Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

31 reviews

mxpringle's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.25

This is probably one of the most depraved and bizarre books I've ever read, which is definitely saying something. I feel like I could've used more background as to how the events that happened in Maeve's life or thoughts she had led her to doing certain actions in the book, because a lot of the actions she did just seemed so off the rails that I couldn't see any human reasoning behind it anymore. It kind of felt like the things she did were just like trying to get a reaction out of the reader rather than being authentic character development. However, this was still overall a really interesting/enjoyable read (though very dark and depraved). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Toxic relationship and Pregnancy

gretaslittlelibrary's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 4.25/5⭐️

“Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.”

The more I sit and think on this book, the more I enjoy it. Maeve cleaved her way into my brain and won’t leave. I crave more Maeve (someone please pick up the rights to a movie, it would crush as a movie) or CJ please give us a sequel, or a prequel about grandma??

This book was raunchy, gory, entertaining, and horrific. However, it was also so much more. The above quote really resignated with me and was a pretty major focus of the book. It was nice to see a FMC just be terrible. I saw some reviews that say she actually wasn’t and that her trauma from her grandma showing her what she did when she first got to LA. But I didn’t get that from the book, in fact Leede writes it so we know that Maeve was terrible before she got there, it’s part of what helped her bond with her grandma.  It was nice to just feel her rage, annoyance, confusion, and sense of loss. There’s also a ton of other things you can look into this book for such as psycho-sexual nature and misanthropes, but I don’t feel the need, or want, to dive farther into it right now. It was a fun and dark read and I just want to enjoy it and continue to think about it. Maybe I’ll reread and dive deeper into the themes at a later dated.

Relating to the raunchiness, goriness, and horrificness: I know a lot of people talk about the eggs, but for me it was the teeth. I don’t like teeth things to begin with so that almost threw me off this book, but I’m so glad I powered through. I do wish there was a little more of the gore and horror in the beginning of the book, prior to the pool table scene, but I get why (I think) the author didn’t do it it. It let us get to know Maeve and then let us witness Maeve’s world turn when Gideon entered the picture. 

A few other things I loved about it: the twist ending, the Halloween incorporation, and the descriptiveness of places around LA (as someone whose never been, I felt like I was there with Maeve). 

My biggest dislikes: The ending felt a little rushed and ended with no resolution. Teeth things! And the Johnny Depp/Bartender scenes, if anyone’s read this and can explain the reasoning for these other than it’s a place Maeve calls her own, please let me know! 

Please check trigger warnings before reading, some big ones I can think of is body horror, sexual assault, descriptions of violent murder and torture, mutilation, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kalex_lcpl's review

dark funny fast-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Terminal illness, and Dementia

trashgobby's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Misogyny, Suicide, Vomit, and Classism

keen'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Cannibalism

teanahk's review against another edition

dark

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I was expecting the guts and gore, but this book was excessively rapey for a book about a female serial killer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness and Medical content

arcillaf's review

dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

rosynk's review

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Murder

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

4.75

Points off for the inclusion of (potentially?) Johnny Depp. No thanks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sarah984's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I picked this up because of the cool looking cover, after seeing it recommended as "feminist body horror" on Likewise. So if you are like me I will save you some time: it's not feminist or body horror. The cover is cool though.

The main character is a woman but she hates and/or belittles all other women (except her grandmother, who is a complete non-entity in this story) and thinks she's unique as a woman due to her misanthropy. The book makes a big deal about it being sexist that stories require women to have trauma to be villains when men can just do what they want, but then gives Maeve villain trauma. The romance is all "oh he was so much bigger than me" straight people crap.

Several quotes and entire scenes are lifted whole cloth from American Psycho but nothing interesting is done with that at all.

I really have to wonder who this book was for. I feel like it was somehow simultaneously too much and too tame, like it's not extreme horror because pretty much everything "extreme" happens off screen, but too much "extreme" content is implied for this to appeal to normies. Baffling book.

Some of the Halloween music trivia was interesting, so 2 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abortion, and Alcohol