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lesbrarycard's review against another edition
4.75
while the plot was a little convoluted at times, the real pleasure of this book was the tender moments of connection and understanding that played out in character relationships. however, don't go into this one expecting gentleness - it's absolutely packed with violence, and requires a thorough check of TWs before diving in.
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Transphobia
grey_jayne's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
The reason I'm not shouting out a 5 star review for this book is that I think Walking Dead desensitized me for this kind of story, especially because the feral men don't appear in this story as much as you'd think, leaving the TERFs as the primary villain. This is person on person ugliness, although this time the focus is on the divide between trans people (and the people who love them) and transphobes. This made the middle of the book harrowing, yet dense. We also start getting sections where we're following the TERFs, which I found to be fairly challenging. It's a book where I wish everyone would read it for the message but you do need to have endurance for dark and disgusting content.
I wish Gretchen the best with Manhunt because I could see it being too much for the average person. It's intense yet also loving and I'm going to miss the characters.
Graphic: Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
machinations's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Outing, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Classism
mallory10100's review
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
ponydanza's review
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Deadnaming and Alcohol
kylajaynebooks'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? Yes
5.0
This read like a movie - it was brutal, nasty, horrifying, real, depressing, funny, reflective, sarcastic and I loved it so much.
It has so much to say and really makes you question feminism and how it absolutely does not always include everyone. It explores gender identity, mental illness, toxic relationships, eugenics, sex work, genocide and dictatorships
Just wow this was a gory disgusting sexy masterpiece
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
atenderwitch's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
dobbsthedog's review against another edition
2.0
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
CW: fatphobia, internalized fatphobia, homophobia, antisemitism, ALL the transphobia.
I did not like this book. The only reason I’m giving it two stars is because I liked parts of the idea of the story, and I did like part 1, but otherwise I really have nothing good to say about it.
So, the premise of the book is that there’s a virus that only infects men and they become these awful rapey cannibals. The book starts out following two trans girls, Fran and Beth, who are man hunters. They kill the awful rapey cannibal men, cut off their balls and cut out their kidneys, as they are one of the only sources of estrogen left in this apocalyptic world. I thought this was a really interesting premise. I also gave a chuckle when the villainous militia showed up because they’re called TERFs. I was really interested to see how this would all play out. Then Fran and Beth meet up with a trans man, Robbie, and they form a little group of man hunters, who eventually make their way back to the doctor that the girls have been working for (and who is an old friend).
Things just kind of get bad from here. Our little band of trans folks plus the doctor move into a compound where they are supposed to be safe, but the compound is basically just a bunch of upper class white ladies trying to get pregnant (which is why they need the doctor). Then Beth is forced to be an unpaid sex worker on the compound, where she has to dress up as a man and fuck the apparently penis starved ladies of the compound. Like, that is just a whole lot of fucked up. And when she’s not good at doing this, the women in power send Beth off to basically be a slave to the TERFs.
Meanwhile, the TERFs are executing any trans women they come across. And that’s fairly graphic on page.
At around this point Robbie and Beth rebel, rescue Indi (the doctor) and Fran, and make their way, along with a bunch of other trans women and the startling few decent cis women, to an old bunker on the coast (they’re somewhere in New England). Things seem good, they can easily defend themselves from the awful rapey cannibal men. Except then the TERFs show up in a warship that they’ve somehow got running again, and blow the bunker to bits. Like, that just seems like A LOT of effort to go to to get rid of a handful of trans women. I get that the TERFs are terrible, but this seems a bit extreme?
In the end, Fran dies, Robbie leaves, and Beth and Indi go somewhere? And that’s the end. There is no real resolution, just a whole lot of awfulness and then the end.
Maybe there is something here that I’m just not getting, being cisgender, maybe I’m missing something? After the first part I thought it was going to be a story about this group of trans folks who are surviving, while having occasional run ins with the TERFs. I thought it was going to be a story about the virus and transness and found family. But what it ended up being was an awful story where transphobia seemed to be the main plot, with a splashing of fatphobia, an antisemitic joke, and some homophobic slurs thrown in for good measure. I just don’t get it?
Overall, I wish I had not read this.
Graphic: Fatphobia and Transphobia
Moderate: Homophobia and Antisemitism
mmccombs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
thereserose'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Dysphoria