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mistawenis's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Blood, Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Gun violence, Drug use, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Gore, Torture, Rape, Violence, Vomit, War, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Cursing, Cannibalism, Body shaming, Alcohol, Addiction, Abortion, Abandonment, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Classism, Alcoholism, and Ableism
laurenkimoto's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
This dystopian/horror is the first one I have really enjoyed in a long time.
I will be thinking about this book until the apocalypse comes
Very minor spoiler: JKR gets her comeuppance.
Graphic: Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Classism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Transphobia, Trafficking, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Outing, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Racism, and Self harm
emmague89's review
- 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
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Transphobia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Self harm, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Genocide, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, War, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, and Death of parent
lycheejelly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, War, Dysphoria, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
Minor: Abortion, Misogyny, Child abuse, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Excrement, Incest, and Miscarriage
ruthlessreads's review against another edition
The writing was extremely poor. So much so that it was incredibly difficult to tell whose viewpoint we were in at any given point. The characters relied very heavily on stereotypes & were generally one dimensional. The one character that was given more dimension was consistently treated poorly & discussed negatively even by people that she was supposed to be close with. The body horror was near constant & added nothing to the plot. Every single sexual scene was written to shock & disgust not just the reader but also to make the characters feel shame & disgust with themselves & people like them. Not only that but the aftermath of the sexual encounters left either one or both characters involved feeling violated in some way. Again, this book relies on and heavily perpetuates negative stereotypes about trans people specifically and the LGBTQ+ community & women in general. (I came across this while writing this review but this is the same author who proudly proclaimed on Twitter "I'm a woman, and a professional author, and I've never written anything without at least one rape scene in it." which she defends by saying that not writing these scenes in media is pretending it it doesn't exist in real life. So, that sounds like a lot of internalized misogyny to me & it really comes across in her writing.) This book was marketed as a narrative that would turn the gender plague trope on its head but I don't believe that the author succeeded in subverting a single thing about it. Beyond that, the writing was just bad. It's the literary equivalent of movies like Human Centipede which have no cinematic value and only want to shock, disgust, and upset the viewer. The authors desire to upset the reader overwhelms anything else she might have to say about...anything. As such, it seems that plotting was planned around specifically horrible things that the author wanted to describe but that don't actually make any sense in respect to the narrative.
I, frankly, can't believe this book was published. It's bad from a technical standpoint. The writing, pacing, plotting, and character development are all over the place. The horror serves no purpose to the plot & the author seems to be seeking up upset, overwhelm, or disgust the reader. But's it's also bad from the standpoint that it relies on & perpetuates negative stereotypes about marginalized communities that already suffer a lot of harm & hate. I think we can do better in 2022.
Please check the content warning. I tried to tag literally everything I could for readers who might struggle with the graphic nature of the book.
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Gore, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Classism, Deadnaming, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, War, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Trafficking, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Dysphoria
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
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: Blood, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Fatphobia, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Deadnaming and Alcohol
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
lunmione's review against another edition
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Dysphoria, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Outing, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Pedophilia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Self harm
Minor: Incest
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