and her managing to subvert them even though she’s in hospice as the book ends. There’s a bit of a weird fever dream scene where she hallucinates herself as a “feminist” moth who wants to kill men. The evidence is out there (somehow) and men might get rights someday. The end?
What the hell was this book. Legitimately.
March 7, 2023
4.5*
I don't like moths. Sorry, but I don't. They eat your clothes, and will get up in your business without invitation. And in this book, they'll also kill or severely compromise your son, husband, father... basically anyone male they come in contact with. So suffice it to say, this book did not exactly lessen my distaste for these little miscreants. Anyway, we meet Mary, who has been living for many, many years in a post-male society. So long, in fact, that many of her colleagues don't even remember what having men in society was like. I found this take extraordinarily fascinating, to explore a society that is taking place so long after the fact.
While we are treated to flashbacks via Mary, and the storytelling of her new friend Olivia, most of the book takes place long after the fall of "our" society, and well into the remaking of a new one. A lot of the women are just fine with raising the men as a sort of pet, and for their own "use", if you catch my drift. But Mary, having lost loved ones of her own, just isn't willing to make that leap. Some of the men died from moth attacks, but those who survived were forever changed. Now, they're kept in institutions, and the men who were not infected are also kept in tight lockup, so they don't become infected.
The commentary is certainly on point, especially when younger members say things to Mary like "don’t be ridiculous. Their brains aren’t wired for complex ideas", much like men would have said about women not long ago (and, that a very gross subset would still claim today, frankly). But beyond the treatment of men in the present day, the stories that Mary and Olivia told were beyond heartbreaking. I could not even let myself go down the "what would I do?" questioning path in so many cases, because it was just too awful to extrapolate on.
There are so many great themes explored in this book, including of course who gets to control things in this new world, and why. And then, upon finishing, I was delighted to find that there is a sequel! I definitely need more of this world, and I hope that there can be some semblance of peace found in this dark world.
Bottom Line: Incredibly thought provoking, complex, and emotive, I loved Moths (but not moths- those guys still suck).
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I don't like moths. Sorry, but I don't. They eat your clothes, and will get up in your business without invitation. And in this book, they'll also kill or severely compromise your son, husband, father... basically anyone male they come in contact with. So suffice it to say, this book did not exactly lessen my distaste for these little miscreants. Anyway, we meet Mary, who has been living for many, many years in a post-male society. So long, in fact, that many of her colleagues don't even remember what having men in society was like. I found this take extraordinarily fascinating, to explore a society that is taking place so long after the fact.
While we are treated to flashbacks via Mary, and the storytelling of her new friend Olivia, most of the book takes place long after the fall of "our" society, and well into the remaking of a new one. A lot of the women are just fine with raising the men as a sort of pet, and for their own "use", if you catch my drift. But Mary, having lost loved ones of her own, just isn't willing to make that leap. Some of the men died from moth attacks, but those who survived were forever changed. Now, they're kept in institutions, and the men who were not infected are also kept in tight lockup, so they don't become infected.
The commentary is certainly on point, especially when younger members say things to Mary like "don’t be ridiculous. Their brains aren’t wired for complex ideas", much like men would have said about women not long ago (and, that a very gross subset would still claim today, frankly). But beyond the treatment of men in the present day, the stories that Mary and Olivia told were beyond heartbreaking. I could not even let myself go down the "what would I do?" questioning path in so many cases, because it was just too awful to extrapolate on.
There are so many great themes explored in this book, including of course who gets to control things in this new world, and why. And then, upon finishing, I was delighted to find that there is a sequel! I definitely need more of this world, and I hope that there can be some semblance of peace found in this dark world.
Bottom Line: Incredibly thought provoking, complex, and emotive, I loved Moths (but not moths- those guys still suck).
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
February 11, 2023
This one was a very weird read for me, but ultimately I can’t land on where I feel about it. It’s marketed as a feminist book, BUT, there were lots of moments in it where it felt anti-feminist. The world fell apart after the men were either dead or locked up which could symbolise that women are not well equipped with keeping the world going without a man around. There were sexist comments about how women could learn things from manuals in order to complete the jobs that the men used to do…. But surely there should have been women in those roles anyways?
I think you’ll either love or hate this one depending on your views on actual feminist issues and equality. But if you put aside those issues the plot is good and the pacing was done really well. I also loved Mary as a character, and my heart bled for her a fair bit throughout the book. 3 stars because 2 feels mean as it's not a poorly written back and it doesn't lack plot, I just went into it being very YAY WOMEN and came out of it feeling disappointed.
Thank you to Angry Robot for sending me a copy of this one, releasing March 14th 2023.
I think you’ll either love or hate this one depending on your views on actual feminist issues and equality. But if you put aside those issues the plot is good and the pacing was done really well. I also loved Mary as a character, and my heart bled for her a fair bit throughout the book. 3 stars because 2 feels mean as it's not a poorly written back and it doesn't lack plot, I just went into it being very YAY WOMEN and came out of it feeling disappointed.
Thank you to Angry Robot for sending me a copy of this one, releasing March 14th 2023.
January 26, 2022
Great concept, fantastically executed
I was looking for a read that hadn't been read by everyone else and didn't have a huge hype surrounding it, lest I be met with the disappointment of it not living up to my expectations.
I stumbled across Moths and after a quick skim on the synopsis, decided that it was just what I was looking for.
The concept of the book is fantastic, especially with the current (and historic) issues surrounding gender based violence which often pose the question, 'what would a world without our male counterparts look like?'.
The book is gripping and hugely thought provoking. The characters are very well written and I can say that, not only did I thoroughly enjoyed this read, I also repratedly sacrificed sleep to find out what would happen next.
From what I understand, Hennigan is self published and this makes Moths all the more impressive.
If you're a fan of dystopian fiction, this is absolutely a must read.
I was looking for a read that hadn't been read by everyone else and didn't have a huge hype surrounding it, lest I be met with the disappointment of it not living up to my expectations.
I stumbled across Moths and after a quick skim on the synopsis, decided that it was just what I was looking for.
The concept of the book is fantastic, especially with the current (and historic) issues surrounding gender based violence which often pose the question, 'what would a world without our male counterparts look like?'.
The book is gripping and hugely thought provoking. The characters are very well written and I can say that, not only did I thoroughly enjoyed this read, I also repratedly sacrificed sleep to find out what would happen next.
From what I understand, Hennigan is self published and this makes Moths all the more impressive.
If you're a fan of dystopian fiction, this is absolutely a must read.
January 28, 2023
This was a slow burn of a read. I was expecting it to be more of a thriller based on the description; men turning wild and violent when exposed to the caterpillar toxin.
However, this book focuses more on what has happened many years later. A society run by women, and the few remaining men segregated for their own safety. Or so the Men’s Welfare Agency says, but is there more to the story? The reader will find out.
Truthfully, there were moments where I wanted something faster paced, and almost put this book down permanently. I’m glad I finished the story though. Will I read the second book? Maybe, but only if it sounds like a faster paced read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Angry Robot for a copy!
However, this book focuses more on what has happened many years later. A society run by women, and the few remaining men segregated for their own safety. Or so the Men’s Welfare Agency says, but is there more to the story? The reader will find out.
Truthfully, there were moments where I wanted something faster paced, and almost put this book down permanently. I’m glad I finished the story though. Will I read the second book? Maybe, but only if it sounds like a faster paced read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Angry Robot for a copy!
April 2, 2022
Really enjoyed this dystopian novel. Our protagonist Mary is, unusually for books of this kind, in her 70s, and remembers the 'time before' the moths decimated the male population which gives her a different outlook to many of the younger women (who you can also sympathise with; after all, they've never known a world where men are equal to women). She's not perfect, and noone in this is either purely heroic or villainous although you do, of course, root for one side over the other. The horror evoked by the descriptions of the 'first wave' is visceral, especially if, as I do, you have a son. A refreshing take on the dystopian /survival genre.
February 12, 2022
I can't believe I read this book while having COVID and self-isolating, but here we are. I read it for free on Kindle Unlimited, and if you have the opportunity to and love dystopian fiction then I urge you to do the same. I didn't love the protagonist and found her a bit boring (being elderly is no excuse to be boring btw) but the book is still really enthralling and I love the fact women are in control, as opposed to Handmaid's Tale etc. Won't say anything else in case I spoil.
November 26, 2021
I absolutely loved this fast-paced read and I am even more impressed now I know it has been self-published. The concept is horrifying and the characters are so well-written and well-rounded that I felt like I was in this world.
4.2 stars
4.2 stars
January 9, 2024
I love this book, I relistened to it since its rerelease and it's just got better. I can't wait for the next book to come out in March. So refreshing to have an older female protagonist, the story unfolds beautifully with glimpses to the past, our normal.
April 21, 2023
My third dystopian novel of the year and definitely my favorite thus far - I loved the writing, I loved the characters, and I loved where this story went and how it developed. I do have a few minor qualms, like the book could have been a little shorter and expanded on a few more things (in particular the character of Nathan), but this was a deeply emotional and heartbreaking story that had me crying practically from beginning to end. I loved this.
November 6, 2024
A really intense, horrifying, thought-provoker of a book. The writing was so controlled and purposeful: there was a whole world and system that you just got glimpses of whilst following Mary's story. I liked it but it was far too tense for me at points, and sad, and mildly terrifying.
8.5/10
8.5/10
October 20, 2021
Interesting dystopia
A very decent read. One of the things I really liked was the descriptions of the moths during the eclipse. I could almost feel the itchiness of their touch, their toxicity and I say this as someone who's rather fond of moths. I'm also interested in the idea of a disease that affects only men and how quickly the men who remain, all born after the initial event, are seen as less than women in much the same way as women have been thought of and treated for millennia and that the new way of thinking happens so quickly. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel.
A very decent read. One of the things I really liked was the descriptions of the moths during the eclipse. I could almost feel the itchiness of their touch, their toxicity and I say this as someone who's rather fond of moths. I'm also interested in the idea of a disease that affects only men and how quickly the men who remain, all born after the initial event, are seen as less than women in much the same way as women have been thought of and treated for millennia and that the new way of thinking happens so quickly. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel.
January 18, 2022
Wow. Normally when I buy a cheap Kindle book, I’m not expecting much. Moths has changed that narrative, hugely.
It is wonderfully written- pulling on all of the feelings that erupt as you live through a pandemic, without feeling forced, cheesy or overegged. As a mother to a son, this book has seared itself into my heart.
When I forced myself to put it down to sleep last night, I dreamt of the book. I have thought of nothing else in the last 24 hours. Truly, this is a special book and I’m now going to make all of my friends read it so I can talk to them about it.
It is wonderfully written- pulling on all of the feelings that erupt as you live through a pandemic, without feeling forced, cheesy or overegged. As a mother to a son, this book has seared itself into my heart.
When I forced myself to put it down to sleep last night, I dreamt of the book. I have thought of nothing else in the last 24 hours. Truly, this is a special book and I’m now going to make all of my friends read it so I can talk to them about it.
June 11, 2022
Intriguing! I do wonder if things would happen that quickly if this happened for real.
September 25, 2024
4.5. really good, will certainly be getting the second one :)
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