Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Honeys

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

36 reviews

peregrinwho's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

The first time I've seen a human genderfluid person portrayed away from fanfiction. It was difficult to get through the homophobia of some of the characters, but not all the antagonists act that way toward the mc and I was living for that variety. I understand its necessity for the purpose of setup, but this book really thrived when it was away from the Bear cabin boys, since those chapters were just hard and slow and mostly unrelated to the conclusion. But the cult aura? The reframing of femininity as a dance for survival cutting a continuum towards destruction helped by sisterhood??? I could eat that all day.

I felt for Mars, I fell in love with Bria, I still fucking hate every man in this book (Wyatt's on the thinnest of ice). I wanted to hurl my book at the wall when the slut comments were brushed off as if there weren't already other signs of sexual assault happening to people at this fucking camp.

Ultimately, it was slow in the middle 50%, but the lyrical reminders of the themes of grief and sisterhood were nice and made the reading experience rather dreamy. Choosing to interpret the last two chapters so that's not undercut. Have fun floating in the middle.

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chellyfishing's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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cluelessavian's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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savvypotions's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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caughtbetweenpages's review

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

The vibes of this book were simply to die for. Mars is a protagonist I can't help but love (not that I'd want to do anything else; she's fantastic). His grief over the loss of his sister and only ally in a household where perfection is the bare minimum standard and queerness does not meet the "perfect" bar would be enough to make anyone sympathize with Mars, but the fact that her death happened at his hands... in self defense because she was trying to kill Mars in the first place? Gut wrenching. And that's just the opening scene, folks!

La Sala took me on an absolute journey with this story, one of seeking community amongst those who rejected you, even as you resent them for their closemindedness and hatred, because part of you is inexplicably drawn by the idea of fitting in to a specific subset of this community. It was really important to me that Mars never questioned their own identity as a genderqueer person, that of all the mysteries they set out to solve about why their sister died, their own personhood was not one of the big twists of gotchas. His distrust of the Honeys at the start of the novel, at what they seem to represent (mean-girl attitudes, standoffishness and gatekeeping, a sinister collective at a remove from everyone else) shifts

into an exhalation and celebration of the feminine, profound community and welcome, and so so so much power that was always Mars's by right

when they let themself find comfort in people who loved their sister too... but perhaps not in the way that Mars themself did. Or perhaps exactly in that way? Or perhaps in a different, but no less profound way, but one that Mars gains access to by seeking it out.

And then! The commentary on misogyny, classism, the exploitation and decay inherent to capitalism! The mindfuckery and self-gaslighting and other-people-gaslighting! The body horror! The messy relationships! The claiming of power! The BEES <3 !!!! I don't want to say any more, for fear of spoiling things. Was the pacing just right for all the story elements? Maybe not. Maybe the end felt a little too fast. But doesn't that just match how it feels to be a teenager and become disillusioned with literally everything? I posit it does!

Maybe the story isn't perfect. But damn, the vibes, the vibes, the vibes. Those are perfect, for me.

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bookishmillennial's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

This was wild. Absolutely WILD. The last 20% is where all the meat of the story really is unpacked, but the first 80% had me guessing and wondering who to trust. This book felt like it could've existed in the world of Riverdale x Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, like a nefarious camp horror!! This elite summer camp setting in the Catskills Mountains was eerie and screamed "bad things will happen!" I loved the representation of Mars as genderfluid, but I was confused as to why no one else ever used pronouns besides he/him, when she made it clear that they use he/they/she? Maybe that was intentional to show that everyone around Mars was an "ally" but still fumbling and getting it wrong? They also constantly deadname him, which frustrated me. However, again, I'm guessing it was a deliberate choice to possibly evoke unease and tension from the readers? I'm totally projecting here lol!

Anyway, I appreciated the fact that I had no idea who to trust in this novel. Maybe that's obvious in a horror/thriller, that you shouldn't count anyone out. However, I could not for the life of me (!!!) tell if the Honeys were supposed to be the villains or in solidarity with Mars! It was exhausting to be me, and I think that just shows how talented Ryan La Sala is in their fleshing out of these characters, and how every single moment the Honeys shared with Mars left me guessing how I felt about the interaction. Was that meant to be helpful? Was that threatening? Do they know something? Are they just as scared? This was masterfully done!!!

I'm excited to read more from Ryan La Sala, and this was the perfect book for me to let go of summer (like truly, fuck summer after reading this book. I want no part of it hahaha), and to welcome autumn and Halloween season!

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queerreaderchaos's review

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dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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startjpw23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Mars and Caroline are twins. Their mother is a New York senator. When they were younger, they both attended a summer camp called Aspen Conservancy. The camp is mostly for children of the rich and powerful. The exact location isn't given. It is a very forested area. Probably upstate New York. An incident happened to Mars that caused him to stop going to the camp. Caroline continued to go. Their ages at the present time of the book weren't given. They were probably around 16. In the present time, Caroline goes missing from the camp. A short time later, she comes back to Mar's parents' house and dies under strange circumstances. At Caroline's funeral, 3 members of Caroline's cabin at the camp do something strange. The cabin is called Cabin H. The girls who camp there are called the Honey's. Each cabin in the camp has to have a main function. The girls raise bees. Mars want to go back to the camp to try to figure what happened with his sister. He does go back to camp. The remainder of the book deals with his attempts to figure out what happened to Caroline. There are a lot of tense moments. There are many scary situations. There were a couple of twists towards the end that I didn't see coming. I loved the book.

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meganders22's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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