Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

3 reviews

sproutedpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Chronic illness representation: 

• Maise: migraines, asthma and lung issues, heart issues, history of childhood illness. 
• Mr. Jamsetjee: tremors (likely Parkinson's) referred to as “shaking palsy”.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Gun violence, Animal death, Racism, Gore, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Discussion of phrenology (challenged) and racism in science, description of animal corpses and their decomposition (not overly graphic), description of surgical procedures on animal corpses, use of laudanum to treat chronic migraines, infant death/stillbirth

n0elle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this one. For one, I absolutely love classic retellings, especially if they’re sapphic and this one was a very interesting take on the original story of Frankenstein. 
Now, while I do know the author tried hard to make it appear historically correct, I found it absolutely exhausting to read hundreds of pages of men dictating the protagonist’s life, telling her what she can and can’t do, how she should behave, what (little) she’s worth. 
I’m all for women in STEM, driven by ambition and scientific ideas that lead through breakthroughs. BUT if  her ideas and success are always overshadowed by a man or even taken by a man, while she just sits idly by.. that’s infuriating, historically correct but still infuriating. And while the main character did get mad about these things, she always stayed quiet. In the rare moments she didn’t, she was belittled and reprimanded so much, I felt the shame of being a woman bleed through the pages. 
Maybe the writing was just too good and too real and it made me feel so many emotions, some of which I could have gone without. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual harassment, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, and Terminal illness

lily_marigold's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Child death, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Blood, Animal death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol and Violence