The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere #2) by Meg Elison

What I Loved:

I love a book series! I hate saying goodbye to a character’s story, so the continuation of the series, is always so much fun! This book definitely lived up to that expectation of a series for me, with a bit of a twist. Instead of carrying on the first book’s character’s story, this book picks up years later with new characters, but in the same town. It gave me all new people to meet, while staying true to the original story.

Additionally, I loved that Meg Elison tackled LGBTQ topics here. The main character is Etta on the outside, but is Eddie on the inside. I was so pleased to read this book and get to understand this character.

How I Felt:

This book did not feel quite as gritty as the first. There were less X rated scenes and less swearing, but still had enough that it clearly belonged to the same series. I was carried away with Etta and her story. It was not confusing at all to have the character jump back and forth between her true self. And I loved that there were times where Eddie would step aside because Etta was needed to survive, and vice versa.

To Read or Not To Read:

If you’ve read book 1 in the series, you have to read book 2! If you haven’t read book 1, and for some reason happen to have this book right now and want to read it without starting with book 1, I think you can. While, it’s clearly part of a series, because it is new characters, and there are some explanations as to what previously happened, I really think this book can stand alone.

The Book of Etta by Meg Elison is book 2 in the Road to Nowhere Series. Here are the links to my reviews of the entire series.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
The Book of Etta by Meg Elison
The Book of Flora by Meg Elison

Where To Find This Book:

Amazon Amazon Kindle Goodreads Bookshop.org

Years after the epidemic that wiped out most of humanity, small tribes of people are trying to survive and carry on with what is left of life on earth. So much of the “before-time” is lost. The characters end up in Merrimack Caverns and they have no idea what it is. They find old t-shirts that have survived and are excited for the cloth with no understanding of what it used to be.

Women continue to have difficult births with survival rates for mother and daughter still very low due to the epidemic. Men outnumber women significantly, and in Etta’s town, many form hives with one woman living with many men. Etta chooses to become a scavenger, rather than the sacred midwife she could be. She does not feel like a girl and chooses to be a man on the road. She leaves Nowhere and finds herself in a new city when the Lion and his men come and take away a young girl from her mother. Etta makes a choice and puts herself on a track to stop the Lion at all costs.

Her travels take her through different cities and we, the reader, get a chance to envision a world where towns are so far apart, that no two towns have adapted to the new way of life in the same way.

This was an absolutely wonderful book. The storyline continues from book one, and I can’t wait to pick up book three, The Book of Flora!