Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

42 reviews

gia0203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Rumfitt’s narrative voice is very clear and direct in this book - the purpose of the novel felt very clear compared to her last one. I very much enjoyed it, in a different way from Tell Me I’m Worthless.

The same themes pervade both books: being transgender in Britain, and how it links sexuality and trauma. Rumfitt writes about how it feels like we’re going backwards. She touches again and again on how extremist ideas spread. Interestingly in this novel, the internet is also a major theme, for example the fetish community. She pulls at the tension between fetish communities as a bit of fun, a sanctuary and as a coping mechanism.

This book is at times very satirical. I really enjoyed that. It isn’t scared to expose the underbelly of hypocrisy in modern politics. There’s a passage in this book that says everything is about sex, and people just like to pretend that it isn’t. This book is daring when Britain at the moment is leaning towards conservatism and tradition.

In this book, the worms are the metaphor for extremism, similar to the haunted house in Tell Me I’m Worthless. But Rumfitt’s books can’t really be defined as just one thing. She juggles many metaphorical plates at once.  I criticised Tell Me I’m Worthless for it’s lack of clarity, and I don’t hold the same criticism for this book. In many ways it’s a stronger novel. Rumfitt is growing really well as an author.

Subjectively however, I think the difference between them is that Tell Me I’m Worthless was more emotional, more zoomed in on the two people at the heart of it, whereas Brainwyrms takes a broader perspective. I prefer Tell Me  I’m Worthless on a personal level, but Brainwyrms is the better book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Body horror, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Excrement, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Outing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Addiction, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Murder

Minor: Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Ableism, Antisemitism, Infertility, and Rape

Terrorism/Bombing

ahliahreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

5.0

Not for the faint of heart or easily squeamish. However if you're tough enough to handle the parasitic, subversive nature, this might be one of the most important stories of the year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Transphobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Body horror, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Vomit, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Eating disorder, Murder, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

caidyn's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• 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

What. The. Fuck? And what does it say about me that I enjoyed it a lot? This is in the same vein as Eric LaRocca. Incredibly fucked up. Not for the weak.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Fatphobia, Incest, Dysphoria, and Deadnaming

Minor: Rape

iheartm4m's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad tense medium-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: Blood, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Excrement, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Self harm, Gore, Sexual harassment, Torture, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Transphobia

danimacuk's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.75

jesus fucking christ... gross.

two thumbs up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

discarded_dust_jacket's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

First and foremost: this book is NOT for everyone (it’s probably not even for most, tbh).

It’s RIFE with graphic depictions of shockingly taboo sex (way worse than whatever you’re imagining right now). If that means I’ve already lost you? Totally understandable. Do not read this, lol.

BUT, I think pushing through the grossness of the book opens the door for some really important discussions about its themes. I mean, aside from being an extreme horror novel, it IS a timely political satire about transphobia in Britain. 

The main motif that I noticed again and again was the idea of bodies as “hosts” for something. One character has an impregnation kink and obsesses over the idea of hosting a fetus, another character is aroused by the idea of hosting a parasitic organism, and the villains of the story are people infected with extraterrestrial brain worms that are meant to symbolize (and also manifest in the story as) transphobia. 

The concepts of womanhood, motherhood and internet culture are also explored; and, to my great amusement, one of the villainous (and worm-riddled) characters is a not-so-subtle allusion to JK Rowling.

My only complaints are that a few chapters went a bit off the rails and became too abstract for my taste—some are written as this second person POV stream-of-consciousness that lacks about 70% of the necessary punctuation—and the r slur gets used in a way that I found gratuitous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Ableism, and Deadnaming

beaverla's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Body horror, Incest, Dysphoria, Drug use, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

kentanapages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Actual review to come. Immediate reaction What the f did I just read, I am disturbed. This is some f#@ked up sh!t. Every trigger warning.  it’s horrifying it’s just so disturbing i read it in one sitting 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Hate crime, Incest, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Excrement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Body shaming, Ableism, Deadnaming, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Animal death, and Dysphoria

Weird, There’s not a content warning specific to “graphically depicted parasite fetish” :)

vanmeers's review

dark 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

5.0

I’m calling it now, but Brainwyrms is gonna be one of those “either you love it or you hate it” kind of book except it’ll be more like ‘if you’ve never read extreme horror, let alone trans horror, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into’ and it’ll probably leave a few people NOT liking it because it’s brand new territory for them. 

To me, Brainwyrms isn’t just extreme horror with a bit of grossness and kink, it’s also at its core queer horror — trans horror, specifically — and I think if that’s the genre of horror you like, you’ll absolutely love this. I love it. I thought it was disgusting and gross so many times, but I also couldn’t put it down. Alison Rumfitt literally does NOT hold back when it comes to the extremes nor does she hold back when it comes to being political (and I could probably go on a tangent here, but to be short, how can you not be political when you are living as a trans person in the UK). There’s so many layers of horror in this but to me the horror that stood out the most was the horrible truth of living as a trans or queer person in the UK and the fear you face daily and Rumfitt really managed to write it so well, that even I, a cis person, could feel the fear and anger deep within. I can’t pretend to know what trans people go through, especially not the extent of what body dysmorphia can be like, but I do think Brainwyrms managed to make that feeling a bit more tangible to me. It might not have been the intention, but I do think it says a lot about Rumfitt’s writing that you can resonate with her characters and their fears, wants, and needs. 

I’m rambling, but I absolutely loved every part of this (in a I want to vomit/I want to look away/I need to continue reading kind of way) and I’m looking forward to buying a physical copy I can place next to my copy of Tell Me I’m Worthless. 

Alison Rumfitt is the moment y’all and Brainwyrms is for anyone who loves messed up kinks, broken characters, interconnected stories that fuck with you, and not so subtle nods to certain kinds of TERFs in british society (no spoilers, but again, Rumfitt does NOT hold back). If you’re unsure that Brainwyrms is for you, go to a bookstore and read Rumfitt’s introduction when it’s out, it’s magic, and ask yourself if you’re the kind of person that already prefers trans/queer (and/or extreme) horror. 

I suppose this would be perfect for you if you liked Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca and Maggot Girl: Episode 1: A Maggoty Metamorphosis by Otis Bateman, but always wanted to know what would happen if both books fucked and had a a very messed up, but well written, child.

// Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Dysphoria, Gore, Hate crime, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming and Adult/minor relationship

jackalopecore's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Vomit, and Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Rape, Murder, Violence, and Hate crime