Reviews

Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire by Amber Dawn

lsparrow's review

5.0

just gobbled up this book of short stories

polarbear2023's review

boring dense dont care

mischievous_monkey's review

2.0

Disturbing and violent short stories that left me feeling dissatisfied.

evanlorant's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

definitely did not think that this would be as hardcore as it ended up being. and yes i did read a story about age play on public transit and i got a couple weird looks from the person sitting next to me. 
a fair few of these stories were excellent: amber dawn, suki lee, and kristin dunnion were highlights. but some of the others were real misses in my mind. but that’s how it often is with a short story collection.
not all of them fit the “horror” brief too well, either. for example, some stories relied on kink tropes like forced pleasure without developing any kind of stance on it as horror in its own right. it read more as a creepy erotica than a story about queer fear and desire. to me, the stories that were GREAT made it worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Violence, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Death, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Torture

abbyistrying's review

Just didn't grab me. Cool concept but not the right moment for me to read it I guess.

anyacrittenton's review

Stopped reading about a quarter of the way through because it was too triggering for me. I do hope to go back and finish one day, but right now is not the time.

So far, I was split pretty evently on the book. I'm glad I read reviews beforehand to understand just how gruesome and disturbing some of the stories are. That being said, they were still too much for me, as evidenced by my unconscious reaction to them.

I appreciate what this collection is doing, but it certainly is not for everyone, especially for those us with our own past traumas. At some point, hopefully this book will be more empowering for me, but for now I need to focus on other things.

artemiscat's review

Picked this up because I know I like some of the authors- but frankly, I didn’t know what I was getting into erotica-especially with a side of violence- so gave some of these stories a cursory glance and skip but still the poems are fantastic and some of the stories are more narrative/metaphor/joy then sex/rape/violence - just be warned

rhidingrainbow's review

dark

3.0

i regret every moment I spent reading this book but I couldn't look away 😭

nella_allen's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

As with most anthologies, my enjoyment of the stories and poetry was mixed.

Though I didn't care for a lot of the sexual content, especially the ones with sadism, I still enjoyed some of the stories.

The stories I liked best, in order of where they are in the book, are "In Circles" by Aurelia T. Evans, "Shark" by Kestrel Barnes, and "Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver" by Amber Dawns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Infidelity, Rape, Confinement, Homophobia, Murder, Torture, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore

sucreslibrary's review

too much pedophilia within the first like. twenty pages. no thanks!