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bestofsons's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Transphobia, Slavery, Torture, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Body horror, Misogyny, Homophobia, Gore, Hate crime, Confinement, Sexual assault, Outing, Medical content, Incest, War, Violence, Deadnaming, Blood, Sexual content, and Death of parent
cateyeschloe's review
- 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
4.0
“You always could have done something.
You were just afraid to be uncomfortable.”
“It is our problem… Them, the people outside… Every dyke and freak and faggot in the world is my fucking problem, and they’re yours too…
“I know the world’s dead, but that means we get more of a say in what happens to the people left in it, not less.”
“It wasn’t the few who’d cheered [during a TERF rally] that frightened [Beth (a trans woman)];
“it was the rest watching with guarded expressions,
“not looking at those among their numbers who cried… ‘you fucking Nazis’ and ‘Fuck TERFs!’ …“That was what scared her.
“The women who stayed silent.”
Graphic: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Gore, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Outing, Sexism, Death, Body horror, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Torture, Transphobia, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Deadnaming, Rape, and Classism
Minor: Racism, Pregnancy, and Self harm
There are really brutal execution style deaths of trans people throughout the entirety of this book.Violence is very prevalent throughout and is sometimes very graphic, especially in regard to injuries and injury descriptions.
This is a transphobic, TERF-ruled society and every page reflects this.
The use of words like “faggot”, “tranny”, “cunt” are all used throughout as slurs.
The POV from the TERFs rails hard against trans women and often describes them as men wearing “womanface” and they repeatedly mention their belief that trans women are only men who are sexually gratified by “pretending” to be women.
A TERF also refers to a trans man character as a “traitor” and someone so in love with the patriarchy that they betrayed themselves and their sisters.
All trans people are continuously misgendered by the TERFs and sometimes they simply refer to trans people as “the things”.
There is one instance of a cis character intentionally deadnaming a trans character and it is very upsetting. There is somewhat of a warning for it, though, since the chapter title is “Deadname”.
There are many scenes depicting sex between various people. They often reference fingers or mouths or feelings but overall I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s overly graphic in its sexual content.
One of the most upsetting scenes is when a cis woman stabs another cis woman in the vagina with a knife and basically carves out not only her vagina itself but also her entire internal reproductive system. The book specifically mentions the woman’s uterus falling out through the wound. This all happens while the victim is alive and conscious.
A lot of the trans characters deal with dysphoria in some way, a lot of it exacerbated by the fact that they are in a post-apocalyptic world with limited access to anything that would be gender-affirming, even down to basic hygiene and maintenance.
Some of the trans characters deal with self-hatred or self-loathing, as well as jealousy for other trans people who they believe are naturally more passing than they are.
Fatphobia plays a distinct role with certain characters and the way they are treated by others.
Sex work is very vocally despised by the TERFs, and the sex workers that exist in the book seem to be looked down on in general, regardless of their gender identity.
The men in the book are terrifying and violent. They are cannibals and will attempt to rape any living being they encounter. They are depicted as feral, mindless, nonverbal creatures who exist only to kill, rape, and cannibalize.
Even so, the men are still not as terrifying as the TERFs.
kaschaller's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Body horror, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Ableism, Slavery, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Vomit, Torture, Cursing, Drug use, Death, Blood, Transphobia, Outing, Gore, War, and Violence
klwilby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Outing, Misogyny, Self harm, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Trafficking, Death, War, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
wildeflower's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Cursing, Outing, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Vomit, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Outing, Cancer, Child death, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Classism
This is a book about a group of transwomen trying to survive an apocalypse where they're being hunted by literal TERFS, and so there is so much trans violence, slurs, hate crimes, etc. towards trans women / trans femmes.britttobegorey94's review
- 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
Graphic: War, Violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Child death, Outing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Transphobia, and Rape
childofmongreldogs's review against another edition
4.0
This wasn't a book that I loved but the concept was really interesting and the writing was good. I sincerely don't really have much to complain about it either which is a nice change from a lot of the books I've been reading lately.
Basic concept is that the end of the world happens. This is definitely an interesting take on the idea of gendered diseases/pandemics that we've seen in other forms of media. This novel just takes into consideration the existence of trans people. Men (or, rather, anyone who has a significant amount of testosterone) ends up turning into a monster.
Honestly, I'm not one for excessive gore. I think my only exception to this would be Stephen Graham Jones but I might make another exception for Felker-Martin. This novel is exceptionally gory and pretty gross. Yet, she does a great job of selling us these characters, even the villainess of the story with this back drop of violence and dirt. I'll say here that Beth absolutely devastated me on so many levels.
If I had all day or the inclination to, I'd go point by point on some of the most unfair and ridiculous arguments made about this book being bad. Instead, I'll save myself the energy and just that I found a lot of other reviews to be absolutely ridiculous. Like, being mad about men being portrayed as blood thirsty monsters. Sorry, that's the story? There's a male main character who obviously isn't a monster lol. Finally, on this, while there is a lot of sex, it's really brief and not really that crazy. I'm surprised anyone has mentioned this when people were screwing and fucking in the Walking Dead, the Last of Us, Dawn of the Dead, literally any apocalyptic media has people getting down and dirty. I know for a fact some of you are reading erotica L M A O. Why are you mad at this one?
I felt that the narrative was actually really kind to the antagonists as well which was a genuine surprise to me considering how up in arms people got over this. Spoiler: the main antagonists beyond the blood thirsty monsters/zombies are called TERFs and they go around as a large group and route out those who aren't "XX" chromosomed. I will say that the reason this doesn't get a five stars for me is because of how after school special the author seemed at times about this point. I'd actually go so far as to say that the novel went too far in siding with the antagonists, even. Though, I suppose that fairness also lends some credibility and realism to their motivations.
Final sidenote that I finished the last half of this novel as an ebook instead of audio. There was nothing wrong with Katherina Pucciariello (the narrator) but this was definitely not the kind of book I wanted to listen to while in the car or washing dishes. She did a good job of differentiating the voices of the characters too. Just not my cup of tea.
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Transphobia, Gore, and Miscarriage
vexedfox's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Vomit, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Suicide, War, Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Racism, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Transphobia
flags's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Drug use, War, Sexual harassment, Murder, Transphobia, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Body horror, Vomit, Outing, Misogyny, Hate crime, Sexism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Death, Classism, Body shaming, Medical content, Alcohol, Rape, Racism, and Child death
Moderate: Religious bigotry
erikathered's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Police brutality, Trafficking, Gore, Outing, Body horror, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Violence, Death, Cursing, Dysphoria, and War
Moderate: Suicide, Slavery, Fatphobia, Deadnaming, Toxic friendship, and Eating disorder
Minor: Self harm, Ableism, Colonisation, Cancer, Racism, Death of parent, and Terminal illness