Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

52 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

scarletranger's review against another edition

I'll start with the things that made me want to continue to give this book a chance, long after I probably should have stopped. Felker-Martin is great at descriptions. She can paint a vivid, disturbing picture like no other, and her action sequences are top-notch.

However, that doesn't make the writing solid. Even given the unique genre, things like similar sentence structures, bland, one-dimensional characters, and an over-reliance of forcing the message down the reader's throat make this an unenjoyable experience. And as someone who identifies as non-binary, the message of "all cis-het people suck!" is just as harmful as the reverse. 

The worst offense, though, is that in the writer's anger (and it's clear that she wrote this out of anger), she somehow found a way to make TERF's hatred make sense? For context: this is a world where anyone with too much testosterone turns into a zombie that rapes, kills, and eats anyone they smell estrogen on. Trans-women have to find ways to keep getting estrogen, or else they are doomed to the same fate.

In a zombie apocalypse, it would be dangerous and stupid to harbor someone with a bite simply because you don't want to seem like a bigot. Why, then, should TERFs allow trans-women into their compounds, to live near their groups, when at any moment they could turn into the dreaded man? TERFs are some of the worst scum on earth, and yet this book makes their fears and hatred legitimate.

It doesn't help that one of the main characters (a trans-woman) immediately starts fantasizing about raping the TERFs the moment she sees them because she's so horny, all the time. When this book isn't preaching at you, it's throwing rough sex in your face with no lead-up. Just a "Wanna fuck?" and there they go! Whether that's because of the genre or poor character-building, I don't know.

This book was clearly written in anger. If the author had any joy in this project, it would have been the sadistic glee of saying "all men are murderous rapists just waiting for an excuse" and being able to make them suffer. At least, that's how it reads, and that experience sucks.

To any writers out there: when you try to force your message too hard, not only does it feel like you're talking down to the reader, it leaves you open to "proving the point" of whoever you're opposing. And that can offer dangerous ammunition. This is a book TERFs could easily hold high and say, "Look! Even they know we're right! They're dangerous and should be kept away from us." And that is one of the worst things a book can do: hurt the very people it claims to represent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gardenofeden's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Deadnaming

Explicit SA scene that I wish I knew about beforehand happens early on in the book. It is on pgs

55-56

23abaigeal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kaleereads's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and War

tales_told_in_gold's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria

Minor: Eating disorder, Racism, and Outing

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I am going to be frank - I will likely be processing what I read for a while, so I’m unsure if I’ll have anything coherent to say, other than to check content warnings below (a lot of shock value stuff in this) if you decide to read this book and take care while reading. 

I will try another book by the author, but I feel conflicted about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Excrement, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jp_riemersma's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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!