The Children of Men by P. D. James

 What started out as a great premise went oh so flat. The Children of Men is a dystopian novel about a time when human can no longer conceive. People don't know the cause, and they have been researching for the cause for quite some time, but they simply don't know why women can no longer get pregnant. The last group of children born is called the Omegas, and after they die, there would be no more human on earth. To search for truth, men are subjected to semen testings and women are subjected to gynecological exams. 

The main character in the book is Dr. Theodore Faron, who goes by Theo. He's a professor at Oxford University. His cousin Xan is the Warden of England, the one in charge. There's a group of five people called Five Fishes who are trying to overthrow Xan's system. These five people are Julian (a woman), Rolf, Miriam, Luke and Gascoigne. Julian is married to Rolf, but had an affair with Luke. 

Julian approaches Theo, and asks Theo to talk to his cousin Xan with a list of demands for change. For example, getting rid of those gynecological exams. Theo agrees to talk to Xan. Xan doesn't agree to the demands. There is a lot of religious undertones through all of this.

Later, we learn that Julian is pregnant. Xan wants to kill all the members of the Five Fishes for their rebellion, so Julian tries to deliver the baby in secret. (Although if Xan knew Julian was pregnant, he probably wouldn't have killed her because he knows how important it is to keep the human race alive.) 

Later, the group runs into the Painted Faces, a ritualistic murdering group. Luke offers himself and is killed by the Painted Faces. WTF. Rolf later learns he's not the father - Luke is the father. This made Rolf furious. He was going to use his status as the man who impregnated someone to become the new leader. Now that ruins that plan. So he defects the group and joins Xan, in hopes that that would give him some power.

Julian and Miriam go to a woodshed where Julian gives birth. Theo is with them as well. When Miriam goes to fetch some water, she's captured and killed by Xan's people. Theo and Xan have a shootout where Theo kills Xan. Theo becomes the next man in power and christens the baby. The End.

I hear the movie is a lot better, which isn't surprising because this was awful. How do you start with such a great premise and just deliver nothing exciting? The book has so many random people and information that don't really add anything to the story. It's like, there's barely even a story. Maybe I'll try something else by this author. Surely she can't always be this awful.