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Athena's Choice
- Narrated by: Alex Ford
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
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Athena's Choice
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Summary
What if a viral pandemic put women in charge of the planet?
Athena Vosh lives just like any other teenager from the year 2099. She watches reality shows with her friends, eats well, and occasionally wonders to herself: What would life be like if men were still alive?
It has been almost 50 years since an experimental virus accidentally killed all the men on earth. However, a controversial project is currently underway to bring men back. There's just one catch. The project has been sabotaged.
So begins Athena's Choice. When the police of 2099 are tasked with finding the saboteur, they receive a mysterious command to investigate the otherwise innocuous Athena Vosh. After it becomes clear that the young girl might know more than she lets on, Athena is brought in to participate in the official investigation. Simultaneously, the girl begins to experience a series of cryptic dreams featuring a ruined library and an old book containing the saboteur’s true identity. As the police close in on their prize, Athena finds herself on a journey of her own. Her clue-filled dreams and incorruptible spirit bring her face-to-face with a pair of forgotten truths about happiness and gender. The world waits to see if men will return as Athena fights a separate battle, culminating in the choice that will define her and others' lives forever.
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What listeners say about Athena's Choice
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bel
- 13-09-19
What a Choice!
It’s been decades since I read feminist literature like, e.g., ‘Egalia’s Daughters’ by Gerd Brantenberg. I haven’t thought of the premise of a matriarchal society for a very long time, so this book came as quite a surprise.
Where in the books I read back then women and men only had switched roles, so to say, Adam Boostrom is taking it one step further: men don’t exist any more on earth. The whole population is female, and they are doing well.
However, some females want to bring back males, because they have fond memories, because they’re curious, or because they don’t feel complete without a male counterpart.
A renowned scientist is tasked with creating a genome that is resistant to the virus which killed all males five decades ago.
The catch is: somebody stole the genome before its completion.
Enter our heroine: young Athena Vosh.
She is somehow connected to the theft, and gets summoned before the AI who knows everything, and who is responsible for the well-being of the population — alas, the AI isn’t allowed to make decisions regarding life or death, which is why she needs somebody who is allowed to do this.
Athena agrees to help finding the thief, hoping she’ll at last find a purpose in life, and maybe even excel.
But things don’t quite turn out the way Athena had hoped. She makes acquaintances, and her dreams lead her in a direction I wasn’t sure was beneficial for ‘womanity’ — would she open Pandora’s box?
The characters are well formed out, and the world is fascinating and vividly described. I loved the occasional advertisements throughout the book, as well as the description of all the technical achievements this future holds.
I’m not sure I’d want any of that — well, maybe the massage thing — and I certainly don’t know what choice I’d make were I in Athena’s shoes.
From where I stand now, the choice would be simple, because I have two sons and a grandson (and I had a brother), but if I had grown up without ever knowing any males…
This books combines various subjects: a coming of age story, a utopia, a bit of dystopia, and a future which still seems like science fiction now, but is looming around the corner, what with all the scientific and technological advances humanity has made.
There are enough twists to keep you listening (or reading), and the outcome is totally unexpected.
It gives food for thought, and will certainly stay with me for some time to come.
The narrator does an excellent job, and I especially enjoyed the way she narrated the advertisements. Her enunciation was very good, so that even I, as a non-native speaker, had absolutely no trouble understanding every word.
I received a complimentary copy and I chose to willingly post an honest review.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Selina ryles
- 23-07-19
a book that gives you food for thought
when I started listening to this book I was expecting it to be more science fiction , but I must say that it is more fitting in the young adult genre. It is feminism at its best and definitely gives the reader food for thought about the future and the dilemma which is faced . As the saying goes you cant live with men and cant live without them and this is the ultimate choice which must be made when men are eradicated from the world. The world is described so well and puts the images in the readers mind. I was given this book by the author/narrator in return for an honest and unbiased review
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norma Miles
- 13-07-19
All intelligent life is born to die.
Whether or not the reader enjoys the premise behind Athena's Choice, this book makes a big impact, with the feel of one to become a future classic, like Brave New World, 1984, Solent Green or Logan's Run. Set at the end of the 21st Century, the world has become one without men, a virus having destroyed them all (and some women) almost fifty years before. Society, however, has flourished under the reduced population, all-female governance, with peace, prosperity and and apparent freedom of lifestyle choice available to all. But the destructive Y virus is still carried by all women, so children born (yup, they seem to have that aspect sorted, too) are all female.
Whilst many, like the main protagonist Athena, have never seen a man other than in pictures, inevitably, some people want a return of that other half of the Human race and Project Lazarus is devised, despite the objections of the Women First activists. When a crucial part of the revival scheme goes missing, Athena, an ordinary young woman trying, and failing, to make a name for herself as an artist, is called upon by the overseeing AI to help find it.
The book is very visually written, the futuristic scene set by passing mention of the everyday technologies - food printing and auto-dishwashing, overnight made to measure clothing, with magnetic fitting and after-wearing recycling, for example - and the use of inserted advertisements, school essays and their assessments, Wikipedia definitions and social media comments etc. also adds to the sense of time and place. Chapters are also short and bite sized, making this a quick to read book (although, initially, the brief time jumps can be a tad confusing). The story line itself, with the search for the missing genome and Athena's own voyage of self discovery, is interesting, the author's input of ideas, like them or hate them, is thought provoking and the whole adventure will remain in the reader's mind's eye for some time after the book is comp!eted, especially since the reader is left to make the final decision for themself.
Narrator Alex Ford deserves special recognition. She reads well, with good intonation and character voicing - all of the usual stuff. But she also managed to 'disappear', leaving the story to tell itself directly into the reader's mind. It made the book more effective in consequence. A fine performance.
I am very grateful to the rights holder of Athena's Choice for freely gifting me with a complimentary copy at my request, via Audiobook Boom. Thank you. It was more than I had expected, at times simplistic or annoying, but always visual and thought provoking. A classic for the future and a book which could easily become an excellent film. Recommended to any S.F.aficionado, as well as young adults of every age.
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