Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

50 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Full disclosure: I don’t generally read horror. 

This book was disgusting, perfect, challenging, and relatable, unfortunately. Not for the faint of heart but absolutely worth it if you can get through the gore 🏳️‍⚧️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, and Torture

apolloann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a hard book to read, but wow, was it great. With just enough humor sprinkled in to make the horror digestible, Manhunt left me feeling deeply unsettled. I'm newer to the horror genre, so this was a lot to handle, but the story and characters were so beautifully written that it made the discomfort worth it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Trafficking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

f18's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I figured this would be the best bet for a gender chromosome hormone apocalypse depiction that I could get behind, and it did address all the stuff that irks me about other versions (discusses how it affects trans people ofc, but also things like pcos). Unfortunately I didn't really find myself immersed in the writing but I'm not 100% sure why. I guess the style didn't click with me or maybe because it didn't focus as much on aspects of the genre I most connect to, like body horror. 

I constantly kept losing track of which POV the story was in at any time. I attributed this to the narrator not pausing long enough between scene breaks, but I see that has come up in reviews of the physical book as well. I think the character voices (not the narrator's but the author's ) blurred together. 

There's just something about the metaphor of

trans women surviving by eating cis men's testes

that is just so interesting but yeah... the book was okay, but I didn't love it like I was hoping for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

spoilers for Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, tooth trauma , misandry, gendered slurs, execution, mention of student/teacher relationship

baxstarjonmarie's review

challenging dark sad 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? No

4.5

I enjoyed the story of this book. It was smart, interesting, sometimes funny in a cutting way. But I found it difficult to read nonetheless. At first I was mostly bothered by the way Gretchen wrote the books only fat character, which seemed primarily to make thin people (which I am not) uncomfortable. Like many others, I also found the perspective-shifting to be a bit jarring, though by the end I felt like it made some sense.

When I finished though, I realized that even greater than the extensive fat hatred, which felt more gratuitous than the graphic sex scenes... with the possible exception of the book's primary villain, everyone who gets a close third perspective in this book seems to utterly hate themselves. It's not that I find this unrealistic — the apocalypse has to be hell on mental health. It was just really difficult to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Outing, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dwhiting's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

our_lady_of_perpetual_bad_luck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Outing, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

noonanjohnc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

challenging 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

3.75

A brutal look into how easily TERFs could spread their rhetoric, and just how far they really wish to take it. The horror in the violence and gore was explicit, yet somehow this book kept some levity. After all, what do we have if not the small pleasures and each other? Imagining how JKR died a horrid death was fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

comradeluffy's review against another edition

challenging tense fast-paced

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

1.5

I genuinely was 20 pages away from finishing this book, but couldn't get myself to do it. I should have DNF-ed it halfway through, but hate doing that.

The idea for the book is good and the premise of it is good, but it is not executed well, at all. The characters were impossible to connect with beyond sharing similar labels as a queer person myself. The descriptions of characters and settings were confusing and lackluster and I couldn't keep up with the constant switching of POV's. 

Also, what exactly was the point of all those random sex scenes? I love smut, but come on now. 

Unfortunately, an exhausting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

babayagareads's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

2.25

I don't think I'm going to make a habit of recommending this read. There are some jarring plot movements without transitional context. 

I'd also add that some of the quirks were a little too on the nose - like naming the ship the Galbraith. That would have been fine individually, but including that detail after specifically killing off Rowling in a side story was a little much. And I'm not a J.K. person either - it's more to say that one of those details would have been a more pure add to the plot and story, whereas both seems too pointed.

This book is definitely not for the weak-stomached.

I'm content with having read this piece, but it's not one that I'm going to recommend to others. If you're thinking of reading something that is going to make you uncomfortable, go ahead. 

The biggest content warning I've got is also a spoiler: very early in this book there is

one of the most graphic anal/yussy rape scenes I've ever encountered in a book or movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

You want to feel uncomfortable? This book has it all!