Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Hench

a very easy read and was great for getting me out of my reading slump, but the quality was lacking for me. the story really lost steam around the 75% mark and i ended up skimming the entire last quarter of it. this book is often marketed as an example of "female rage," but the reader doesn't really get to feel that rage. we know why Anna is angry at the superheroes and we know what she's doing about it, but the true depth of her feelings is never really conveyed. for rage in books to be effective (imo), i need the description of the character's anger to be visceral, but walschots just never goes that far. it was really disappointing. also kind of random but i didn't enjoy that basically every character falls in love with anna and anna is vaguely in love with everyone? it happened with nearly every character and felt out of place every time. i get setting up potential romantic relationships for later books, but it was damn near every single person she met. it does have great body horror and a good bit of queer rep!

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vshah's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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abirdwithnowisdom's review

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I was close to DNF'ing during the first 20% of the book -- the MC and her friend were a bit insufferable. And then the plot picked up, so I continued. The characters are a bit flat and the writing a bit plain, but it serves its purpose as an easy read.

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random_shoes's review

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adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

3.75

An interesting read, the MC is a "hench" and I wasn't a fan of her character though that's because of who she is, not anything to do with the writing. It was interesting to see how she got to where she ended up, and all the different "villain" things she did on the way.
It does as a few questions about what a hero and a villain really are and how they effect the world around them.

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bel017's review

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dark sad

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Much more straightforward than the premise. I was expecting more moral uncertainty and complexity but everyone was awful in the same, blunt and obvious, way. Sometimes a character would feel a bit bad, then immediately do the same thing again and again. There's no accountability, and the nuance of a sledgehammer.
Good queer rep though.

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emvdw's review against another edition

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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

4.5

I though this was going to be a lighthearted romp. It turned out to be a lighthearted romp with some existential questions about morality. I had great fun, but if you're even a little bit squeamish - watch out for that final chapter.

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maddox22's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.5

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