Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

20 reviews

brickwall27's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book made me cry happy tears I love it and the representation it's the first book I've read with a happy ending for the queer character 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Body horror, Gore, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Transphobia, Pregnancy, Ableism, Deadnaming, Death, and Abortion

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Animal death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Child death

This book is good but if you are easily upset by anything tread carefully

This book was a little harder of a read for me but in the end, it was so good I started crying. The author is a wonderful man who is writing from experience (sorta)there are super hard scenes that include: the brother turning out to be evil, throwing kids off stairs, live dissections of girls, ripping out eyes to make a wife submit, pissed dead victims, lots violence towards women, overall a good but hard read

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

arrr's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I don't typically read horror, so this was a bit outside my comfort zone. The story of transphobia and ableism in Victorian England mixed well with the addition of ghosts and the misogyny imposed against women and people who could manipulate the veil between worlds. I wasn't prepared for the medical horror and level of description. It wasn't as awful as it could have been, but it would have given me nightmares as a youth. I didn't really understand the ending before the last chapter. But I suppose it could be open to interpretation. Maybe that's the point. 

Well done. I unexpectedly enjoyed this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Torture, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal death

alite428's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, and Abortion

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, Miscarriage, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Physical abuse

a_crow_in_the_sky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Death, Domestic abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Cursing, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Bullying, and Miscarriage

eeefann125's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Grief, Dysphoria, Rape, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

cronads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Body horror, Abortion, Gore, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Bullying, Confinement, Dysphoria, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Self harm, Deadnaming, Violence, and Death

Minor: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Vomit

justgeekingby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Set in an alternate Victorian London where the veil between our world and the spirit world has thinned, and people with violet eyes have the ability to work spirit magic, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White follows the story of Silas. When the veil first thinned spirit work was considered suitable for women; until men realised that it gave them power. Now men are allowed by law to do spirit work, but women are prohibited and are used for breeding.

Silas is transgender, a boy born in a girl’s body, and with violet eyes he is destined to be married off to a wealthy man. The idea of being pregnant horrifies and terrifies Silas, and so he decides to do something risky. He dresses up as a boy and attends a Royal Speaker Society gala in the place of a young medium who couldn’t attend. Instead, Silas will receive the spirit-work seal meant for the real Mr. Roswell. With a seal he can escape his life, live as a man and train to become a doctor.

What Silas doesn’t take into account is the test that he has to complete to win his seal, and when things go very wrong he’s sent to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. He’s “diagnosed” with Veil sickness, which he soon finds out is what all the residents at Braxton’s have been diagnosed with. They’re all girls who don’t fit within the Speaker’s perfect idea of what a wife should be, and they’re all there to be cured. When it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems, and that previous residents who were sent to Bethlem Royal Hospital never actually made it there, Silas starts to investigate further.

At first, he feels completely alone. The other residents are either unfriendly, concentrating on becoming cured or too terrified to draw attention to themselves. As Silas finds support and kinship from two unexpected sources, he begins to unravel the mystery of Braxton piece by horrific piece.

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a dark horror novel that unapologetically looks at how society treats people who are different. I’ve recently seen people discussing whether young adult books are becoming too dark, with the suggestion that they are being written for adult readers rather than young people. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a difficult novel to read, and that’s from my perspective as a queer disabled adult. But that is not to say that it’s unsuitable for young people, nor was it written with them in mind. Rather the opposite; this book is White saying “I see you” and that is something that many teenagers need to hear.

While the main character of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is transgender and autistic, the addition of Veil Sickness means that this is a book that will resinate with a many readers. White conveys so many feelings of being different, of what it’s like to be viewed as useful/a commodity to non-disabled people/people in power when it suits them, and to be considered as wrong, “ill”, just because you’re different. The residents of Braxton are powerless apart, but together they are able to achieve much more and that is an important message in a young adult novel.

White provides content warnings at the beginning of the novel which I have copied in my review and added my own as well. I strongly recommend checking them before picking this one up because his descriptions are very graphic at times and in conjunction with the storyline it can be quite triggering (it was for me, at least). I say all this not to put people off reading, but to ensure everyone has a positive reading experience. I thoroughly enjoyed The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and I will definitely be checking out his other book, and any future titles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Violence

The author lists the following content warnings at the start of the book: transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, and extensive medical gore. I also want to add: emotional and physical abuse (from a Headmaster to a student, and a husband to a wife), and the same headmaster groomed a student to become his wife. There are many discussions/flashbacks referring to older men being inappropriate with young women, and an on page sexual assault of the main character. Likewise, there is an underage pregnancy and marriage on page, and underage marriages are common place in Speaker society. A pregnant girl is thrown down some stairs. The miscarriage is self-inflicted and is very graphic with mention of a foetus. The medical gore includes vivisections (autopsies on live patients), and a description of a necropsy of a fetal pig.

ender24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

A wonderful story, with a lot of horror and gore. It’s a bit slow for the first half of the book, but it’s important for the overall story unlike some other writings. Already want a sequel, or something to expand the world of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking