This is not The Book of The Unnamed Midwife

I was eager for this book to arrive after I pre-ordered it because of how impressed I was by "The Book of the Unnamed Midwife." Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to its prequel. Etta/Eddie is not very well developed; Elision's shot at a character grappling with their gender identity is neither believable nor compelling. The book reads like fan fiction of the original novel.

The narration isn't much better. Ojo struggles with even the most basic of accents.

I wouldn't recommend this title to anyone seeking to replicate their experience with the first book of the series.

22 people found this helpful

I'm so let down

The Unnamed Midwife was really interesting and unique. It provided an amazing potential for a sequel, but this did not measure up. The main character is androgynous and dresses as a man for survival purposes when he leaves his village which the protagonist did in the first book since there are few women left on earth. I couldn't get enough of the first book and highly recommend it, but this one took forever to finish and unfortunately felt like an item on my to-do list. To simplify, the first book was "WOW!" and this book was just "MEH..." Read the first and skip this one. Trust me.

19 people found this helpful

Good story. Terrible Performance.

Terrible narrator. The reader mispronounces simple words like peripheral...saying instead periphreal. Her accents and voices detracted rather than enhanced the story. I suffered through the whole book because the story is interesting. But I would never get another book read by this lady. I will just buy the book and read it myself if she is the only reader available. Periphreal? Really? A professional reader who cannot even pronounce words correctly? Can't believe they let it hit the market. Ruined a good story. The first book in this series had a good narrator.

12 people found this helpful

Good Book, but not for me. SJW not EOW

Le the start by saying this book is beautifully written and Miss Elison is very talented. I loved her first book very much. But if you are looking for dystopia fiction this book is not for you. This book is very much about social issues like feminism, transgenderism, homosexuality and gender constructs. If you are really interested in these subjects, then you will enjoy this book very much. I mostly enjoy dystopia future books for escapism and transgender sex is not really my idea of a escape. It really was just not for me, but again I restate, the writing is beautiful and the author is talented. I congratulate her on her follow up and hope it is successful. The narration was impeccably done as well.

10 people found this helpful

Almost Gets It, But Not Quite

I agree with other reviewers who were disappointed in this book after being wowed by the first. It was still a worthy effort and came very close to the first, but dropped a couple of things. I'm going to read/listen (I usually also buy the Kindle and read it while I listen to the audiobook if I'm really trying to immerse myself in a different world.) to it again in a couple of weeks, especially the end, where I think I missed some things.

The character of Etta/Eddy was pretty well written, and I followed the gender identity struggle as I've had many friends over the years who were gay or transgender. But every time I thought I understand him/her, he would do something that would indicate that I didn't really get him/her. That could be the author's failure or mine, which is why I'm going to try again. Also, many other characters could have been better developed, as they were quite interesting and I would have liked to know more about them.

It is a beautiful book, however, as was the first, and I'm interested in whether there are going to be more. So many questions seem to have been left unanswered that I hope there is going to be another installment.

For readers interested in dystopian futures where women are mostly gone from the world, there's an oldie but goodie written by Frank Herbert (of Dune fame) called the White Plague. I'm not sure if it's out in audiobook but I know Amazon carries it in book and probably Kindle. (I'm not sure if it's OK to plug another book in a review, but guess it's OK if they carry it!)

If re-reading/listening changes my opinion, I will revise this review. But for now, it is what it is. Well worth the listen, but a bit short of expectations based upon the first book.

8 people found this helpful

Thin story

Does not compare to the original story. I was disappointed at the main heroine and her "struggles' in her sexuality and identity. I would not recommend his book

7 people found this helpful

Women Are Sacred! Or Aren't They?

THE BOOK OF ETTA (THE ROAD TO NOWHERE 2) is a heavy piece of dark, post-apocalyptic fiction.

This story picks up about 100 years after THE BOOK OF THE UNNAMED MIDWIFE. The Unnamed created the city of Nowhere and now they have developed their own way of life. Since the plague that started everything, women are scarce and children even more so. As such, Nowhere honors women and to keep the human race going, women there have created hives-a group of men/lovers who help that woman with chores and who also provide regular loving- with the hopes of childbirth as the result. According to the elders of Nowhere, this is the chief role of women now. Period.

Here, we meet Etta, who feels constrained in Nowhere. Etta has no time for hives or for childbirth, and she wants no part of it. She goes out as a raider instead-looking for goods from the old world which can be made useful again. On her travels, she binds herself up to pass for a man and calls herself Eddie. There are more reasons for that other than the plain fact that it's safer to travel as a man, but I'll let you discover those reasons on your own. As Eddie, he comes across several towns, all with their own ways of doing things, (the world building here is impressive), and then he comes across the town of STL. (I see other reviews calling it Estiel, but I listened to the audio and I just assumed it was STL, so I'm sticking with that.) In STL reigns a man called "The Lion." What he has going on in HIS city is a travesty and an injustice-one that Eddie cannot let stand. Will he be successful in putting an end to the practices of The Lion? Will he survive? Will humankind survive? You'll have to read this to find out!

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first, but I think that's because it took me a little time to get used to the voices of Etta/Eddie. Once I did, though, I settled down and let the story wash over me. As I said above the world-building here is so interesting, each town having their own beliefs about women and children and how to keep the humanity going, it provided a lot to think about. Also, it was sad to see what happened to America in the wake of the plague-how many things had been forgotten, the uses for implements lost to history, and of course, what happened to personal freedoms and choices. It's hard for women to live in this world right now, just imagine how hard it would be in a world with no medicines, no birth control, no choices at all for women in general. These were the aspects of this world that interested me the most.

As a note of caution to potential readers-there are all kinds of unpleasant happenings in this book. None of it surprised or shocked me, avid horror reader that I am, but it might shock some. Rapes, pedophiles, genital mutilation, child abuse and other things are part of the post plague world and if those things really get to you, you might want to take a pass.

That said, I recommend this book if you enjoyed the first in the trilogy. No, it's not the same as THE UNNAMED, and no, it's not even the same world as the first book because things have changed so much, but Etta and Eddie have a lot to say and I, for one, was happy to listen. I'm intrigued and excited for the last book THE BOOK OF FLORA, which I've already requested from NetGalley.

I bought this audiobook with my hard earned cash and this is my honest opinion.

4 people found this helpful

Average at best

I purchased this book based on first book in series. I felt this was a boring second installment.

4 people found this helpful

Really wanted to like it but...

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and couldn't wait for the second book to come out. It's been weeks now and I just can't make myself listen to it any more. I REALLY wanted to like it since I liked the first so much. I just thought maybe it was one of those books that takes a while but I keep finding myself purchasing other credits to read something else.

3 people found this helpful

Better than the first

I actually liked this better than the first book. It was better written and a bit more interesting. I think that folks that did not like this were turned off by the gender identity issues discussed in the book. The narrator was barely adequate but definitely not above average. She had difficulty pronouncing certain words. Wolf was pronounced woof, for instance. I expect that it is because the narrator is originally from an African country and English is not her first language.

2 people found this helpful