Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

135 reviews

chelseazhao's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

This was a very uncomfortable read, but that's not to say that it was a bad thing.

There is a lot of medical terminology and surgery. So we do have body parts and bodily fluids throughout.

This is also a book set in the 1800's. And even though we do have light fantasy elements, we get to experience what some of the women of this time had to endure at the hands of the men who want to keep them down and break them.

I also felt that the body dysmorphia that our main character experienced was well done, although uncomfortable to read. I really felt what he was going through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, Pedophilia, Gore, Rape, Blood, and Body horror

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Confinement, Mental illness, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Gore, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Outing, Pedophilia, Ableism, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Grief

daniellestarredpages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Andrew Joseph White has done it again. Another horror book that blew my mind. While The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a bit less action-packed than White's previous book "Hell Followed With Us",  I enjoyed it all the same. 

Andrew Joseph White seems to have found his niche in writing Trans characters fighting transphobia their own way and escaping their brutal circumstances in gruesome but self-led ways. I loved Silas and his determination to take his life into his own hands. The way White wrote about Silas facing prejudice surrounding his autism but also gave Silas bits of self-acceptance and an eventually accepting community was quite beautiful. I loved the fact that things like Silas' stimming, special interests and stimulation issues were not only mentioned to be berated during scenes including ableism and physical or emotional abuse. Another thing I found particularly interesting about the way White wrote Silas was the voice of the Rabbit that tormented Silas. The Rabbit seems to be a personification of his negative and/or intrusive thoughts.

The other characters in this book were very well-written and played off Silas well. The Veil and the magic included in this book intrigued me quite a bit.  The magic system was well thought out. Andrew Joseph White stated he took creative liberties with the historical elements but these elements were very well researched.

Finally, I loved the connections that Silas made in this book. Both friendships and romantic connections. Silas found a community while suffering at Braxton's Sanitorium and Finishing School. Silas himself expressed both joy and frustration at these connections, stating that he was glad to find people like him, whether other Trans People or other Autistic People but hated the fact these connections were found at such an awful place. While I loved the relationship between Silas and Daphne and do understand the constraints of working around things like chaperones and courting and also the fact that Silas was at a boarding school, I do wish there was more development in their romance.

Trigger Warnings:

Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Transphobia, Misgendering, Dead-Naming, Conversion Therapy, Ablesim, Sexual Assault, Death, Mysogyny, Graphic Violence, Medical Gore and Experimentation, Cesarean Section, Gaslighting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Animal death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Cursing, Transphobia, Blood, Death, Grief, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Deadnaming, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

myamo_santiago's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The spirit bares it’s teeth is a book I found on a whim when I was at the bookstore. I went into the book not knowing what to expect at each turn and falling in love with the diverse characters who fought to survive in a world that was against them. The spirit bares it’s teeth is deeply grotesque, haunting and a realistic reflection on medical history towards  those who were considered different due to their gender identity and sexual orientation  as well as ableism. The book is laced with fighting darkness when there is no hope, and left me a different person than I was when I started it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Body horror, Death, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Animal death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Child death, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Abortion, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, and Blood

thehmkane's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Miscarriage, Abortion, Blood, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism and Colonisation

attolis's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Gore, Murder, Ableism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Torture, Misogyny, Blood, Abortion, Sexual assault, and Death

kenzielireads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Self harm, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Blood, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Abortion, Medical content, Sexism, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Bullying, and Animal death

reclusivebookslug's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Made me feel sick but in a good (or at least worthwhile) way. I'm not big on horror or gore, so a book with those elements has to be really worth it, and this definitely was. The autism representation was really well-done and accurate to a lot of my own experience. I appreciate how even in this historical context when they didn't have the word "autism," White goes out of his way to make the autistic representation explicit. Too many stories imply autism without making it clear, perhaps to give themselves plausible deniability. As a history nerd, all the historical details and themes were cool to see (e.g. Veil sickness is basically female hysteria or perhaps green sickness).

I don't know how I feel about the dead girls lingering as spirits instead of finding peace. It's fun to imagine them hanging out from beyond the grave, but when you think about the long-term consequences of them being stuck like that it's sad. But with the implication at the end that Silas, Daphne, and the survivors are going to try to fight back against the Speaker Society, maybe it makes more sense for the spirits to hang around and maybe help out until they get some form of closure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Sexism, Pregnancy, Gore, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Abortion

The book opens with information about content warnings.

aria_ac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Transphobia, Death, Body horror, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abortion, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Bullying, Confinement, and Rape

Minor: Colonisation and Animal death

moniquewrites's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

I read this books right after Hell Followed With Us, which I loved, and was my first real entry into YA horror (and body horror),  so it’s hard not to make comparisons between them. This book is very different, but I liked the historical fiction/fantasy aspects, and seeing the experience of an Autistic person who is trans during that time period, which would have been so difficult, and yet I love that Silas always knows himself and accepts himself in spite of everything he’s been through and has been told (and even how he

challenges the rabbit in his head

). 

I liked the way it depicted the Speaker society as coded medical system/government — it’s horrifying to know that the kinds of experiments/surgeries happened in our own history. There were a lot of tragic and difficult topics covered in this book, and I thought they were done with sensitivity to the characters’ experience. 

My favourite parts were when

Silas meets Daphne and realizes the are both trans and realize they have found someone who truly understands

, as well as when Silas connects with the groundskeeper

and sees them as being the same (i.e. Autistic but not named). 

I really cared about Silas and appreciated the way he looked at the world and how much he cared for the people around him (and all the times he

saved people lives!

). White also did a great job of making me hate a lot of characters and I felt like the ending was satisfying.

One thing that was missing for me in this book was that we didn’t see as much of the societal world beyond the Silas’ class. There are mentions of  “the help” and servants but the story was very much centralized on the people in the facility/home — which is fine, but it just felt a little flat in terms of the bigger picture world around them.

I’ll definitely read anything that Andrew Joseph White writes in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Medical content, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy