Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

35 reviews

vixenreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Despite some lagging in the plot, the characterization and world-building is phenomenal, and the exploration of gender politics and transphobia is nuanced and unabashed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infertility, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

The transphobia is intense, and mainly comes from cis-women. Cis-men are now feral, so there is a fair amount of castration.

katipheria's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. The general premise of the world-building is fantastic and unique, and as much as I hate to say it, were it to become our own reality I'm sure that the world would ultimately align itself in a similar fashion

in that cis women would be more likely to fall into a TERF or at least TERF-adjacent stance, if only due to the uncertainty and fear. Even those who consider themselves to be the best possible ally are still at risk simply due to the drive for self-preservation.

It's a terrifying situation and highlights a lot of ugly truths in reality.

However, the actual story within this world just doesn't do it for me. There's a lot of unnecessary sex scenes and as someone who prefers to avoid an excess amount of that (regardless of sex/gender of participants), I found myself skimming a lot to get back to the actual plot and feeling disappointed. While I understand that an apocalyptic setting inspires depravity and these moments highlight an innate desire for comfort and companionship,

the MC Fran's general poor treatment and better-than-you attitude towards her supposed friends makes things even more unappealing.

While it's not necessarily a horrible book, it is most definitely designed to be an uncomfortable read centered around characters who don't have many redeeming qualities.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

blackcatkai's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-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

3.0

CW: sexual content, transphobia, body horror, gore, violence, death, slurs, sexual assault, blood, gun violence, casual ableism, body shaming

parts of this were oddly funny, but also heart wrenching & sad. pretty violent, but a lot more sex than the gore I would've expected from a splatterpunk novel. still entertaining and worth a read if you have an interest! I recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism

birbmcbirb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• 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

4.0

This book made me very uncomfortable, and goes at a pace that makes you feel like you can't catch you  breath. The characters were flawed, sometimes to an annoying extent, but in a way that mimicks a found family of traumitized people. I think it's worth sticking through the hard parts, but make sure youre in a good head space before you pick this one up. Especially if youre someone targeted by TERFS & SWERFS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Biphobia, Eating disorder, Incest, Racism, Stalking, and Cultural appropriation

anncarve's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

1.75

I understand the deep dark place this book came from, but to not even end it on a hopeful note felt like a betrayal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, 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.

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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. 

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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

vulgarboy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

1.25

In a weird turn of events, this is now the worst book that I have ever read. I knew I was getting into something atypical, something radical, but this was a 300 page dumpster fire. This wasn't really horror, either. Sure there was some gore, but most of the parts meant to be tense or scary felt uninteresting or poorly executed. Aside from that, this felt like Misandry: The Book while also perpetuating the fetishization of non-cis folks. The one trans masc lead was only there for sex and basically nothing else. The personality the two trans femme characters have is completely absen after the first maybe 100-150 pages, one of which is reduced to little more than someone trying to get laid. Even the sex scenes weren't that great, often falling into again a weird fetishization of non-cis bodies or just straight up being bad. Don't even get me started on the one Indian character being called "Indi." I wish I was joking. The most compelling character was a TERF, in a book that is supposed to be so anti-TERF to the point it became "controversial" for killing JKR in the most boring way possible. This was a genuine atrocity masquerading as phenomenal story-telling with an interesting premise. It fell short in so many ways. Given the fact that it's written by a horny, terminally online author who claims there needs to be more sexual assault in the media (????), I'm MORE disgusted thanI originally thought possible. The only reason I gave this any stars at all was for the single compelling character who was- again- a TERF. Absolute garbage and waste of my time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Transphobia, and Antisemitism

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

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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

childofmongreldogs's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

To start, this has a helluva lot of triggers to keep in mind. This book would 100% be an x-rated movie. There's a metric shit ton of blood, gore, curses, death, torture, sex, sexual assault etc along with things like dismemberment and just gross things in general. This is a read at your own risk kind of book.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail