Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

4 reviews

shrikebait's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-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

5.0

Cuckoo is a love letter to queer resistance. 

Felker-Martin explores so many diverse, distinct, and developed characters while maintaining an easy-to-follow central narrative. I especially loved the unflinching examination of gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia as these kids battle both internal and external demons. 

There is so much packed into these pages that I thought the book was longer than it actually is...in a good way. I found the details immersive and delighted when they pay off. 

I'm grateful to Tor Nightfire for the chance to check this ARC out for free. I'm leaving this review of my own accord. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, Outing, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Excrement, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Biphobia, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Cursing, Eating disorder, Incest, Racial slurs, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Transphobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Car accident, Confinement, and Rape

Minor: Islamophobia and Terminal illness

clarke's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

Beginning in the 90s, Cuckoo follows a handful of queer kids kidnapped and taken to a conversion camp in the middle of nowhere, for the crime of being themselves. They’re subjected to gruelling work and torment from the camp staff, alongside internal and external prejudice. As they’re consistently beaten down, their mental health suffers further from strange dreams and even stranger creature. The kids become a family intent on fighting back against the hate, abuse, and the blooming mortality - queer kids are dying and nobody cares. They’re expendable, with their families already wishing they were different, the camp latches on and takes advantage in more ways than one.

Cuckoo cruelly explores the abuse these kids face at the hands of pretty much everyone and everything in their lives. It's overflowing with fatphobia, internalised homophobia, and descriptions of kids genitals, sexual acts, and sexual imagery. Its detailed descriptions of their bodies and sexual activity was repugnant and gratuitous, serving more like fodder for paedophiles than any other narrative purpose. It also had multiple extremely detailed references to period sex, alongside frequent rape/SA. The violence and abuse continues this exploitation, leaving the kids begging for the end. It's also rife with pop culture references, and is clearly heavily influenced by horror icons, most notably Stephen King and Clive Barker, and beloved media, being incredibly similar to IT with a dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing - though it is self aware enough to note this influence.

The book has a strong start but then volleys the pace between captivating action and drudging slowness. The horrors return to the group as adults, again similar to IT, except with less mocking and more drugs for a quick and tidy ending. There is a horde of characters, with POVs from a few, but I found they were not too distinguishable from each other. I enjoyed the supernatural horror, and the pervasive abuse the kids are subject to was done well. There was WAY too much gratuitous sex, outnumbering Stephen King with descriptions of children's genitalia. The queer identities were rigorously explored, though the internalised queerphobia was too heavy handed, as was the fatphobia - god forbid someone with a bit of extra weight be deserving of love - both things I had issue with in Manhunt. I prefer Cuckoo of the two (as you can probably tell by the fact I finished it): the story is more compelling and the issues were handled better. I love all horror, the more twisted the better, but not at someone else's expense. The impact of 'religion' is weaved throughout, sometimes subtly and sometimes smacks you in the face, with reflections and comparisons easily made to today's political climate with increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ people and rights. Conversion camps are still legal, and the same abuse continues to be perpetrated 30 years on from the books setting. It's an unflinching exploration of how that affects these kids. The supernatural horrors are fun but also acts as an allegory for a world that wishes to change these kids at the very core of who they are. They’re desperate for help but have nowhere to go, quite literally when they’re in the middle of nowhere but for every aspect of their wants and needs. They find homes within each other, forced to explore their deepest fears and desires, much like the queer community IRL. 

The majority of the book is immersive and enjoyable, but I did find myself checking the % around the midpoint as things started to drag. It details the physical and psychological pains well, but as mentioned the superfluous fatphobia and graphic sex/genital descriptions ruined this for me. Almost everything is explained in graphic detail, including the smell of period blood more than once. The time jump and final showdown was too quick and easy, especially for something that has haunted them their entire lives. Overall it's decent and there's lots to analyse further, but these points reduced the star rating for me. Thank you to netgalley for the arc and queerphobes can get fucked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Bullying, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexual harassment, Outing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Transphobia

etpreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Fatphobia, Murder, Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Excrement, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Body shaming, and Dysphoria

Minor: Alcoholism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, Drug use, and Self harm

sydnec's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This was a slog. One character would ask a question and multiple paragraphs of description later, there would be a response. Don't know how many times I read about the smell of cum and the taste of blood and various slits compared to body orifices. The premise is great and could have really been terrifying if I didn't have to read through so much unnecessary description. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Fatphobia, Confinement, Death, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Body shaming, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Transphobia, Torture, Blood, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Child death, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Sexual assault