Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

6 reviews

noonanjohnc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Medical content, Torture, Abandonment, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

madzsmiled's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Manhunt was an incredibly powerful take on the zombie apolocalypse, centering hormones and gender identity. It was one of the scariest and goriest apolocalypse stories I've read in a long time, and one of the first I've read that features Trans characters. Beth and Fran's struggled not only to survive the zombified men and the TERFS, but also to find community and love. It was a fantastic read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual content, Deadnaming, Child death, Cursing, Cannibalism, Blood, Fatphobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

sophiesticatedselections's review

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

Intriguing premise is what kept my interest throughout. I found a some of the characters (Fran and Ramona especially) insufferable and others (like Robbie for the first 2/3 of the book) dull and underdeveloped. Beth and Indi were my favs and I wish we got more of their POVs. Not sure how I feel about the book overall and whether I would recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, War, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Infidelity, Drug use, Cancer, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Grief, Deadnaming, Confinement, and Alcohol

babybasil's review

tense fast-paced

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

1.0

To say the book as a whole was bad would be incorrect. The premise was cool. It could have been so amazing if the writing wasn’t so flat. I nearly DNFd this book, but I hate quiting, so I slogged on to my detriment. 

Firstly, if the book goes more than 3 pages without mentioning sex or someone’s genitals, it was a lucky 3 pages. Like, it’s constant. Everyone is fucking each other all the time. Everyone is thinking of sex all the time. And if they’re not thinking of sex, they’re thinking about how they or the men they’re hunting have genitals. Seriously, it was alright for the first few chapters, but by the middle of the book, I was pretty fed up. We’re introduced to half the cast via sex and, sometimes, it was just flat out weird. I believe it was Fran who just straight out asked the doctor if they could fuck and I nearly threw the book across the room. 

Another issue was the story. There was no real storyline. It was just the plot of “men are monsters now and TERFs want to kill trans people” and that was it. It never felt like there was an actual story happening, just a bunch of people fucking and killing. Even the “romance” in the book felt crazy forced. Robbie saying he loved Fran in 3 days? Crazy unbelievable since we never got the two even sharing a moment besides fucking next to an unconscious Beth the same day they met. There was a point at the book where one of the main characters was working as a prostitute essentially. She seemed to have the attention of the head hancho of a bunker, but then a chapter later, her boyfriend was told she was apparently doing a bad job??? Since when?? The characterization was never pointed out and it was just such lazy writing to move the plot on. The whole book is littered with lazy writing. 

Next, I hate terfs as much as any self respecting person does, but the way the book sought to victimize the characters constantly was a bit boring. It felt like making a terf army was the easy way out, ESPECIALLY when they later just straight up accepted trans people/men if they did grunt work and got bottom surgery. It took away all the danger of their army and was just dull. 

Then there was the perspective jumping. I love books that have multiple character perspectives, especially when we get to see how their stories over lap. But when your perspective shifts 3-6 times (usually just 2-3 paragraphs per section) a CHAPTER? It gets so fucking confusing, especially when some of the sections just start “she”. One was so bad I never really figured out who it was supposed to be. Like, who am I meant to root for? What is even going on? We went from a tense moment to yet another character fucking. It was awful! Just pick a character per chapter and stick with them. Or if you do switch, at least make it make sense. 

Another thing was the nazi imagery. I get that Gretchen was trying to make an end of the world “the terfs are killing all trans women” narrative, but using the holocaust and nazi imagery made me, a Jewish women, incrediably uncomfortable. I hate when people compare things to nazis and the literal extermination of my ancestors. It’s not a necessary allegory and she pushed it SO HARD I was rolling my eyes. At nazis. Like, enough is enough.  

Not even that but Indi’s fatphobia is so unnecessary. Like, as a fat person, I don’t think about it as horribly or awfully as she does. She’s constantly going on about her rolls or how other characters are touching her “deeply buried collarbones”. It’s so bad.  It nearly tipped into racism half the time with how the book treated Indi. 

Overall, I did not like this book at all. It was such a waste of a story idea because the virus was such a cool idea. I really don’t recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Incest

emmague89's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Transphobia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Genocide, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, War, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, and Death of parent

amy_rose29's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Body horror, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Medical content, Hate crime, and Gun violence

Moderate: Eating disorder