Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

71 reviews

sideways_rhombus's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Dysphoria

silentserennity's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

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The Sprit Bares Its Teeth is excellent. I've reread this book several times,  my copy is annotated to the nines and is actually starting to fall apart from all of the abuse I've put it through. Silas is an excellent protagonist, being everything that the Speaker Society despises: queer, autistic, and strong despite everything he's forced through throughout the book's plot. Watching his growth throughout the story legitimately made me cry, being autistic and suffering from anxiety myself. The main plot was absolutely delicious in how horrifyingly grounded in reality it is, despite the supernatural elements. The other characters are also incredibly written, they really do feel like real people with three dimensional goals and actual feelings about what's happening around them, which only makes the tragedy hit all that much harder. I would die for Daphne, she's perfect, 10/10 no notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia

awizardrat's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Pregnancy, Colonisation

Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Classism

rizky's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This review isn't gonna be productive at all, but I just gotta say: fucking love Andrew Joseph White, he is a phenomenal author and I recommend his books to anyone asking for trans rep, autistic rep, YA horror or just... books in general lol (as long as they are okay with gore and body horror)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional hopeful 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

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Dark. Brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Rape

eencreatievebeleving's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective 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

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I read this book in 2 days and had a hard time putting it away. It's a tough read in the sense that there's quite some detailed descriptions of medical treatments and abuse. 

I absolutely adore the way A.J. White puts things into words. Both the feelings and experiences of trans and autistic people are being described in a way that hits close to home. The fact that it's situated in the 18hundreds only makes it even more layered. 

I highly recommend A.J. White his work, but only if you can handle the gore. Definitely look into the content warnings of each book before reading them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Gore

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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This book was POWERFUL. It perfectly blended supernatural elements with our real-world darkness... I'll let you read to figure out which is scarier. It gripped me by the feelings and is still holding me captive weeks later. I've told everyone I know to read this book. It's dark: it brings stereotypes and prejudices still present today to the surface and forces the reader to look at them head on. The main character, an autistic trans man forced to pretend to be a girl to survive a "boarding school" (i.e. conversion camp), shows such resilience, intelligence, and strength, I often forgot he was a child. AND THE ENDING, OH MY GOSH. I can't stop thinking about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment

sleepywhippetbookclub's review against another edition

4.0

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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The Spirit Bares It's Teeth is set in an alternate Victorian London where those with purple eyes can open the veil to the spirit world. Women are forbidden from accessing the veil but the society of the Speakers uses them to throw out purple eyed sons by marrying purple eyed girls to their sons. Purple eyed Silas was born in the body of a girl. He'd give anything to be a surgeon but instead, he's sent to a creepy sanitarium/finishing school to become the perfect wife for the head Speakers son. With murderers afoot, hijinks ensue.

This book is heavy - definitely check the content warnings for this one. The supernatural element takes a bit of a backseat with horror being the central element to the story. Whilst there are classic horror aspects throughout the story, it's often the experience of the trans and female characters in a male dominated Victorian world that is scariest. The suspense is immense and coupled with the main character's fixation on describing aspects of life in relation to surgery, the book is visceral.

It's ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me. Though a great book that kept me hooked, I can't say that I fully enjoyed it. I felt for the characters throughout, their fear and hope, but ultimately the unease was too much for me to rate it five stars. Then again, for a horror story, is there a better compliment than that?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt

graycegotlostinthelibrary's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

alex_again's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Dysphoria, Classism

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gore, Hate crime, Grief, Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide attempt