Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

388 reviews

sammymilfort's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pantslint'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? Yes

5.0

Holy fuck, I walked into this book completely blind and did not expect how dark it would be. I couldn't put it down and finished it in like 7 hours. Silas is an incredibly well-written character.

My favorite thematic aspect from this book is how female rage is harnessed. Women are made survivors—they're messy, vengeful, and vindictive. They're also loving and protective, existing with an unspoken sense of community. And they unleash all of that onto their oppressors and abusers. The Veil is a really incredible device used to depict that, and I'll be thinking about this for weeks.

It would be so easy to not hurt us, and the Speakers can't even do that. It's more work to hurt us. It's more work to be cruel. And yet they continue.

White is great at symbolism and literary devices:

• The "rabbit" as a personification of Silas's neurodivergence
• The Speaker rings as cuffs of patriarchy (
  and later, Frances's haunting of one in contrast
  )
• The freezing of Braxton's by the wronged girls in the Veil
  (as opposed to white-hot rage)
• Glass. So much glass in this book. For barriers (glass ceiling), weaponized.
  When the groundskeeper helps break the window. The glass in Mrs. Forrester's shoes. The pieces of mirror Silas uses to kill Lord Luckenbill, and Mary uses to slit Headmaster's throat.

Please heed the content/trigger warnings for this book; transphobia, ableism, sexism, medical gore, and physical abuse are very much present throughout the entire story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

circinus'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage and Suicide attempt

kerryoc's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

4.25

Arc review - thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree Teen!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Abortion

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Miscarriage

nightstitch96's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Pregnancy

op3's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Where can I even begin? This is probably one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. I’ll admit it was tough pushing through for a bit but it was goddamn worth finishing and stomaching. 
This book takes a lot to read I’ll admit but as I said, it was 100% worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Violence and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Abortion

A heavy book. I highly suggest not reading if easily triggered. You can read from other reviews that this is not the book to ignore triggers with.

alyxinthestars's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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: Ableism, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

enyltiak's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

This book didn’t just beat the sophomore slump, it utterly demolished it. I think this is better than Hell Followed With Us, and if AJW keeps this up his books will just keep getting better. I got so attached to

Mary and Frances’s story and all its tragedy.

A perfect read for an autistic, ghost and gothic loving LGBT reader such as myself! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

savcampbell's review

dark tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

madsmikks's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault