The Book of Flora: 3 (The Road to Nowhere) Paperback – 23 April 2019

Enjoyed it. Different from almost every other story I’ve read. End of the world may not be the end of the world. Evolution, adaptation.

Better than expected but not as good as hoped for

Found this book a bit of a slog and the plot was.... it felt unbalanced as if the parts of the story which were least important got the majority of the narrative time and those that would have been interesting to see more of were relegated to bit parts. It was disappointing.

Read all three of this series and really enjoyed each one. You find with some trilogies that the standard deteriorates as you pass from one story to the next; not so with this trilogy. The only thing I found somewhat blurred was the sexual descriptions of certain of the women. I didn't understand what their sexual aberrations really were. Perhaps I'm not enlightened enough about this sort of thing, but clarifications would have been helpful. For instance, what is meant by being 'cut' and how did affect these characters physically?

I smashed through the first 2 books in this series after enjoying them a lot more than I expected to, so it’s fair to say that my expectations were high for the final instalment ‘The Book of Flora’. I wasn’t wholly disappointed but this is not as good as the previous 2.The third and final book picks up where ‘The Book of Etta’ left off, in the community of Ommun, the underground mormon city but we bounce between present and past alternate, the story going back and forth between an older Flora writing in her diary on the island of Bambritch and flashbacks of Flora’s past journeys. As before, there are various diary snippets and previous characters return in various ways, as well as a whole host of new characters. We close off some previous stories and get a better understanding of how the world is moving forward.As before, this book deals with some topics that are still very relevant in todays news, with the continuing debates about abortion and a woman’s rights over her own body. This book series also covers subjects about sexual gender with characters that are homosexual, and transgender characters that are females identifying as males (such as Etta/Eddy) and males identifying as women (such as Flora). I found the opinions of the different settlements very interesting and how they have dealt with the lack of females. Some settlements had women as possessions/slaves, purely for men to find a release. Some just saw women being there to breed to keep civilisation going (usually under a religious connotation) and others had women in charge with men as the slaves. This book really did give a lot of different perspectives on what could happen.I wasn’t as immediately hooked into Flora’s story as I had been with the others although I am not sure why. There was quite a bit of bouncing around time and context switching which I had to pause reading for a minute to understand where we had gone and why. I felt disconnected from Flora and I think this slowed the pace for me although I was blown away by these women’s stories and I won’t forget them any time soon. This series was not an easy read and I didn’t always like or understand the characters’ decisions, but it’s thought-provoking and made me think about my own view on things. It does make you scared to think what might happen if this situation was ever to happen.As per the 2 books before, this is a very thought-provoking, dark and brutal read and a worthy successor to the previous two. It wasn’t the super strong finish I was hoping for but maybe that was just because my expectations had got higher throughout the series. I will be looking out for more books by Meg Elison for sure.

Brilliant series of books , beautifully drawn characters telling a very powerful tale . In a world in ruins cruelty abounds , power is everything , above all is the need to survive any way possible . How easy it seems to sink into chaos and forget what makes us human is kindness and acceptance of those who are different .

Time marches on. One hundred and forty-four years have now passed for our heroines following in the footsteps of the Unnamed midwife. Flora is growing old and content at Bambrich island, a place she felt was safe enough to settle and live out her days.But to get there?Ah, it’s been a long, long journey. We discover what happened to Nowhere; to Jeff City; to Ommun and many other settlements like them who tried to rebuild a part of themselves in the aftermath of a devastating plague, only to fall to an army the likes of which hasn’t existed since the end of the old world.And why is it marching?Now that’s another story, bringing a fitting end to the Midwife chronicles.The thing that struck me about this series is that, sometimes, the end of an era brings changes we don’t expect. Strange and frightening changes. But wondrous nonetheless.That’s how the author, Meg Elison rounds her story off. Life finds a way . . . if we only let it.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the books in this series. I didn’t want it to end. Hope there is another more to come.

I have just finished the third book in the series, The Book of Flora. The stories are all fast moving and intriguing. Msg. Ellison has a real flair storytelling a good story. I found myself reading late into the night. The story line makes you think about how we define ourselves in relation to the world around us. It was specifically appropriate now as it deals with a society devastated by an epidemic. Being in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic I empathize even more with the story line.My only criticism of the books are that they can be somewhat redundant in the story line and because of that I gave it a four star rating. Etta/Eddy goes through the first two books being a little unreasonable about trying to find perfect freedom. However, the last book gives a satisfying end for most of the characters.It is a worthwhile read that you will find thought provoking.

really loved the 3 books in this trilogy.

A novel about the need to be loved, love, and fitting in. The struggle of equality in a ruthless and possibly dying world. Where every hive has a different idea of what is needed and what is right. That cannot and will not include all. Made me sad, happy and sad again. The characters struggles of uncertainty running of the pages as well as their advancements in who they are, inside and out. A book that will hopefully make the reader want to hug the people in there lives and understand better the ones who are not. Brilliant and bold.

I adored the first book and enjoyed the second but do not feel the same about Flora. I felt like, looking back at the three books, we were being taught about alternative gender roles one by one and Flora was the transgender entry in the series. I hated the character Connie, their anger seemed to come out of nowhere. If they had a mental disorder that caused them to be obsessive about frags and Alice, it was not explained at all... The army story-line was ridiculous, how did Connie get all these people to follow them and kill thousands of pregnant women? Just again out of nowhere. I felt a general failure to keep the integrity of characters established in the first two books. Etta goes from being a brave adventurer to a librarian on a battleship????? I kinda get the connection with not being able to really write his own story, but a librarian? seeking silence and peace so suddenly? I just didn't connect it. Alice goes from being a brilliant chemist and herbalist to being a flake who sleeps with anyone and plays coy and stupid to get her way. This book goes off the deep end with the Connie/frag/army stuff and never makes it back to the basic stuff that was so good in the first two books. I honestly thought it was going to be a 'what's next' for the Nowhere folk - going somewhere and building something new where all genders are welcome (which we did get a teeeeeeny glimpse of in Bambritch) but instead rambled around too much and stayed in one place too long. I did like seeing some of the other cities like Shy and Demons, the village of men, Florda.... but those felt like they were missing a second part - the characters taking what works from each of these communities and blending it into their new vision. I am definitely let down.

Are you ever really satisfied when a trilogy ends? But I give the book of Flora 5 stars because of its stunningly creative narrative. The darkness of it felt so right. I sometimes found frustrating that I was being educated and stretched, and only then because I wanted more of the story, I absolutely applaud the way Elison has used her medium to get people thinking more about gender and sexuality.