Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

26 reviews

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death, Racial slurs, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

booksthatburn's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Way hornier than I anticipated, but very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Cannibalism

Minor: Excrement, Homophobia, and Child abuse

aegireads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

teaxmillions's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Hate crime

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, and Blood

vigil's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.5

i don’t think this book will do it for everyone, but it did it for me. it is such a short book that takes a shift in the later half that its hard to describe. 

the prose is amazing. full stop. highly descriptive and lyrical but doesn’t sacrifice clarity. 

two things i’d note: this is horror erotica, our main character is a closted gay man who’s sexuality is something he must repress in order to work. he is struggling against both externalized homophobia in society and internalized homophobia and guilt within himself. it is, by far the horniest book i have ever read. this book does draw a comparison between vampirism and gayness which is something that you may or may not be fond of.

the second moment, is that the first portion of the book might not be to your tastes, as it is horror twinged erotica. if it is the case that you would prefer more horror elements, i’d say wait it out, its definitely worth it. the atmosphere that has been building from mild restlessness crescendos into outright creepy, then downright terrifying.

i will once again reiterate. it is so so deeply horny. completely unapologetically gay and horny. and if you have problems with rats, stay far away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Violence

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

dark mysterious

3.5

3.5 stars. What I think this novella does particularly well is exploring the way vampirism and homosexuality and monstrosity are so often intertwined, both in literature and historically in society. It explores the concepts of homosexuality and monstrosity through vampirism: thus it’s a novel that beautifully and intensely explores hunger and need and thirst and desire. And it has made me extremely excited to go on to reread Dracula next. 

Content warnings: Use of the G-slur to describe Roma, mentions of child sexual abuse (children being forced into sex work), rats, animal death, graphic sex, self harm, homophobic violence, death, dead bodies, death of loved one 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Death, Self harm, Animal death, and Homophobia

Minor: Racial slurs and Child abuse

notthatlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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: Body horror, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

bdingz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Hate crime, and Blood

Minor: Child abuse

midgeyu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Body horror and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia and Racism

Homophobia: The book deals pretty intensely with the narrators internalized homophobia--particularly around his sexual desire--and concerns about what would occur if people found out he is gay. In one scene, he confesses his desire for another man, and is refuted cruelly. A lot of repressed sexuality oozing from every page, especially in the first half. However,

the emotional climax of the book is the narrator realizing that his desire is not inherently sinful, and that he is not a monster for his desires

Death: This isn't really spoiler, but I'll spoiler tag it anyway for those who know nothing about Dracula

the entire cast dies, including the narrator

Hate crime:

We learn that the narrator's lover was outed and brutally killed by a mob; his body was also desecrated

Suicide:

A supporting character jumps overboard to his death rather than face Dracula

Body horror: I'm not entirely sure this is the appropriate tag for this, but a lot of the horror elements do have to do with the body in various ways. Maybe avoid if you are squeamish in this regard. Pedophilia: The narrator mentions briefly that as part of covering his gay desires, he chooses sex workers who are young and aren't as developed (more boyish looking than womanly.) An exact age is not mentioned, but one can inferred they are underaged. There is later a brief mention of how its not uncommon for young boys to stowaway on ships and become "cabin boys" who exchange sexual favors for their passage. Also, the narrator states that he was young for his first sexual encounter--age unclear. He pursues a man who is older than him, again age unclear. Racism: There is a some period-typical racism/xenophobia, particularly near the beginning when a group of foreign men bring the cargo aboard the ship.

irene_addler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this book other than: I loved it.

You don't need to have read Dracula by Bram Stoker to enjoy this. I read this first then Dracula and I would recommend that to be frank. 

It's described as a queer Gothic retelling of Dracula's voyage to England. I don't think that description does it justice, but it's the one they gave it. While Dracula is absolutely a part of this story, and it is about the ship headed to England, the story is about much more.

It takes the subtle comparisons of homosexuality and vampires from the 1800's and makes it obvious, doubling down on the angle of persecution. I don't think the word "vampire" is used a single time, in fact, but the word "monster" is, which rings true to harmful things all of us have heard about the LGBTQ+ community, and many have experienced.

It's quite adult and can be very explicit, but after finishing it, I believe that was because it's a monster story. Monster stories are filled with gore and graphic content that we view as despicable, but in this case, it was a man being with other men and his experiences that were graphic. It's about how people view relationships like that as monstrous. There are certainly gross moments which felt almost like Lovecraftian monsters interspersed with sexual content, so don't expect something sexy.

I cried at the end and I'm honestly choked up writing this. It was graphic and blunt and quick to read. The language may not be for everyone, it's fairly fanciful, but it's right up my alley. I definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

Minor: Rape