Vox
⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Vox by Christina Dalcher
Moral of the story: Women should blame religious conservatives for all their problems.
Before I dive into everything wrong with this book, I’ll give it a nod: it’s a quick read. That’s about the only redeeming quality I could find.
Now, let’s talk about the rest.
While Dread Nation was cashing in on social commentary and Children of Blood and Bone was riding the wave of Black Panther’s success (although the hype surrounding it kind of hid that fact), Vox tries to outdo them by doing both at once: capitalizing on feminism while shamelessly piggybacking off The Handmaid’s Tale.
When I explained the premise of Vox to a coworker, her immediate response was: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Yes, a woman said that. Her exact words.
Here’s the setup: Women are allowed to speak only 100 words per day. Go over that limit, and you get an electric shock courtesy of a wristband that tracks your word count.
And… that’s about as far as the concept goes. The author clearly wanted to write about women being oppressed, fair enough. But this was the best idea you had? Honestly, a Planet of the Apes-style twist, where the protagonist stumbles into a society where women aren’t just oppressed but full on enslaved, would’ve been way more interesting and way less ridiculous.
Shockingly, the biggest problem isn’t even the premise.
The world-building is downright unbelievable, and not in a good way. Even if you ignore how implausible it is that our society would accept such a radical change of civil rights, the execution is world-building at its worst. And before anyone argues, “But it’s dystopian! It’s not supposed to be our world,” keep reading.
The first half of the book is packed with real-world pop culture references: FIOS, iPhones, South Park, Pokémon Go. It even throws in actual historical events like the Holocaust and Rwanda. These constant nods to our reality completely shatter any illusion of a believable dystopia. If women’s speech had been restricted to 100 words a day, history and modern culture would look nothing like this.
It feels like Dalcher didn’t bother creating a coherent world. Instead, she took our world and slapped on a new “rule,” without considering how that rule would reshape everything else. The result is a world that doesn’t make sense within its own logic.
One more thing that was kind of bugging me: If the church (or any religious faction) were able to amass enough power to strip women of constitutional rights, I’m pretty sure, of all things, South Park probably wouldn’t be around anymore.
Given the current cultural climate, I don’t doubt Vox will be a success. But I do believe it will be for the wrong reasons.
