The Book of Etta by Meg Elison

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The Book of Etta by Meg Elison



                This book is the second book in the Road to Nowhere series. The first book, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife¸ was more about the immediate survival of the species, while this book is generations removed from the sickness, or The , that took place in the first book. There will be some spoiler regarding The Unnamed Midwife, so I would definitely suggest at the very least checking out that review before reading this one.
                Etta has known Nowhere as her home her entire life. But Eddy, the male persona she inhabits as she raids has never seen Nowhere as his home. The two are the same and yet they are different. Who Etta chooses to love is frowned upon in Nowhere, where women should be having babies or helping bring babies into this world. Etta knew that was never her calling. She was meant to be more like the Unnamed Midwife, whose stories she had known since childhood. The midwife was who she wanted to be like, helping women in any way she could. Eddy hates the slavers that inhabit the land, killing those he comes across if it means rescuing the women or children they have in their grasp. When a young girl is taking from her mother, Eddy ends up meeting the Lion, the man who runs Estiel. A man who forces everyone to trade him in women or die.
                I just finished reading this book and I am reeling. It takes so many elements from Midwife, and expands on the concept in some pretty disturbing ways. What does a world look like when no one governs or those that do are cruel and totalitarian? How does a world with a decreased population of women treat the women that are left? Are they objects to be desired, worshiped, revered? Or are they whores to be kept in a harem and used to fulfill sexual needs and breed? What does love look like in a world filled with peril? There are so many elements that I really want to dive deeply into and I don’t feel like I can, simply because there would be spoilers everywhere and this is definitely a book that peels away the layers beautifully. The world building is fantastic. The character building extremely well done and full of depth. I loved that gender identity, fluidity and sexuality were so central to this novel as well. Elison really takes a thorough look at different aspects of all of those and explores them.
                I was on the edge of my seat throughout this book. It was completely unpredictable. I never knew what was going to happen next and honestly, I was fearing for the worst the entire time. This isn’t a novel where you expect a happy ending. It is a time of peril where no one is really safe and your morals are constantly being reexamined and death is just a part of survival. I highly recommend this novel. It was such a great follow up to the first book. It has all of the beauty of Elison’s writing, with a completely evolved look at what the end of the world will look like. It is still utterly terrifying. I give this 5 out of 5 stars.  

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