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rosesofthespring's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
I cannot overstate the disappointment.
There are moments of shining brilliance in this novel. Gretchen Felker-Martin can write incredible scenes when she's empathizing with the characters and not working out some kind of miserable grudge. The worldbuilding is absurdly bioessentialist, something which I was terrified of when I heard the premise, but I remained hopeful that she'd avoid the pitfalls. She does not. There's no room in this world for nuance, for the reality of the hormone spectrum, or for any amount of kindness or nostalgia. When the author attempts to engage with controversial real-world issues, it falls flat, coming across as two-dimensional.
This book is effectively a longform fiction version of the author's favorite online conspiracy theories. But I suppose that's redundant. I can see how this might seem fresh and edgy to anyone who hasn't been mired in online trans subcultures, but to someone who knows where the lens originates, it seems tired and bitter. Sometimes that's a basis for a solid book. I wish this was one of those times. This one goes out to the truscum and transmedicalists, the bioessentialists who believe gender is stored in the hormones, radical "feminists" who believe the genders are "oppressor vs oppressed," and the members of sad little forums who are stalwartly barricading themselves in the darkness of their worst days. I hope it gives them what they're looking for.
Graphic: Cursing, Dysphoria, Trafficking, Transphobia, Death, Hate crime, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Gore, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Fatphobia, Self harm, Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Infertility
yellowvans'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: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Outing, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Deadnaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Minor: Animal death and Death of parent
mallory10100's review
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Body horror, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Murder, Transphobia, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault
kingweirdo's review against another edition
- 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
but
This is one of the most touching, heartbreaking, brutal books I've ever read. I was so in love these characters, and even sickly attached to the villain narrator. Every chapter held a gut-punch, whether it was a horrible death, or act of violence, or a transphobic microaggression, or just the horrible things that the characters said to themselves while surviving the actual end of the civilized world.
And while this book is PACKED with blood and guts, bullets and knives, and breathtaking fights to the death, the world is so smartly built and the premise is SO wrought with symbolism. The entire conceit establishes a Binary sex problem and then immediately starts dismantling it and showing a dozen gaps in that easy essentialism. It asks us horrifying questions about identity and community, it leaves no population unscrutinized, it reminds us of how much there is to fear from our fellow humans, and it also gives us such remarkable tenderness.
I wept. I usually hate series, but I'm honestly begging the author to extend this universe and give us more.
Graphic: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Grief, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Slavery, Suicide, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
Minor: Colonisation, Child death, Self harm, and Sexual harassment
criticalgayze'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
4.5
Holy heck. As you can see from the litany of "trigger warnings" appended to this review (on Storygraph, if viewing on another platform), this book is a minefield of topics. Felker-Martin is most definitely not aiming for inclusion in your local right-wing library.
If you read last year's bestselling and highly lauded Detransition Baby, then you have already been in conversation with many of the ideas presented here. In fact, Felker-Martin both quotes and credits the author, Torrey Peters, within the work. Like Detransition, Baby, Manhunt is actively wrestling with both how trans people, specifically trans women, are socialized amongst each other and among the broader (specifically female-identifying) population.
By mutating all peoples producing high, masculine-assigning levels of testosterone, Felker-Martin is able to grapple almost exclusively with how trans women, and their allies to a lesser extent, are treated by the femme-assigned-and-identifying by allowing the latter group to have reason to make their discomfort and disdain explicit. As these trans women could be biologically betrayed into regressing to masc-presentation levels of testosterone, which would force them to succumb to the novel's male-mutating pandemic. With this excuse, femme-assigned-and-identifying women seeking gender purity and previously denied power structures are able to finally dissociate from tacit allyship in favor of a sex-based caste system.
This book is shamelessly targeted. Felker-Martin repeatedly calls out known TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) J.K. Rowling, who has on multiple occasions sought to delineate trans women from biological women, like herself. Because of this pointed critique, this book will face its share of intense backlash and vitriol from those who claim themselves allies (or those who purposefully do not) yet want to exclusively own their biological title as "woman" in an attempt to win the "oppression olympics."
Consider this my Surgeon General's book stamp: Approach with caution, but approach.
Quotes:
Pussy certified all-natural by the Daughters of the Witches You Couldn’t Burn or whatever Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival bullshit the TERFocracy in Maryland bowed down to. (Location 82)
She always scarred like that, as though her body had known ahead of time that it was going to be torn open. As though it were prepared for mutilation. (Location 603)
“Oh, honey.” Indi settled deeper into the chair, shifting back and forth inside its confines. “The world is over. Who cares how fast you go?” (Location 1061)
She’d been like that for as long as Fran had known her, as meticulous about her clothes, her hair, her makeup as she was careless about her house, as though she were a topiary: not quite static, but reliant on the illusion of it. (Location 1321)
She had a whole drawer full of different smiles for when she needed them. (Location 1386)
Fran could see the blank “Sex” boxes on the intake form, twin islands all-encompassing in a sea of ephemera. How many times had she dithered in the blank quarter inch between them? (Location 1560)
“I’m trans. I’ve had first dates with more crying than that.” (Location 1998)
It’s just a way to keep from being drawn and quartered by the Knights of J. K. Rowling. (Location 2217)
“Them, the people outside, the people in Boston and Concord and Worcester. Every dyke and freak and faggot in the world is my fucking problem, and they’re yours too, Fran." (Location 2599)
Community is when you never let go of each other. Not even after you’re gone. (Location 3965)
Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Infertility, Kidnapping, Addiction, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and War
Minor: Deadnaming, Death of parent, Self harm, and Trafficking
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: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Misogyny, and Child death