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The strengths of this book are plenty. The tension and discomfort I felt whilst reading it actually lead to me needing to put it down a few times. The push and the pull that Marcos feels whilst navigating the world around him, his judgement of people around him whilst partaking in similar, if not worse, behaviours.
I can see why people think the ending is abrupt, and it definitely feels that way when you reach it. But I think I liked the ending. The sudden full-stop to the story, nothing has changed and nothing will. We don’t need to read more to know Marcos’ life isn’t impacted by anything that’s happened.
All this to say, there’s absolutely some weak points. There’s a lot of filler that feels unnecessary to the plot. The characters, whilst written well, are unbearable. The tropes and message of the book are very on the nose.
Overall, I did really enjoy this. I enjoyed being made to squirm and face moral questioning, even if it was loud and in red and bold lettering. A shameless and unapologetic dystopia.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Cannibalism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Violence, Dementia
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Cannibalism
Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism
Unflinchingly disturbing. If you have any sensitivity to gore, sexual assault and all around terrible people then I'd give this one a miss. That being said, this book got under my skin in a way I've not really felt before. I connected with the writing near immediately and it didn't lose me at all.
4.5 stars instead of 5 because I feel that the ending was pretty abrupt and underdeveloped in my opinion.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Dementia, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Also feels wayyy too edgy at times, mention rape a bunch of times and its horror because yep rape is fundamentally scary.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Dementia, Death of parent
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic