Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

11 reviews

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

chelbawamba's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Just wasn’t for me! The writing style and pace were confusing with massive time jumps that I didn’t realise had happened and had to keep going back and trying to find what I missed. There was also a lack of character and relationship development, with lots of new characters introduced towards the end. There are also constant explicit, rough sex scenes which isn’t a “bad” thing, just not my cup of tea.

I definitely see why there are people that love this book. I love a lot of weird gross unhinged horror books. Just not this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mirandyli's review

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Trippy and macabre take on an apocalyptic dystopia where too much testosterone turns people into cannibalistic zombies. Told from the perspective of a group of trans folks, which is a very interesting take. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Infertility, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

vixenreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.5

Despite some lagging in the plot, the characterization and world-building is phenomenal, and the exploration of gender politics and transphobia is nuanced and unabashed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infertility, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

The transphobia is intense, and mainly comes from cis-women. Cis-men are now feral, so there is a fair amount of castration.

birbmcbirb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book made me very uncomfortable, and goes at a pace that makes you feel like you can't catch you  breath. The characters were flawed, sometimes to an annoying extent, but in a way that mimicks a found family of traumitized people. I think it's worth sticking through the hard parts, but make sure youre in a good head space before you pick this one up. Especially if youre someone targeted by TERFS & SWERFS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Biphobia, Eating disorder, Incest, Racism, Stalking, and Cultural appropriation

audrilou's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

I adore this book. The ending had me heaving big heavy sobs for minutes. Its a dark dark read, especially if you are trans. Because of that closeness, I felt so much more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

emmague89's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This is a hard book to review so take mine with all the salt grains. It’s horror and I don’t typically do that. It’s gory. It’s pithy. It’s snarky. It’s in your face. I love the one liners and I love the TERF tell offs. But the world created just makes me all sorts of sad and depressed. It was too much for me! But maybe that’s what makes it amazing? I think if you like really really dark horror that is very unique and different from anything you’ve read before and you support trans people, you will love this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Antisemitism

kelshef's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I thought this book would be a fun, misandrist adventure with a diverse cast of characters. I found it to be a much deeper, more thought-provoking work than I expected.

The beautifully descriptive, vividly gory, sensual writing in this book allows the reader to really inhabit the bodies of the main characters in a way that is rare in literature. This was especially enlightening for me, a cis, straight woman feeling a connection to  and understanding of the trans experience of the characters that I’ve never felt before. 

I think the characters and their interiority far outshine their plot and environment of this book. The first third of the book deliberately grounds us in the two protagonists’ experience of their world, but the latter two thirds, where the majority of the plot occurs, felt rushed to me. I understand that what the characters were experiencing was frantic and fast-paced, but I found myself taken out of the story by wondering what the hell was going on and why it was happening. 

I do think the very end of the book did the characters justice, and wrapped up the story with a feeling of some hope that the survivors will be able to find a way to live a life of integrity and truth, at least for awhile.

While the book is gross (in a great way) and extremely violent, I didn’t feel a sense of dread or horror until one of the final scenes of the book. This isn’t the type of horror to leave you with nightmares, it’s the type that will leave you identifying the horror of the world that we live in today, and recognizing that some of us might actually have a better, more respected life in a (more, different) dystopian hellscape.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

mallory10100's review

it was gruesome, and i honestly got tired of it. there was one chapter (called The Brat) where i didn’t know which characters POV was present until the character was named at the end. 

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Content Warnings

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