Book Review: Vox by Christina Dalcher

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Published in 2018, Vox by Christina Dalcher follows Jean McClellan who spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins. Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you’re a woman.

Almost overnight, bank accounts are frozen, passports are taken away and seventy million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read or write. For herself, her daughter, and for every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is only the beginning…

Rating:

With an interesting concept and lots of strong messages, Vox is an eye-opening dystopia set in a not-so-hard-to-believe future.

The reason I enjoy dystopian fiction is because it’s so interesting to see an author’s exploration of a “what-if” moment. Because let’s be honest, women are being silenced in many ways, even today. So what if they were actually being silenced? What if their voices could no longer have any impact?

There are some preachy moments, and there are some slightly extreme moments, but overall I think it opens up some important discussions. The author goes down more of a thriller route than anything too revolutionary, but the characters are strong and the ideas have great potential.

There are obviously a lot of similarities to The Handmaid’s Tale because that is the classic feminist dystopia which has no doubt inspired the author, but I also think that there’s enough originality to the story to make it stand out on its own.

However, I just didn’t think that the story really went anywhere. The ending was disappointing, so the potential just fell a little flat for me.