Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

57 reviews

mirandyli's review

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Trippy and macabre take on an apocalyptic dystopia where too much testosterone turns people into cannibalistic zombies. Told from the perspective of a group of trans folks, which is a very interesting take. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Infertility, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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.

madzsmiled's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.75

Manhunt was an incredibly powerful take on the zombie apolocalypse, centering hormones and gender identity. It was one of the scariest and goriest apolocalypse stories I've read in a long time, and one of the first I've read that features Trans characters. Beth and Fran's struggled not only to survive the zombified men and the TERFS, but also to find community and love. It was a fantastic read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

crimsonreadlips's review

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

teresa0623's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

This book was a doozy and I was uncomfortable throughout the entire thing...but wasn't that the point? Rape, hunting people, bloody parts and abuse (sexual, emotional, physical) were all in this book so it is definitely has trigger warnings. I was a bit put off Beth at the beginning but at the end I was so in love with her.....as for Fran I pretty much just hated her. She was self absorbed and manipulative and everything in between, but was that just her or the circumstances she was in? So much to think about....
This was my book club pick for the month of October and I am so excited to see what others thought and have to say about this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

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

ciaranolio's review against another edition

challenging tense 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? Yes

5.0

Post-apocalyptic hyper-gory trans horror, about a future where a virus has turned all humans with a certain level of testosterone into monsters. Incredible character writing, especially enjoyed the two trans female pov characters and their views on trans womanhood in their TERF-ruled dystopia in which maleness is actually the ultimate mark of violence. Absolutely not for the faint of heart
TWS: extreme violence, rape & sexual violence (on-page), misogyny, violent transphobia, racism (including lynching), body horror, fascism, frequent and detailed discussions of body image, eating disorders, medical trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cannibalism

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

__katdoesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was one of the best books I have read in a while and cannot recommend it enough! It was reminiscent of Moths by Jane Hennigan, but substantially darker. The issues tackled in the book are even more heartbreaking as, although set in a dystopian setting, they are real and current dangers. Your attachment and love for the characters just grows with every page, and it left me emotionally devastated. A true modern horror classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Grief, Dysphoria, and Classism

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. 

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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