Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

82 reviews

violetturtledove's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense 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? No

5.0

Wow. I don't want to lean into the surgery puns too much in this review, but this was a gut-wrenching read! Not for the faint-hearted, I'd recommend checking out the content warnings if you have any triggers at all, but it is very much worth it (as the author notes, surgery looks a lot like torture).

This is a gothic horror featuring a trans, autistic protagonist who wants to be a surgeon but is unfortunately AFAB in Victorian London, so of course he ends up in a finishing school/hospital. Oh and there's ghosts. 

It's fast paced and gripping, I loved the characters so much, I felt their frustration, recognised myself in some parts, and found a better understanding of others in other parts. All aspects of them are just so well portrayed.

 I'm not 'read a book in a day' fast but I stayed up reading until 2am two nights in a row with this book (i read it on my kobo so it was my bedtime read, in hindsight maybe not the best choice for restful sleep!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Abortion, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Gore, Transphobia, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Bullying, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, and Murder

thehmkane's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Miscarriage, Abortion, Blood, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism and Colonisation

readingradie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

God, I loved this. The horror of it. The transness of it. If I could read this again to experience it for the first time, I would in a heartbeat. 

The slow reveal was wonderful and the growing horrific realization what was happening was so well written. When the reason Mrs. Forrester's limp is revealed I had to physically look away. God, this was so good.

Also, please heed the content warnings, it gets wild in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Medical content, Deadnaming, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Transphobia, Abortion, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Miscarriage

multiple Victorian Era surgeries done by the protagonist,

descriptions of: dead bodies, severe injuries, gore, literal torture that the person likes, the sexual assault isn't aggressive but I'm not very sensitive to it, the protagonist describing operating on dead animals for practice.

ramakn22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

anavm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Abortion, Transphobia, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

spark_879's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

i've been meaning to read this since i heard of its release (and after reading & enjoying hell followed with us last march) and it did not disappoint! i loved this book and would recommend it to anyone, but beware that it has a lot of dark themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Cursing, Homophobia, Torture, and Vomit

moniquewrites's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I read this books right after Hell Followed With Us, which I loved, and was my first real entry into YA horror (and body horror),  so it’s hard not to make comparisons between them. This book is very different, but I liked the historical fiction/fantasy aspects, and seeing the experience of an Autistic person who is trans during that time period, which would have been so difficult, and yet I love that Silas always knows himself and accepts himself in spite of everything he’s been through and has been told (and even how he

challenges the rabbit in his head

). 

I liked the way it depicted the Speaker society as coded medical system/government — it’s horrifying to know that the kinds of experiments/surgeries happened in our own history. There were a lot of tragic and difficult topics covered in this book, and I thought they were done with sensitivity to the characters’ experience. 

My favourite parts were when

Silas meets Daphne and realizes the are both trans and realize they have found someone who truly understands

, as well as when Silas connects with the groundskeeper

and sees them as being the same (i.e. Autistic but not named). 

I really cared about Silas and appreciated the way he looked at the world and how much he cared for the people around him (and all the times he

saved people lives!

). White also did a great job of making me hate a lot of characters and I felt like the ending was satisfying.

One thing that was missing for me in this book was that we didn’t see as much of the societal world beyond the Silas’ class. There are mentions of  “the help” and servants but the story was very much centralized on the people in the facility/home — which is fine, but it just felt a little flat in terms of the bigger picture world around them.

I’ll definitely read anything that Andrew Joseph White writes in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Medical content, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

girlslovegirlsandbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Ableism, Medical content, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

arrr's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I don't typically read horror, so this was a bit outside my comfort zone. The story of transphobia and ableism in Victorian England mixed well with the addition of ghosts and the misogyny imposed against women and people who could manipulate the veil between worlds. I wasn't prepared for the medical horror and level of description. It wasn't as awful as it could have been, but it would have given me nightmares as a youth. I didn't really understand the ending before the last chapter. But I suppose it could be open to interpretation. Maybe that's the point. 

Well done. I unexpectedly enjoyed this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Blood, Outing, Body horror, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Physical abuse