Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

93 reviews

arrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow this book is a trip! If you're mad at toxic cis men and terfs, then this book is super cathartic. If you're trans and fragile, then be warned that there is a lot of trauma here. Like. So. Much. Trauma. Queer zombie apocalypse tho, very early 2000s vibes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

samants's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

A collection of thoughts:

• It felt strangely bio-essentialist for a book with so many trans characters; testosterone is bad, estrogen is good.
• Weird descriptions of fatness.
• This book oozed self-loathing. I can tell that the author is trans from the writing, and the unfortunate thing is that it really comes out in the self-hatred experienced by the trans characters, which is so detailed and thorough that it feels intensely personal. I suspect that the author is also fat and self-loathing, but I haven't really looked her up.
• Burying the lede here: This book is VERY gory, graphic, and honestly gross. Like, the content warnings are very real. It makes it hard to read at times and is worse at the beginning.
• The anger in it is very real and raw.
• The discussions and topics tackled in the book feel very online, as in I'm pretty sure it's what circulates on trans twitter. I know it's post-apocalyptic, but it seems so implausible and nihilistic that it crosses into being a panicked nightmare, reeking of fear, rather than a social commentary in the way dystopian novels usually are. It doesn't feel realistic but it does feel like what social media paints as a realistic scenario.
• Follow-up to the previous point: maybe this is how horror books usually are, but I felt that there was no hope for this society, which is unusual for a dystopian novel. The people seem fractured and it really seems like the end of the world. Pretty bleak. Full credit to the author for painting such a dark picture.
• Not only was there way too much sex in this book (aren't you people tired?) but the sex itself was also graphic and at times violent.
• This book is littered with expletives. So many. It's a little tiring.
• This book definitely makes you think.
• Lastly: This book does Baltimore and Maryland DIRTY. I don't think Baltimore deserved the treatment it got in this book. Baltimore doesn't need any more insults. It's a lovely city and already deserves more than it gets in the media. If anything, Boston is more puritanical. Just saying.

I'm just not a horror person, let alone the kind of person who enjoys stomach-turning gore.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

audrilou's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

I adore this book. The ending had me heaving big heavy sobs for minutes. Its a dark dark read, especially if you are trans. Because of that closeness, I felt so much more. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nbweberg's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

I think this book had the potential to be something really interesting and riveting but in my opinion the message got lost behind all the seemingly pointless sex scenes and explicit gore.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ryyyyyyyye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is incredible, an incredibly engaging plot which works wonderfully to reveal the mostly unspoken ideas and perceptions we have about ourselves, those we share identities with, and those who refuse to accept us - largely from a queer trans perspective but so many intersections in between. The conflicts are so imposable on today's society ensuring the fear and tension is incredibly relatable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Infertility, Slavery, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

sapphicshark's review against another edition

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

larzhagen's review against another edition

- Incredibly violent and graphic sexual scenes back to back that did not seem necessary to the plot/character development.
- Dialogue seems unnatural; Beth's dialogue, for example, carries a humor which doesn't fit the horrific situations she's recently been through. "It's the last man on earth. How's it hangin', pal?" (p.57)
- Excessive use of epithets i.e. "... glancing at the injured girl" (p.55), and "the other woman" in lieu of characters' names. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

I have and will continue to support trans authors. It's unfortunate that I did not enjoy GFM's writing, nor the material in Manhunt.

peggy_racham's review against another edition

This book is briliantly written, the universe interesting and new. But as it turns out I have limit for violence and gore and its this book. Mind the warnings

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

kaschaller's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, War, and Injury/Injury detail