Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

141 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

scoysciane's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

Chilling, visceral, and as an AFAB person, cathartic.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Torture, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Body horror, Vomit, Death, Medical content, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Physical abuse, Abortion, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

racheloddment's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Self harm, Deadnaming, Medical content, Transphobia, Death, Ableism, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship

anaheeta's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces. Every sentence cuts like a broken shard of glass and it hurts so bad you can’t even cry, because you know the pain of this book is true to so many people every day. 


Also the writing was amazing and gorgeous, there was a plethora of characters to love and despise, the plot and pacing were good albeit too painful to read without frequent stops/cry sessions. 

Read the trigger warnings first!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Ableism, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Body horror

lila_still_reads's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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

 I had three separate friends recommend this book to me and they were correct that I’d love it. One of the protagonists of the play I wrote for my senior thesis is a transmasculine, neurodivergent medical student in 1850s Massachusetts and the play overall touches on some similar themes around body, agency, and the historic use of pseudo-science as a tool for oppression- though without the supernatural twist. I share Andrew Joseph White’s inclination towards gory metaphor to put to words the horror of existing as a trans and neurodivergent person in a hostile world and seeing those thoughts, feelings, and fears reflected back in a book like this still is so rare and special. 

White also excels at writing YA with cross-age appeal; he writes a young protagonist dealing with concerns particular to growing up with a thoughtful and well-crafted narrative voice that respects a younger reader and is welcoming to an older one. 

White is also not afraid to write complex characters. The women hospitalized alongside Silas are not one dimensional, they are not even all ‘good’ people, but this is used to add depth to the story and the world rather than to demonize them. One character in particular does some reprehensible things but is never reduced to one-dimensional evil pick-me; the pressure and environment that led her to choosing to act how she does is more important than one individual’s actions and that was so refreshing (and much more interesting!) to read. 

The romance wasn’t too heavy, which made sense given the plot, but what was included was so very sweet and fit nicely into the story’s themes of the power of our perception of each other. The horror elements were visceral and the imagery around eyes and rabbits in particular were especially haunting. 

Some little things: 

Clothing details! I love clothing, I love 19th century fashion in particular and it’s surprisingly rare for authors to get it right- fashion changed decade by decade back then too and yep, this is bustle central. 

This is a time period and subject matter I know A LOT about and it’s very easy for me to get annoyed by inaccuracies around it (I recognize that this is often unreasonable, but it’s still true). I didn’t get annoyed with this book! The fantasy element built so beautifully upon the historical ones, allowing for some suspension of disbelief, and there was clear thought and intent behind the world-building. 

Anyway, loved this book. It’s already on the part of my bookshelf reserved for favorites. Reading it coincided with getting good news about my own piece of trans-centered medical historical fiction, so it also feels like a good luck charm. Nothing but love for the Spirit Bares Its Teeth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Abortion, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Outing, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Ableism, Sexual violence, Gore, and Mental illness

samgray's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beyond amazing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Slavery, Child death, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Suicide, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, and Torture

rogue_onion17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Despite the graphic content of this book, it was an incredibly engaging read. There were a lot of poetic elements interspersed which I loved. It was a real page turner for me. I am someone who is not squeamish so the graphic gore and other content wasn't difficult for me to swallow. The only reason it wasn't a perfect 5 for me was because I just wanted more from the book itself. The writing style is accessible, but that lowers the challenge of reading it. To be fair, the book pushed in a lot more ways than it's writing style (see graphic medical content and horrific reality of the world our protagonist must endure) but that doesn't mean I wasn't left feeling like something was missing from my plate. Still, I would most certainly recommend it to anyone who loves gothic horror and wants to see some actually good and informed autistic representation with a side of queer resilience! I will definitely be giving the author's other books a read soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Rape, Animal death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

teyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Body horror, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, Rape, and Medical content

Minor: Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Animal death, and Violence

peroxide_princes's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

This book has touched a very special part of my autistic trans soul. AJW is a fantastic author <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Death, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

there is a graphic on-page c-section scene that it absolutely gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. this book is worth the read, but please be warned it is very graphic

honeypunk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.75

A beautiful book that has left me feeling hollow inside. I tore through it in 24 hours because I was so entrhalled with it!

The representation made feel so safe and so seen, yet also torn because I knew the life of Silas was not far from the reality of what people like us have gone through. And what many continue to go through.

The side characters of the story effected me much more than I thought they would. And the romance. God. I think it's the first book I've ever read where the romance reflects so closely on my own romance with my partner. 

So all in all: a terribly heartbreaking and wonderfully good book. On my list of books I want to buy. Either a 4.5 or a 5, so I levelled it out at 4.75.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Ableism, Abortion, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape