Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

671 reviews

keyaunnalb's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense slow-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit

devinjai6655's review against another edition

4.25

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

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This story made me feel so seen as an autistic person who doesn't fit into the inherent gender binary. This book is dark and tragic and the newest contender for what I like to call The Feel Bad Club. 
That being said, I love books that make me feel something, and this had me running through so many emotions. And, just so everyone knows, the ending is

relatively happy.

Silas and Daphne live together and are married and living their best lives as their authentic selves, but some characters dont make it...

Yall shoulda heard my sqeal when Daphne introduced herself to Silas the first time in the parlor. I was hoping she'd be accepting, but we love a well developed and supportive T4T couple!

PLEASE, check your triggers. This book is intense but so good! Take care of yourself and know your limits. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death of parent, Outing, Classism

Minor: Toxic friendship

Silas is a trans man that is regularly dead named, forced to mask his autism, and the whole book essentially misgenders him because this is a historical fantasy set in a supremely misogynistic society and he is viewed as a girl by almost everyone. There's INTENSE medical scenes in here such as

a cesarean abortion he preforms on his teenage friend who was raped and impregnated by an adult man, some scenes of animal dissection throughout, gross depictions of self harm thoughts such as removing his own eyeballs, finding his best friend dead after gone through a vivisection, and other scenes.

There's also gross pedophilia and sexual harassment. While there isn't anything penetrative on page, there's gross implications and extremely disturbing scenes of old men being gross because they can be

like impregnating teenage girls against their will with the help of the institution. I'm being totally serious. The youngest we know is 14 in this book, Silas is 16.

There's lots of pregnancy talk in the general sense about other people and, for Silas, lots of "do i not wanna be because I don't wanna be a parent, or is it because of my dysphoria?" Yeah, the trigger warnings for this book is extensive and i wasn't expecting it so please take care of yourself and know your limits.

bibliophilebree's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Murder

emuewe's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I was just generally uncomfortable the whole book, you're supposed to feel that way, and it does a wonderful job of it! It was just So Much lots of content warnings that are important to the story, yet overwhelmed me and I had to stop multiple times. I feel like the world building could have built a little more of the fantasy part, if a couple things had changed he really could have just sherlocked some crap but the added magic was still interesting. - a poorly written review because I am confused on how I feel 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Abortion

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death

aangelinee's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional 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

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Another amazing book from this author. I loved Hell followed with us, but I love this even more. I love that all these monstrous men got what they deserved, how so many women, people perceived as woman, and I, dreamt so often. It was satisfying to see them get retribution, even if this rarely happens in real life. The horrors of womanhood were perfectly portrayed. I greatly enjoyed reading about a character on the spectrum, seeing in Silas a lot of things I find inside myself as well. And the potrayal of trans people was so beautiful. We definitely need more books like this. I believe that they would help those that do not understand, see things a little clearer. The story kept me on the edge of my seat, especially after the first half. I definitely did not expect to love Mary. But she is wonderful, just like Silas and Daphne are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical trauma, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail

gaymoonreader's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Outing, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage

joensign's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

smallcat's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence

plethorian's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria

yassassin's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism