What do you think?
Rate this book
The New Eve
“In the mood for a slightly creepy, often tender Sci-Fi tale? The new Eve by Moussa Ould Ebnou tells the story of Adam and Maneki, star-crossed lovers in a dystopian future, where the world has split into two societies, male and female, and gender segregation is brutally enforced. Two criteria distinguish good science fiction from (a) it must aspire to the same high literary standards as any other genre of fiction, and (b) the science / technology vehicle that propels the plot and its characters, must fall within the realm of plausibility, its futuristic and imaginative elements notwithstanding. This novel easily meets those requirements. The action moves back and forth between Adam and Maneki’s separate worlds, as they pine for one another’s presence. You will find extended dialog, masterful description, a fair share of thrills and suspense, profound sorrow, and ultimately, redemption. Don’t read The new Eve if you chafe at thorny moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and recreational copulation. Stay away if scenes of drug abuse and torture turn your stomach. If, however, you crave a read that deeply explores the meaning of such intrinsic human impulses as love, passion, desire, and courage, then open the pages of this novel… it won’t disappoint you.” Paul Roochnik, PhD, professor at Princeton University.
180 pages, Paperback
Published October 15, 2025
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 7, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
This book had an interesting premise, but failed to deliver. In a world where the sexes are segregated and love is forbidden, the conversations this book tried to spark didn't impress me. I wish the book had gone more in-depth into the various laws of this society. What if you fall in love with someone of the same gender? What about people who identify as transgender? In what country did this civil war of the sexes take place? Are there other societies where men and women are allowed to coexist?
I also felt like this book did a lot of telling, but not any showing. Considering the premise of the book is about the love between Adam and Maneki, there was nothing to show why they fell in love or how they expressed their love. Just a whole lot of "I love her, trust me, guys."
This book had an interesting premise, but failed to deliver. In a world where the sexes are segregated and love is forbidden, the conversations this book tried to spark didn't impress me. I wish the book had gone more in-depth into the various laws of this society. What if you fall in love with someone of the same gender? What about people who identify as transgender? In what country did this civil war of the sexes take place? Are there other societies where men and women are allowed to coexist?
I also felt like this book did a lot of telling, but not any showing. Considering the premise of the book is about the love between Adam and Maneki, there was nothing to show why they fell in love or how they expressed their love. Just a whole lot of "I love her, trust me, guys."
October 29, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of the book for this review.
I really struggled with this one. The New Eve tries to explore gender and sexuality by flipping the roles of homo- and heterosexuality, a world where heterosexuals are ‘deviants’ who need to be ‘cured’. On paper, that sounds like it could be an interesting social experiment or critique. In practice, though, it just does not work.
The biggest issue for me is that it’s not interesting because this is our reality, we already live in a world where people are repressed, controlled, and punished for who they love, and it’s not because they are heterosexual. Turning the tables doesn’t feel insightful or fresh, just uncomfortable and, honestly, offensive in the way in which it is written.
There’s also too much reliance on the character of Adam, who feels less like a person and more like a blunt instrument for the author’s message. There’s little emotional depth beyond the message being forced through him. The torture scenes reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, and I hated that. It’s the same kind of psychological horror that’s hard to stomach and doesn’t really serve the story beyond shock value.
“Does she still love me?”
“Yes, she still loves you. Just yesterday she started her second round of rehabilitation.”
"Second round?"
"Right, another round of sexual rehabilitation to restore her to lesbianism.”
"Khunatha, as you represent the origin and purpose of love, you represent the symbol of happiness before segregation, why do you keep persecuting those who love?"
This is basically conversion therapy for heterosexuals, which is just as horrifying as it sounds, using a very real threat towards LGBTQ people as an examination of heterosexual ‘repression’ in this ‘new eve’ is plain wrong. It’s meant to make a point, but instead it just re-creates the same violence and control it should be criticizing.
What’s worse is that the book seems to treat heterosexual sex as something “true” or “natural,” even as it tries to invert that logic. It’s contradictory and, in my opinion, not progressive at all. The LGBTQ tag feels misleading, because this isn’t queer representation; it’s more like a thought experiment gone wrong. The book even equates abortion and infanticide at one point, which I found deeply upsetting, and its casual use of HRT and sex-change operations feels bioessentialist and tone-deaf. It also makes women’s rights sound frivolous in many occasions, a philosophical game instead of a fight for survival and autonomy, like they’re just theoretical debates rather than life-and-death realities.
In the end, The New Eve feels like a concept that could have been powerful but ends up doing harm instead of sparking reflection. The New Eve doesn’t challenge oppression, it just mirrors it back, without empathy or insight. Maybe I misunderstood the author’s intent, I don’t know. But this was my honest reading experience, and I didn’t appreciate it.
I really struggled with this one. The New Eve tries to explore gender and sexuality by flipping the roles of homo- and heterosexuality, a world where heterosexuals are ‘deviants’ who need to be ‘cured’. On paper, that sounds like it could be an interesting social experiment or critique. In practice, though, it just does not work.
The biggest issue for me is that it’s not interesting because this is our reality, we already live in a world where people are repressed, controlled, and punished for who they love, and it’s not because they are heterosexual. Turning the tables doesn’t feel insightful or fresh, just uncomfortable and, honestly, offensive in the way in which it is written.
There’s also too much reliance on the character of Adam, who feels less like a person and more like a blunt instrument for the author’s message. There’s little emotional depth beyond the message being forced through him. The torture scenes reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, and I hated that. It’s the same kind of psychological horror that’s hard to stomach and doesn’t really serve the story beyond shock value.
“Does she still love me?”
“Yes, she still loves you. Just yesterday she started her second round of rehabilitation.”
"Second round?"
"Right, another round of sexual rehabilitation to restore her to lesbianism.”
"Khunatha, as you represent the origin and purpose of love, you represent the symbol of happiness before segregation, why do you keep persecuting those who love?"
This is basically conversion therapy for heterosexuals, which is just as horrifying as it sounds, using a very real threat towards LGBTQ people as an examination of heterosexual ‘repression’ in this ‘new eve’ is plain wrong. It’s meant to make a point, but instead it just re-creates the same violence and control it should be criticizing.
What’s worse is that the book seems to treat heterosexual sex as something “true” or “natural,” even as it tries to invert that logic. It’s contradictory and, in my opinion, not progressive at all. The LGBTQ tag feels misleading, because this isn’t queer representation; it’s more like a thought experiment gone wrong. The book even equates abortion and infanticide at one point, which I found deeply upsetting, and its casual use of HRT and sex-change operations feels bioessentialist and tone-deaf. It also makes women’s rights sound frivolous in many occasions, a philosophical game instead of a fight for survival and autonomy, like they’re just theoretical debates rather than life-and-death realities.
In the end, The New Eve feels like a concept that could have been powerful but ends up doing harm instead of sparking reflection. The New Eve doesn’t challenge oppression, it just mirrors it back, without empathy or insight. Maybe I misunderstood the author’s intent, I don’t know. But this was my honest reading experience, and I didn’t appreciate it.
October 19, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Iskanchi Press for the ARC.
This book was not for me, partly because I was expecting speculative fiction when this book was more about philosophical musings Trojan horsed by a novel. That is to say, the plot seemed secondary, not an equal part of the book that works in tandem to push forward thoughtful concepts. It may be for you if you prefer more straightforward philosphy.
I found the book to be lacking both in story and worldbuilding. Half-baked is the word Id use. The story had time jumps that were never described, but that clearly varied in length of time, making the reading experience confusing. In terms of worldbuilding, it seemed like there was an attempt to use science to support the world, but much of it was underdeveloped or misunderstood. The author also relied on ideas that seems implicit to him but not to the reader, which I found confusing as to what this world was really like. The characters were two dimensional on top of it. This lack of immersion supports my theory that this was more about philosophical wonderings than anything else.
I am not a big fan of stories dealing with a hypothetical of "what if straight people where the ones oppressed," regardless of what it is trying to explore. You should not have to imagine the oppressor as the victim in order to empathize with marginalized groups, they already experience such things in real life. The concept of "androgynes" or non binary people ruling the world with an iron fist, segregating and oppressing the two binary genders made me very uncomfortable as someone living in the US where the incorrect idea of trans people trying to "force an agenda" on society and control the way people identify. Its an idea that doesnt need any extra building upon.
I found this book to be a difficult reading experience. It was poorly translated, with tenses being mixed up and there were instances where complete ideas were repeated almost word for word to another character.
The initial premise is similar to that of "Vanishing World" by Sayaka Murata, it follows a different direction and the resulting hypothetical situation is not grounded in reality, neither scientifically or societally. The concept rests on the idea that real love can only happen between a man and a woman, which is contradicted by the last chapter, but I digress. I think the premise was interesting enough had the story been treated with more tact and real world context. There were some interesting thoughts on the meaning of life and love, and what the meaning of true love is, and thats where I think the biggest strengths lied, and should have been the main focus of the book.
This book was not for me, partly because I was expecting speculative fiction when this book was more about philosophical musings Trojan horsed by a novel. That is to say, the plot seemed secondary, not an equal part of the book that works in tandem to push forward thoughtful concepts. It may be for you if you prefer more straightforward philosphy.
I found the book to be lacking both in story and worldbuilding. Half-baked is the word Id use. The story had time jumps that were never described, but that clearly varied in length of time, making the reading experience confusing. In terms of worldbuilding, it seemed like there was an attempt to use science to support the world, but much of it was underdeveloped or misunderstood. The author also relied on ideas that seems implicit to him but not to the reader, which I found confusing as to what this world was really like. The characters were two dimensional on top of it. This lack of immersion supports my theory that this was more about philosophical wonderings than anything else.
I am not a big fan of stories dealing with a hypothetical of "what if straight people where the ones oppressed," regardless of what it is trying to explore. You should not have to imagine the oppressor as the victim in order to empathize with marginalized groups, they already experience such things in real life. The concept of "androgynes" or non binary people ruling the world with an iron fist, segregating and oppressing the two binary genders made me very uncomfortable as someone living in the US where the incorrect idea of trans people trying to "force an agenda" on society and control the way people identify. Its an idea that doesnt need any extra building upon.
I found this book to be a difficult reading experience. It was poorly translated, with tenses being mixed up and there were instances where complete ideas were repeated almost word for word to another character.
The initial premise is similar to that of "Vanishing World" by Sayaka Murata, it follows a different direction and the resulting hypothetical situation is not grounded in reality, neither scientifically or societally. The concept rests on the idea that real love can only happen between a man and a woman, which is contradicted by the last chapter, but I digress. I think the premise was interesting enough had the story been treated with more tact and real world context. There were some interesting thoughts on the meaning of life and love, and what the meaning of true love is, and thats where I think the biggest strengths lied, and should have been the main focus of the book.
November 26, 2025
📚The New Eve
✍🏻Moussa Ould Ebnou
Blurb:
“In the mood for a slightly creepy, often tender Sci-Fi tale? The new Eve by Moussa Ould Ebnou tells the story of Adam and Maneki, star-crossed lovers in a dystopian future, where the world has split into two societies, male and female, and gender segregation is brutally enforced. Two criteria distinguish good science fiction from (a) it must aspire to the same high literary standards as any other genre of fiction, and (b) the science / technology vehicle that propels the plot and its characters, must fall within the realm of plausibility, its futuristic and imaginative elements notwithstanding. This novel easily meets those requirements. The action moves back and forth between Adam and Maneki’s separate worlds, as they pine for one another’s presence. You will find extended dialog, masterful description, a fair share of thrills and suspense, profound sorrow, and ultimately, redemption. Don’t read The new Eve if you chafe at thorny moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and recreational copulation. Stay away if scenes of drug abuse and torture turn your stomach. If, however, you crave a read that deeply explores the meaning of such intrinsic human impulses as love, passion, desire, and courage, then open the pages of this novel… it won’t disappoint you.” Paul Roochnik, PhD, professor at Princeton University.
My Thoughts
This book had an interesting premise, but failed to deliver. In a world where the sexes are segregated and love is forbidden, the conversations this book tried to spark didn't impress me. I wish the book had gone more in-depth into the various laws of this society. What if you fall in love with someone of the same gender? What about people who identify as transgender? In what country did this civil war of the sexes take place? Are there other societies where men and women are allowed to coexist?
I also felt like this book did a lot of telling, but not any showing. Considering the premise of the book is about the love between Adam and Maneki, there was nothing to show why they fell in love or how they expressed their love. Just a whole lot of "I love her, trust me, guys.
Thanks NetGalley, Iskanchi Press and Author Moussa Ould Ebnou for the advanced copy of "The New Eve"
#NetGalley
#IskanchiPress
#TheNewEve
#MoussaOuldEbnou
⭐️⭐️⭐️
✍🏻Moussa Ould Ebnou
Blurb:
“In the mood for a slightly creepy, often tender Sci-Fi tale? The new Eve by Moussa Ould Ebnou tells the story of Adam and Maneki, star-crossed lovers in a dystopian future, where the world has split into two societies, male and female, and gender segregation is brutally enforced. Two criteria distinguish good science fiction from (a) it must aspire to the same high literary standards as any other genre of fiction, and (b) the science / technology vehicle that propels the plot and its characters, must fall within the realm of plausibility, its futuristic and imaginative elements notwithstanding. This novel easily meets those requirements. The action moves back and forth between Adam and Maneki’s separate worlds, as they pine for one another’s presence. You will find extended dialog, masterful description, a fair share of thrills and suspense, profound sorrow, and ultimately, redemption. Don’t read The new Eve if you chafe at thorny moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and recreational copulation. Stay away if scenes of drug abuse and torture turn your stomach. If, however, you crave a read that deeply explores the meaning of such intrinsic human impulses as love, passion, desire, and courage, then open the pages of this novel… it won’t disappoint you.” Paul Roochnik, PhD, professor at Princeton University.
My Thoughts
This book had an interesting premise, but failed to deliver. In a world where the sexes are segregated and love is forbidden, the conversations this book tried to spark didn't impress me. I wish the book had gone more in-depth into the various laws of this society. What if you fall in love with someone of the same gender? What about people who identify as transgender? In what country did this civil war of the sexes take place? Are there other societies where men and women are allowed to coexist?
I also felt like this book did a lot of telling, but not any showing. Considering the premise of the book is about the love between Adam and Maneki, there was nothing to show why they fell in love or how they expressed their love. Just a whole lot of "I love her, trust me, guys.
Thanks NetGalley, Iskanchi Press and Author Moussa Ould Ebnou for the advanced copy of "The New Eve"
#NetGalley
#IskanchiPress
#TheNewEve
#MoussaOuldEbnou
⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 13, 2025
The New Eve is alien. Ironic for whom the title of the book alludes to, but a thought provoking read nonetheless.
The book concerns two cis (?) gendered lovers, Adam and Mandi, trying to find each other after their mandated sex-times, and avoid capture by the state. Otherwise, men and women have completely separate spheres of life, and live apart from one another. Same-sex relationships are the norm. There is a third gender as well who bridge the gap between both worlds.
The setting was the most intriguing part of the book for me. It was so unique and made enough sense that I was able to immerse myself in it. The feeling of the last few chapters in particular showed what a gendered city would look like and was fascinating.
However, I cannot decide whether this book is queer affirming or not. A significant portion of the book takes place in a conversion camp. Adam in particular earns a happy ending through this conversion which rubbed me the wrong way. And for such a queer narrative, the same sex relationships were de-emphasized until the end as a neat bow.
I think the ambiguity comes from this being a translated text from Arabic and French. The author is Mauritanian so I fully acknowledge I may be missing out on how transgressive this actually is. I do not agree with the book’s conclusion however.
I also wish we also could’ve spent more time with Maneki aside from the conversion camp scenes as her last chapter was one of my favorite parts of the book.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my experience but heed those trigger warnings and your own cultural biases; this is a hard read and might not be to your tastes.
I hope that this author’s other works become translated.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the book!
Review also published here, along with drink paring: https://theredreaderreviews.blogspot....
The book concerns two cis (?) gendered lovers, Adam and Mandi, trying to find each other after their mandated sex-times, and avoid capture by the state. Otherwise, men and women have completely separate spheres of life, and live apart from one another. Same-sex relationships are the norm. There is a third gender as well who bridge the gap between both worlds.
The setting was the most intriguing part of the book for me. It was so unique and made enough sense that I was able to immerse myself in it. The feeling of the last few chapters in particular showed what a gendered city would look like and was fascinating.
However, I cannot decide whether this book is queer affirming or not. A significant portion of the book takes place in a conversion camp. Adam in particular earns a happy ending through this conversion which rubbed me the wrong way. And for such a queer narrative, the same sex relationships were de-emphasized until the end as a neat bow.
I think the ambiguity comes from this being a translated text from Arabic and French. The author is Mauritanian so I fully acknowledge I may be missing out on how transgressive this actually is. I do not agree with the book’s conclusion however.
I also wish we also could’ve spent more time with Maneki aside from the conversion camp scenes as her last chapter was one of my favorite parts of the book.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my experience but heed those trigger warnings and your own cultural biases; this is a hard read and might not be to your tastes.
I hope that this author’s other works become translated.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the book!
Review also published here, along with drink paring: https://theredreaderreviews.blogspot....
September 16, 2025
The cover appealed to my imagination, but it was the blurb that won me over. I enjoy reading science fiction, and before reading this thought experiment, I thought I was quite open-minded. Apparently not!
I am the mother of three children — a son and two daughters — and I sincerely hope that they will be spared this future.
To be frank, I found the opening chapters far too explanatory and, indeed, rather blunt and clinical in their approach. They did not, in my opinion, read like a novel. The idea of 'making love', as well as the miracle of new life, is completely lost here, - (e.g. men carry the male foetus to term and women carry the female foetus to term).
Some parts seem to be reminiscent of ideas proposed in Huxley's Brave New World, such as the artificial uterus, but this takes it even further.
If you think that taking female or male hormones will determine someone's sex, then, in my opinion, you didn't pay enough attention in biology lessons at school because it's not that simple. I found the section on intersex people and cloning yourself to become a parent particularly offensive. Anyway, there were other things I couldn't agree with. I stopped reading halfway through, as it was too far removed from my own mindset.
2 stars for the bits I read.
I am the mother of three children — a son and two daughters — and I sincerely hope that they will be spared this future.
To be frank, I found the opening chapters far too explanatory and, indeed, rather blunt and clinical in their approach. They did not, in my opinion, read like a novel. The idea of 'making love', as well as the miracle of new life, is completely lost here, - (e.g. men carry the male foetus to term and women carry the female foetus to term).
Some parts seem to be reminiscent of ideas proposed in Huxley's Brave New World, such as the artificial uterus, but this takes it even further.
If you think that taking female or male hormones will determine someone's sex, then, in my opinion, you didn't pay enough attention in biology lessons at school because it's not that simple. I found the section on intersex people and cloning yourself to become a parent particularly offensive. Anyway, there were other things I couldn't agree with. I stopped reading halfway through, as it was too far removed from my own mindset.
2 stars for the bits I read.
November 20, 2025
This book was … really not the most enjoyable experience. It’s an exposition disguised as a speculative novel, and holds forth at judgey length on relations between the sexes in a future where humans have chosen to live in separate, binary societies—that of women, that of men—with homosexual relations except for a time of “service” when the sexes mix. Reproduction happens using artificial wombs. It’s, as you can imagine, a very regulated world, but apparently there’s a social contract and we are to imagine almost everyone is happy (or conditioned to be so).
Except, of course, people fall in love across the sexes, as humans do. That’s really the only interesting part of the book for me: what to do with such feelings in such a world. The resolution surprised me a whole lot, given the general tenor of the exposition (tending towards religious conservatism and such a binary view of the world)… The author clearly had that ending in mind all along, but it’s unexpected and nothing sets the reader up for it. So that’s unsatisfying.
I don’t know what else to say. There are not a lot of things I found redeeming—not the characters, not the (very unsatisfactory and incomplete) world-building, not the lengthy and frankly quite tiresome philosophising, not even the concept of resistance in that society. I did like Moussa Ould Ebnou’s Barzakh: The Land In-Between (tr. Marybeth Timmermann) for its speculative elements, so I had decent hopes for this one. I can see what the author may have been trying to do here, but no, I think it’s a no from me. I may give it another read in the future to see if I change my mind.
Many thanks to Iskanchi and NetGalley for the DRC.
Except, of course, people fall in love across the sexes, as humans do. That’s really the only interesting part of the book for me: what to do with such feelings in such a world. The resolution surprised me a whole lot, given the general tenor of the exposition (tending towards religious conservatism and such a binary view of the world)… The author clearly had that ending in mind all along, but it’s unexpected and nothing sets the reader up for it. So that’s unsatisfying.
I don’t know what else to say. There are not a lot of things I found redeeming—not the characters, not the (very unsatisfactory and incomplete) world-building, not the lengthy and frankly quite tiresome philosophising, not even the concept of resistance in that society. I did like Moussa Ould Ebnou’s Barzakh: The Land In-Between (tr. Marybeth Timmermann) for its speculative elements, so I had decent hopes for this one. I can see what the author may have been trying to do here, but no, I think it’s a no from me. I may give it another read in the future to see if I change my mind.
Many thanks to Iskanchi and NetGalley for the DRC.
October 26, 2025
2.5
The New Eve is a story about free will, loneliness, and identity. It explores human connections, desire, gender, and how much one is willing to sacrifice in order to be with whom they have chosen. It also offers a philosophical analysis of attraction between two people in terms of love and lust.
It feels unfair to criticise the writing and structure of a translated work when ratings are combined across editions as is the case here on Goodreads, but getting through this slim book was almost painful. I really liked the concept, though, so I might be willing to revise my rating if I could get my hands on an original Arabic copy. Until then...
Thank you to Netgalley and Iskanchi Press for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The New Eve is a story about free will, loneliness, and identity. It explores human connections, desire, gender, and how much one is willing to sacrifice in order to be with whom they have chosen. It also offers a philosophical analysis of attraction between two people in terms of love and lust.
It feels unfair to criticise the writing and structure of a translated work when ratings are combined across editions as is the case here on Goodreads, but getting through this slim book was almost painful. I really liked the concept, though, so I might be willing to revise my rating if I could get my hands on an original Arabic copy. Until then...
Thank you to Netgalley and Iskanchi Press for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 7, 2025
An interesting dystopian tale that offers a nightmarish vision of love, reproduction, and gender politics in the future. The tone is quite dry, and some parts read more like a philosophical treatise than a novel. Characters give long monologues, and some of that is frustrating and skippable. That said, I did have sympathy for the two protagonists, Adam and Maneki, and their illicit love that brings vibes of Winston and Julia in 1984. The ending was quite unexpected, slightly bizarre, but I didn't mind it. For anyone looking for a dystopian read that is a little different, and doesn't mind some philosophical digressions, I would say give it a try.
October 16, 2025
This is a very strange book and I didn't really have fun reading it. It felt like a lot of just weird thought experiments occurring over and over. I thought the way society had been segregated and everyones reactions to it to be a little absurd even for sci fi reasons. it didn't feel like a romance at all either because the introduction of the two main characters reads like a horror story. the ending was abrupt and didn't include a pay off. I would pick other queer scifi to explore this genre.
thanks netgalley for an arc!
thanks netgalley for an arc!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews