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gaeliloveweiss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Incest, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Body horror, Dysphoria, Infertility, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit
k2_hancock's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Death, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Dysphoria, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Transphobia, Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Hate crime, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Incest and Child death
fnnbnjmnks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Body horror, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt
vixenreader'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
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Death, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Rape, Deadnaming, Infertility, Medical content, Violence, Body shaming, Transphobia, Blood, Cursing, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Vomit
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Outing, Suicide, Child death, Classism, Incest, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment
Minor: Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Racism, Animal death, Stalking, and Antisemitism
Be aware that this is frank depictions of parasitic infestations with human bodies, urine, water sports, scat-play, anal sex, cyberbullying, online harassment, bombing, terrorism, eating and inserting excrement, fisting, running away from home, homicide, and extreme TERF behaviour.gia0203's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
The same themes pervade both books: being transgender in Britain, and how it links sexuality and trauma. Rumfitt writes about how it feels like we’re going backwards. She touches again and again on how extremist ideas spread. Interestingly in this novel, the internet is also a major theme, for example the fetish community. She pulls at the tension between fetish communities as a bit of fun, a sanctuary and as a coping mechanism.
This book is at times very satirical. I really enjoyed that. It isn’t scared to expose the underbelly of hypocrisy in modern politics. There’s a passage in this book that says everything is about sex, and people just like to pretend that it isn’t. This book is daring when Britain at the moment is leaning towards conservatism and tradition.
In this book, the worms are the metaphor for extremism, similar to the haunted house in Tell Me I’m Worthless. But Rumfitt’s books can’t really be defined as just one thing. She juggles many metaphorical plates at once. I criticised Tell Me I’m Worthless for it’s lack of clarity, and I don’t hold the same criticism for this book. In many ways it’s a stronger novel. Rumfitt is growing really well as an author.
Subjectively however, I think the difference between them is that Tell Me I’m Worthless was more emotional, more zoomed in on the two people at the heart of it, whereas Brainwyrms takes a broader perspective. I prefer Tell Me I’m Worthless on a personal level, but Brainwyrms is the better book.
Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Excrement, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Outing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Addiction, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Ableism, Antisemitism, Infertility, and Rape
Terrorism/Bombing