It’s a new twist on an old dichotomy of who’s the weaker sex. In this misandrist dystopian society, men have been reduced to stud bulls for breeding purposes. Women have been elevated to positions of power that allow them to choose men to breed with. The heinous practice of an annual Olympic style tournament identifies the most physically gifted men to mate with women, ensuring the next generation of children are improved specimens of physical and mental prowess. Unfortunately for the men, only the females are of value. Boys are sent to the nursery dome where they reside until they are old enough to breed with the women. Once men outlive their usefulness as breeders, they face an unpleasant and short-lived future. However, it gets worse when the young protagonist finds there are plans in place to remove the need for men forever. Scientific advances have made men obsolete and time is running out for those with a Y chromosome. ‘The Female Breeders’ examines the inequality of the sexes and touches on the mental and physical torment it imparts on individuals. Unfortunately, the book only brushes upon this when it examines it from the female perspective. More time on this would have provided much needed context by fleshing out the central female antagonist. Overall, it was an interesting concept, but not gripping by any stretch of the imagination. I’m of the opinion if you put a group of men together in a glass dome with a few women armed with weapons to control them, they’ll still try to crack onto them or at best launch an escape. Testosterone is weird like that. Hard to control when kept in check for too long. It’s nearly as unbelievable as a society of women trying to live together peacefully. Eventually boredom, gossip and cattiness will set in and Friday nights of Vodka shots, bad singing, drunken hussies and fistfights will emerge. Let the good times roll and keep your ‘Female Breeders’. Pass me a bottle of Scotch, a pack of cigarettes and gosh darn it, get me a good book, a bad man! ( )

In order to ensure a non-violent, utopian society, men are relegated to hard labor and reproduction. Women have been genetically enhanced in one of five ways, designed to make them super-human. When scientist Need is assigned to interview males before they are chosen for breeding, she slowly realizes that they are human, with thoughts, dreams, and feelings.

Although I thought this was an interesting world, it needed a bit more development or explanation. The characters were engaging and showed development throughout the story. My biggest criticism is that the plot jumped quite a bit, glossing over important events and then giving a brief description of them. The book could have been more coherent if the author took her time with those plot points. Overall, a decent book, I will probably pick up the sequel. ( )

""It wasn't rotten because it was run by males," ... "It was rotten because it was run by rotten people. Male or female, it doesn't matter. There's no monopoly on wickedness."""

In the future women rise up against the men who have oppressed them for so long and take charge of the world. While at first this world may seem like a utopia (no crime, statlrvatiin or povery), the reader quickly learns about the darkness that lies just close enough to the surface that it can be ignored by the women living in this future when convenient, but is still very clearly there. Men are reduced to animals and are seen as potential breeding stock and a work force to complete all the dangerous tasks that could easily get one killed. Women are reminded three times a day of how dangerous men are, and Neem is completely happy to believe it. Until seh actually meets a man though. She is tasked with interviewing potential breeders to keep the women who have been deemed genetically and otherwise desirable in the unp coming breeding season and she quickly learns that they are, in fact, human and not the brutes that they have always been made out to be. She grows concerned for their future and starts digging into what her whole world is actually all about.

This book was inspired by the abortion laws in Texas (which have of course, since spread). The author's anger against men comes through clearly, but she doesn't paint women as innocent either. She illustrates how either sex can be cruel and controlling towards the other. Although, ironically, reproductive rights are still heavily controlled as the government gets to choose who reproduce and who doesn't. I guess some things never change... I do wonder how trans and non-binary people are treated in this system. And how romantic/sexual desires work. One person talks about having a female partner, but I wonder how common this is!

I'd like to know how the different "breeds" of people arose. Yeah there is selective breeding, but the results already seem quite extreme? I'm also not quite sure how to feel about the reveal about Herria. I mean, it explains her in a deep way, but I don't think it's all that believable. I mean, I don't know what the future holds, but yeah. I think it wasn't given the weight it deserved. For one thing, someone would surely have noticed???

The book starts off a bit slow but it picks up. The start focuses on establishing the world, moving into Neem and her friends doing some sleuthing and discovering and becomes a whole lot more action packed in the last quarter or so. While K still have questions, this is definitely a very well thought out world that I'd love to see more of.

I thought I'd add, since apparently some people think this, that there is no sexual content in this book. It's bit about the act of breeding, but the cruel world that surrounds it. I think that dystopian lovers will enjoy this book. I'd describe this book as Divergent meets Handmaiden's Tale, with a smattering of other dystopian books thrown in. It's definitely quite a unique blend. While some parts could be a polished a little, this is easy to overlook as the story drags you in and takes you on a wild ride. I was surprised as how quickly the pages disappeared! ( )

What a timely piece of dystopian literature. In a world run by women who subjugate men, there is no war or hunger. But at what expense? This novel nicely depicts a world after women’s revolution, only for women for treat men as non-citizens without human rights. Book explores world in which we stop seeing half the population as human. It further explores differences, as the clans into which people are divided have distinct strengths. Though safe from the likes of men, women live in world where their characteristics/skills dictate their careers. I appreciated the relationships and emotional exploration in this book. We have strong friendships, first feelings of attraction towards another, jealousy, resentment. We see how exposure to those we fear can influence how we view others, and the risks we face to help stop unnecessary suffering. I look forward to next installment of this Female Saga series. Were the risks taken effective in leading to lasting change, even for a few if not many? Doesn’t look very promising at the end of this novel. Thank you to LibraryThing for offering this ARC for an honest review. ( )

This is dystopian fiction with an interesting premise: females are in charge and males are enslaved and kept separate from the females in housing called domes. Men have only two purposes: to work in the mines and to father the next generation. Society is set up so that all females are part of groups called clans and each clan has benefited from genetic selection so that they have enhanced powers such as intelligence, strength, heightened senses, etc. While women have freedom of movement, through propaganda and as a result of their abilities, they are also slaves to society (although they do not perceive it as such). As you might expect, because of a series of startling revelations and dramatic events, a small group of rebels forms.

The story has lots of action but it is somewhat predictable and lacks a richness in the telling. The characters and their dialogue would have benefited from being less stereotypical and two dimensional. ( )