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amaranth_wytch's review
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Stalking
anatomicalpuppet's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
selendrea's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Maeve Fly has a lot to appreciate within its covers. Its antiheroine is unique and and deliciously depraved, and Maeve's descriptions of Los Angeles' ethos are interesting and thought-provoking. The contrast between working as Disney princess but moonlighting as a psychopath is a wonderfully macabre idea for a book. Too bad this book goes virtually nowhere with that idea.
Leede is talented at writing prose, point blank. She uses words like a skillful dance, constructing sentences that provoke emotion and vivid imagery. I was impressed by how well-written some of the paragraphs were. Unfortunately, at times, it felt over written, as if the author was trying too hard to come across as intellectual. Some run-on sentences started to drag on, requiring me to re-read them a handful of times to fully process their meaning. Additionally, the repetitive use of the wolf/monkey metaphor was more cringey than it was impactful or artistic.
On that note, the tone of this novel is the flavor of pseudo-intellectual that I would have loved as a teenager, and that's not a compliment. Maeve is insufferable. I could forgive an unlikeable protagonist if they have other redeeming qualities, if their flaws are making a statement, or if their character development goes anywhere. Instead, Maeve remains generally one-note, and spends her time belittling other women for their interests and motivations. I got the sense that Maeve took herself vastly too seriously while also being a bona-fide Disney adult with a Halloween fetish. Competing with other women over men's attention, purposefully making people - especially other women - uncomfortable, sexually assaulting multiple people, and viewing yourself as better than them for your "unique" tastes is not feminist - it's internalized misogyny to its core. I was hoping that Leede would expand on the metaphor of women having to put on a costume to survive in society, like Maeve dons the Elsa costume, but this connection is mostly left unspoken.
Moreover, finding yourself through a man is not feminist. Maeve does this both by
Despite this novel's long list of content warnings, I found it to be particularly devoid of the gory, action packed scenes it needed to really solidify itself in the horror genre. I didn't hate the ending, but felt it was that same overused trope of
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Excrement and Vomit
sam_pocketrockbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Disney Adult x Hockey Player disguised with a extreme gore and erotic focus.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
mercuryretrobae's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
alukalani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Hate crime, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism
disguisedposer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
madelinequinnee'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I personally wouldn’t describe it as ‘feminist horror’ like i’ve seen it described by other reviewers. Maeve is absolutely not a feminist character, she’s actually quite actively misogynistic at times and SAs a lot of her victims, so I think it’s very misleading to describe this book that way.
But apart from the misleading descriptions, i did enjoy this book. It was pretty campy at times, and very gory, and even though i think more could have been done with the gore and actual horror scenes, this is a pretty solid story.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
bwoo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, and Cannibalism
Minor: Abortion
hauntedantiqueshop's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Oddly enough, I did kind of like it though. Not the gross shit but the overall story I suppose. The ending made me a little sad for Maeve but I didn’t really expect a happy ending for her. Definitely not a book for everyone, I don’t think there’s anyone I would ever recommend it to. But I am interested in reading something from this author again!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Really weird sex stuff. Like uncomfortably weird sex stuff.