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sophiesticatedselections's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual content, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, War, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Infidelity, Drug use, Cancer, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Grief, Deadnaming, Confinement, and Alcohol
biljnavjestica's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Genocide, Medical trauma, Outing, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Minor: Vomit
very triggering for mentioned triggers, check them beforehand if senstitive because there are very graphic descriptions throughout (mainly different forms of violence and sex)tenaphora's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Sexual content, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Body horror, Genocide, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Sexual violence, and Violence
samants's review against another edition
- 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
- 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.
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Suicide, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexism, Ableism, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Grief, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual violence, War, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Cursing, Death, and Genocide
coatpocketcreature'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
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, Hate crime, Genocide, and Murder
audrilou's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Transphobia, War, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Body shaming, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Drug use, Cursing, Body horror, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Ableism, and Abortion
smbd_the_reader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is very much over-the-top, spatterpunk-esque and horny and the author is well known to be a drama queen with more vile takes than one person should reasonably be capable of having.
As such, I cannot recommend reading this book to everyone and cannot really recommend buying it to, well, anyone.
If you want to read it and have any triggers whatsoever I'd recommend looking up a list (or several) first. This review contains mentions of rape and TERf rhetoric but nothing overly detailed.
That being said, I genuinely enjoyed this book.
I loved the complexity of the characters, the varying responses to trauma, the way different trans people were treated by their surroundings, the inner thoughts of the characters, internalized transphobia and all.
Gretchen-Felker is also absolutely amazing at writing gripping storylines and visceral imagery that completely entrance you, rarely has a book had this much of an emotional impact on me while reading.
The TERFs were very close to real life, minus the force of a society that would not approve of their more extreme antics. There’s a hint of exaggeration at times, though a lot of it is taken fairly directly from actual TERF talking points.
Which may seem unrealistic and over the top to some but really, that’s just TERFs, baby.
One thing that had me sort of taken aback was
What was not odd to me in the slightest is the attempted rape of Fran with the TERF in question then freaking out when she realized Fran has a penis and trying to paint herself as a victim. It’s so extremely on-brand that I almost had to laugh, in that “god they sure would, wouldn’t they?” way.
Overall the one thing that I'm not sure how to feel about is the ending. A lot of things were building up to, at best, a Pyrrhic victory at that point and while I am glad that so many survived there seemed to be some degree of plot armor involved which makes it at least somewhat less satisfying.
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Medical content, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia
huckleberryrk's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Genocide, Torture, Suicide, Hate crime, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Grief, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Slavery, Transphobia, War, and Murder
yourfavavery's review
- 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
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cannibalism, Genocide, and Sexual content
bittennailbooks's review against another edition
A bleak, egregious, and dismal imaginging of a post-apocalyptic future where men's final form is foaming-at-the-mouth mutants, XX TERF's become militaristic hunters, and another reality where trans people are hunted to near extinction.
That being said: This is not a bad book by any stretch of the word. In fact, I think its almost too good that this hits way too close to home. Unfortunately, I did not have the stomach to finish it but I hope you do!
Graphic: Dysphoria, Gore, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Drug use, Death, Grief, Rape, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Genocide