Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

56 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

scheierndevin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katreena's review against another edition

2.5

I feel like the story was very loose and not well put together. Also my my genre so maybe in bias. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Racism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Outing, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death and Panic attacks/disorders

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

w0lfyfr3n's review against another edition

I was intrigued by the blurb, and the idea of three trans main characters seemed so exciting, but the way these characters thought and interacted with each other felt a bit too toxic to me. Furthermore, all the characters are distractingly horny at very inappropriate moments. I wanted to go further but this style of writing was just not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Toxic friendship

raine_forest_cafe's review against another edition

dark

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rkpaulson96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

Overall, I liked it, though some of the book was a slog to get through.
The book starts off strong, right in the middle of action and character exposition. The middle slows down quite a bit, I thought, though the last third is all action with satisfying character growth payoff. The ideas and themes Felker-Martin explores are vitally relevant today given the rise of modern fascism and its accompanying transphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Pandemic/Epidemic