Jane Hennigan: “I devour any and all dystopian fiction, especially feminist dystopias, so when I read an article on a type of toxic caterpillar infesting Europe, I put the two together and the idea for Moths was formed. I wanted my protagonist to be an older woman, flawed but capable, and constantly underestimated by those close to her. I put my book out there with few expectations and was stunned by the overwhelming response from so many readers. This past year, Moths has taken on a life of its own, and I’m delighted that Angry Robot has stepped in to ensure Mary’s story reaches the widest readership possible. ”

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. 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. I have just added A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World to my best dystopian bookshelf. Well, it looks like I have another one to add to the collection in Moths. But humanity, as it does, adapted and society moved on. Now, men are kept in specially treated dust-free facilities for their safety, and are never able to return to the outside. The world is quiet, but secrets are kept safe in whispers. Very few people remember what life was like before the change, but Mary knows. She had a family. She was happy. This is her story.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. 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. Exploring male violence against women, homo-normativity, and gynocracy, Moths is a powerful assessment of life through the lens of a main character in her 70s. A remastered and revitalised version of the previously self-published, smash-hit dystopian thriller by the same name, Moths shows us a new, post-pandemic world. Avid Beta readers are not your editor or proof reader and don't expect them to do the grunt work. That's up to you. But they could have spotted a few fleas BEFORE you released the book and helped strengthen your story.

Forty years ago, the world changed. Toxic threads left behind by mutated moths infected men and boys around the globe. Some were killed quietly in their sleep, others became crazed killers, wildly dangerous and beyond help. All seemed hopeless. I liked that the main protagonist was a much older woman who had lived through the outbreak. Mary brought a welcoming breath of fresh air to the proceedings that sometimes you lose with younger ones. As a survivor, she and her friend Olivia had a certain rapport which helped bring some humour to the narrative. I imagine what Mary and many others went through would evoke strong emotions within every mother tugging at their heartstrings. A divergent future with a thought-provoking feminist slant, perfect for those who loved The Power, The Handmaid's Tale and Vox.Rating 3.5) —- I’ve read a lot of feminist dystopian books and books were the gender roles have been reversed and lately I’ve found it hard to find one with a unique concept but the premise of this book is really unique and like nothing I had read before. I thought very hard about what might remain in the post-infestation world and what might be lost. Some things – like national power grids and international logistics fail, not because it’s only the women left – but because there were not enough people, in general, to keep the infrastructure viable (most of the rest of the world has fallen into post-apocalyptic chaos – dying out without insemination programmes to replenish the population).

Wow, it's been a year! The edits to the sequel to Moths, Toxxic are being finalised, so it should be with you in March 2024. A while after I originally promised to be sure, but hopefully worth the wait. 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. Thank you, Angry Robot and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this revised and remastered version of Moths by Jane Hannigan.

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. Cliched perhaps, but – a talking point? How would a country of women, cut off from the old world economies, design a society? How would they treat the men in their care? How would men have acted if the toxin had affected women? Mary has settled into this new world and takes care of the male residents at her facility. But she still remembers how things used to be and is constantly haunted by her memories. Of her family, of her joy, of… him. 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.

But now there’s a vaccine - a way that men can leave the facility without dying or suffering from psychosis. Emerging, into their new world, eyes wide with wonder at every new experience, the truth soon becomes clear.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.