Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

6 reviews

relin's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A unique take on Superheros and the problems they cause. As seen as from the perspective of a villain's hench-person. Really  cool world and walking through it was so good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Outing, Kidnapping, Torture, Body horror, Violence, Medical content, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Stalking

spineofthesaurus's review

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Ableism, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Excrement, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Grief, Abandonment, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

solari's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A fresh take on superheros that actually makes me excited ofr the genre. If female revenge a new book genre I think this and Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao are at the forefront. Ever wondered what its like living in a superhero world with no abilities yourself? The answer is pretty bleak, but not but there is power to be gained. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Ableism

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Ableism

Minor: Kidnapping

revengful_mariner's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

No one was clear-cut good or evil, they were all multifaceted people with motivations and personalities, driven by idealized emotions like hope and compassion but also human one’s like spite and pride. While villains were better employers than heroes and were more honest about their intentions, they were still villains and that came through beautifully. I was more scared of Supercollision, the hero/antagonist, than Leviathan, the villain/protag’s boss, but Leviathan was still scary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Body horror, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Death, Car accident, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexism

wickedgrumpy's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.25

This is the type of book that you ruminate on after you finish.

My initial thoughts go towards the very realistic representation of the recovery process, especially after an invasive surgery.  It wasn't romanticized, it wasn't hastily time skipped, it was a turning point where a fundamental line had been crossed and it was devoted page time that it deserved.

Hench follows your garden variety data entry specialist that manages spreadsheets.  There are other types of henches such as her friend June with the power of enhanced senses, but they predominantly seem to be IT based like her friend Greg.

Other staff include the Meat who are the bodyguards and meat shield for the villains.  There are also kicks, who are the second fiddles, the support step above the Meat, they have powers of some sort, though not necessarily good enough or experienced to go solo.

There is some hint of romance in this story but I think I'd categorize it more as appreciation and valuing the people rather than active seeking of attachment.  This fits well within the main theme of the book of what is the worth of human life?  There's a lot of discussion on does the punishment fit the crime?, and at one point the main hero reminisces about what his mentor had told him about watching the people he interacted with because they would be the ones that would become his opponents in the future, but the fault in that character is that he didn't actually consider what that actually entailed, wherein the common factor and catalyst of these people going to the dark side was him.  Instead of treating that advice as a reason to do better and treat everyone well, he was suspicious of everyone, always searching for signs that they would "betray" him.

I think it's important to note that I also don't think I liked any character, but that was also kind of the point.  It was definitely operating much in the morally grey space which often turned dark quite quickly.  I don't know that there was a single redeemable person, however, what the book delivered was an in depth understanding of how a person's life can be diverted or derailed and how you can make incrementally bad choices because at the time it doesn't seem like you've gone that far from your sense of self, but over time the distance between who you were and who you become is quite drastic.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexism, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Torture, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, War, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Violence

corar's review

fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Sexism