Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

261 reviews

erinsreadinglist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

4.5

Incredibly dark and scary, and deeply uncomfortable but SO GOOD. Major content warnings for every kind of abuse and torture you can imagine but well worth the read. Silas is a great character! Andrew Joseph White is a talent!
Edit: dropping to 4.5 for some repetitive elements that were grinding on me a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

cheese_11's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexism, and Transphobia

avrija's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book — it’s certainly something. This is the first horror I’ve read in a very long while and it was very good. Please, please be mindful of the trigger warnings in the “letter from the author” at the beginning. It was very well written, I loved the characters, especially Daphne and Silas and it was suspenseful and gave you that sense of something creeping up on you. However, I think it deserves a mention that I don’t think this book is for anyone who is sensitive to transphobia and body dysmorphia regarding that. Even if you say, you can handle that, please do read this on a good day and check in with yourself. It’s quite heavy and mentally hard to read at times because the descriptions of Silas’ struggles are so very well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Pedophilia, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

emscolqu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Such an intense read but highly recommend the ENDING i sat there in shock when

Lord Luckenbill brought out the ring

tbf i didnt trust him but still and some of the surgical scenes in this were so detailed it made it such an uneasy read but so compelling i was so happy that

Silas and Dauphine and Mary escaped at the end

also

kinda got this odd gut feeling with the mask men that one of them was george and i KNEW IT . so mad that he turned out to be so awful and no reprochassions for him in the end

this book destroyed me but in a good way just wanted to give Silas a hug also the dynamic between Silas and the groundskeeper i died that was the only thing keeping me sane through that crazy scene with headmaster

literally about to fucking cut open mary and drill into her skull

jeez was just a lot to take it but really really good read - definitely look at the warnings and take them seriously before reading 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

octopus_farmer's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Haunting in a satisfying way but still haunting. Do NOT take the content warning lightly at the start of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

xosirenox's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

self_fulfilling_prophecy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Abortion

jocielu's review

dark emotional tense 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? No

5.0

I have only read one other book by Andrew Joseph White, but what I can tell from his writing is he is someone who knows how to make super complex and interesting worlds. I think I liked this book a little better than Hell Followed With Us, but both books were so well written.
This book follows Silas, a young trans boy who is in a society that is based in reality (London 1833) with some bits of fantasy in it. He was born with purple eyes that makes it so that he can speak to spirits. This is something only people assigned female at birth are able to do. All Silas wants is to become a surgeon but because everyone around him sees him as a girl he is unable to do so and they determine him to have veil sickness. Although this book is a Fantasy horror, it touches on a lot of things that actually happened to people in this time and like the author mentions at the end specifically people of color and queer people.
I would really recommend this book to others, but please go into reading this knowing that it has a lot of graphic scenes of what is probably best describe as "medical gore." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

ash_hatt's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

No book I have ever read has ever captured me the way this one has. This is such a horrible vile story that tore me to pieces and I enjoyed every second of it. I found this book so deeply relatable it was almost scary 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Transphobia

raine_forest_cafe's review

dark emotional mysterious

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail