Reviews tagging 'War'

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

4 reviews

toodrew's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

This book had an interesting premise. However, there is excessive violence against women as well as pretty much everything else horrible that can be done to women/girls. It has pretty much every misogynistic trope as well. For example, the only two women can't get along due to sexual jealousy. Ancient Greece called and wants her tropes back. There are no women side characters unless said side character are

sexual or in sex-related field, 

  in which case their are no men. 

It does not work as a comedy because of this. You can't make

sex traffickers

likable.  It would have been better if they either choose a different flaw or didn't bother trying to make them quirky. I couldn't feel sympathy for most of the main cast because of this.  Like I get it's supposed to be bad people, but don't try to make them sympathetic. Seriously, there was a chapter detailing

how they would trick women (and perhaps even girls) from war-torn countries into sex slavery, specifically detailing how most were murdered before the age of thirty.

  This can be done well if given proper weight but the execution is abysmal.  The authors tried to make the cast who did this flawed-but-likable, even heroic in some cases. I'm sorry but no. That's not how to handle this material. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Sexism, Body shaming, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and War

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Someone wrote "Dick Lit even though the main character is a woman."  Yeah, that sounds about right. Ignoring plot holes and certain scenes being written simply for a punch line, it is nothing less than entertaining.  Definitely women characters written from a man's point of view and wildly passes the Beschdel test even though only 3 women talk in the whole novel. This book reads like Ernest Clines work but with much less arrogance and a lot more humour.  I'd put this down as a humorous dystopia sci-fi novel with an eerily accurate commentary on social media, smart technology, gaping wealth/poverty gaps and a city full of high technology and militia's in place of law and government sprinkled with dick and fart jokes and peppered with boobs.

Sometimes the line was blurred between satire and alarming perspective accuracy. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Excrement, Fatphobia, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Child abuse, Classism, Infidelity, Torture, Abandonment, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Violence, War, Slavery, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Deportation, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Alcohol, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Car accident, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

a5urr4's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I definitely agree with a previous reviewer on that this book is very emphatically written by a white man, and one who maybe doesn't fully understand the younger generation. There was oddly a lot of racial humor, which was funny at times, but mostly just kind of offensive or off-putting when you think too hard about it. There was also a running undercurrent of anti-fat bias for some reason? Which always felt unnecessary and kind of mean. It was a little disappointing to find that there was overall so much punching down in the humor, in a book that seems to be going for an underdog sort of thing. 

I also didn't entirely enjoy seeing Zoey constantly get the shit beat out of her. I feel like its really toeing the line between "Women can get roughed up, too, fuck the Hays Code" and "she is getting the shit beat out of her BECAUSE she is a 'just' a 'normal' woman." It might have been better if there were women characters able to dish it out too, but Echo was the only other woman in the story with agency, and she never really did any actual combat. Plus, despite any tongue-in-cheek commentary that was intended by her doing the whole "seductress" thing, that was still very much a thing she did. Without really deconstructing it (And it was lowkey something Zoey did, too. And her mom??) 

However I DID read the whole thing, it was mostly fun, and I AM considering reading the other books in the series. The world-building combined with the action was immersive, and the voice hooked me from page one, for better or worse lol. Hopefully the author has grown in the decade or so since he's started writing these. Or at least has had some actual people of color and women who are not his friends beta read for him.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Misogyny

Moderate: War and Sexual violence

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Medical trauma, Racism, Torture, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Physical abuse