278:, and "it's ... a lot of fun". But she felt that the book is so full of action that some of its ideas get lost in the mix. Kellogg said the "racial dynamics" of Cole being a white woman and Miles a mixed-race boy is not explored, and the book's central theme, what the world ruled by woman would be like, is left largely untouched.
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was probed and tested by researchers looking for a cure. Billie, Cole's sister, broke them out of the compound, but Billie had ulterior motive. She wants to keep her nephew to harvest his sperm and sell it on the black market. Now Cole and Miles are not only on the run from the US authorities, but also from Billie.
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as a "propulsive and all-too-timely near-future thriller". The magazine said Cole and Miles's mother-and-son duo is the heart of this "harrowing tale", and added that "Beukes is a gifted storyteller who makes it thrillingly easy for readers to fall under her spell as she weaves a hypnotic vision of a
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Cole disguises Miles as a girl and names him Mila. After days on the road, they encounter a bus full of "nuns" who have formed a cult they call the
Sisters of the Church of All Sorrows. They believe that if women repent their sins, men will return. Cole and Mila join the travelling nuns in the hope
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begins in 2023 in the United States. Cole and her twelve-year-old son, Miles are trying to reach
Florida and return to their home in South Africa. Miles is one of the few surviving males, and was quarantined with his mother at a Department for the Protection of Men facility in California. There he
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which has killed off almost all the world's men. Three years later In the United States, Cole and her twelve-year-old son, Miles are trying to flee to their home in South Africa. Miles is one of the few surviving males, and is sought after by US government researchers and boy
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as "your basic neo-noir, coast-to-coast chase novel". He questioned whether
American readers are ready for "a pandemic novel" at this point in their lives, but added "probably", considering that
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s "manpocalypse" where boys are a "natural resource" and sperm bootlegging is illegal. King said Beukes's novel is "a smartly written thriller" that is full of "verve and mordant wit".
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is dubbed "Manfall", and most countries outlaw pregnancies and close their borders to safeguard future generations until a cure for the virus can be found.
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In 2020, a human culgoa virus, a highly infectious strain of flu, spreads rapidly across the globe. The virus mutates into an aggressive
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a "rare creature" that "neither shies away from big questions nor interesting answers". She said the book draws on themes from
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192:. The first print editions of the book were published in September 2020 in the United Kingdom by
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was first published as an ebook in South Africa in April 2020 by Umuzi, an imprint of
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Laurent Philibert-Caillat and published in France by
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an "intriguing and all too timely near-future thriller". They said that while the
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613:"Afterland review: A thought-provoking tale of life without men"
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500:"Mother and son hit the post-apocalyptic road in 'Afterland'"
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Nommo Award for Best
Speculative Fiction Novel by an African
469:"Stephen King on Lauren Beukes's 'Splendid' New Thriller"
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Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past
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in
January 2022. The book was nominated for the 2021
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220:and kills 99% of the world's male population. The
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435:"2021 Nommo Awards Nomination Long List"
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687:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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439:African Speculative Fiction Society
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848:21st-century South African novels
498:Kellogg, Carolyn (22 July 2020).
182:Penguin Random House South Africa
274:that there is a lot going on in
863:Novels set in the United States
235:of reaching the border safely.
316:fractured world without men."
161:novel by South African writer
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295:does not quite match that of
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611:Adee, Sally (22 July 2020).
843:2020 science fiction novels
16:2020 novel by Lauren Beukes
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356:The Left Hand of Darkness
268:Carolyn Kellogg wrote in
33:First edition ebook cover
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868:Novels set in the 2020s
883:Mulholland Books books
146:978-0-316-26784-7 (US)
144:978-1-4059-2371-2 (UK)
685:title listing at the
888:Michael Joseph books
325:, Sally Adee called
74:Penguin Random House
878:Penguin Books books
873:Fiction set in 2023
696:at FantasticFiction
361:matriarchal society
346:The Children of Men
302:The Handmaid's Tale
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474:The New York Times
246:The New York Times
239:Critical reception
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637:Works cited
530:"Afterland"
408:"Afterland"
381:"Afterland"
319:Writing in
172:traffickers
832:Categories
367:References
311:described
263:Afterland'
253:described
157:is a 2020
22:Afterland
779:Afterland
730:Works by
693:Afterland
682:Afterland
676:Home page
648:Afterland
586:1948-7428
570:Afterland
544:0000-0019
336:The Power
327:Afterland
313:Afterland
289:Afterland
276:Afterland
255:Afterland
228:Afterland
198:Afterland
178:Afterland
154:Afterland
67:Publisher
755:Zoo City
747:Moxyland
646:(2020).
331:Alderman
259:COVID-19
222:pandemic
167:pandemic
49:Language
351:Le Guin
287:called
52:English
818:(2022)
799:(2004)
782:(2020)
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758:(2010)
750:(2008)
739:Novels
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392:3 July
57:Genres
39:Author
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341:James
656:ISBN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
