Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

8 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

dflemmons's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

3.5

I read this because I really enjoyed the John Dies at the End series. It was a fun book, but not nearly the same magic as the others. In some ways, like with the plot and characters, it felt almost like a YA novel but with Pargin’s style of mature content. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Torture, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Trafficking, Body horror, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Classism, Confinement, Murder, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty

jasonwalko's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Really torn on how to rate this. I’ve been a fan of Jason Pargin for over ten years now, and his pieces for Cracked.com were a huge influence on my writing style. I’ve been wanting to check out his fiction novels so I picked this one as my starting point because of my love for the genre.

There’s good stuff in here. This book reads like a funnier, more juvenile Ernest Cline with a dash of Douglas Adams, if you can imagine such a thing. At times I thought it got a bit too juvenile, but I have to admit I laughed a lot at some of this stuff, especially toward the end. I’m not above some jokes about boobs, butts, and farts. I thought the Blink social media was remarkably prescient and it was fun to see a fairly accurate prediction of modern streaming culture in a book from ten years ago. I also want to point out that the first 10% of this is superbly written. The beginning is such a strong hook, but I wish it kept up that pacing for the remainder of the story. There are glimpses of greatness here and there, but nothing else here quite measures up to the way this story begins.

I think my problem with this book is that it’s so ridiculous and unserious, but there are also some weirdly serious moments that are such abrupt tone shifts. Some of the characters (Will in particular) have startlingly dark backstories involving sex trafficking and war crimes, which seemed very out of place in a book where the bad guy is partially defeated by Mexican restaurant delivery drones. Don’t even get me started on the amount of r**e threats the female protagonist gets, which has to be nearly two dozen over the course of the novel, along with anecdotes about her actual sexual assault and a couple instances of sexual harassment from various male characters. I get that the people saying and doing these things are supposed to be prejudiced and unsympathetic, but it’s not something I enjoy reading about in what is supposed to be a humorous story. I could’ve been okay with it if Zoey was portrayed as a strong, capable female protagonist, but she hardly ever takes initiative when fighting the bad guys and lets her goofy idiot mostly all-male sidekicks do pretty much all of the work while they use her as bait. There isn’t really anything that endears me to her either. She’s constantly spouting off rude quips and she’s not particularly funny or likable. She’s constantly berating the male characters while never actually coming up with her own plans. It’s like there was a point trying to be made about sexism but it’s never really addressed.

I can lightly recommend this to anyone who likes absurd humor and wants to turn their brain off and read something silly, but I hesitate to do so because its flaws are super hard to overlook. 2.75/5.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

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

cserrano22's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.5

Was not a funny book. Alot of triggers and giving edgy middle school vibes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Classism, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Pedophilia, Gore, Cultural appropriation, Sexual content, Stalking, Trafficking, Torture, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Emotional abuse

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

zmac808's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

2.5

Book 14 of 2023: Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong (jason pargin). 

As a Zoey, I have to rep my fellow Zoey’s. Especially when they are haphazardly flung into dystopian chaos. Not the strongest female lead in a novel but I’ll take it for what it’s worth. My cat too drives the plot of my life. It definitely leans heavily into shock value and crassness and Zoey reads like a young adult written by a middle aged man but Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible) does fun voice acting in the audio book to really help bring this world to life despite its flaws. 2.5 ⭐️ because I enjoyed good portions of it but it’s not a reread. 

I mostly bought this series for the titles of the next two books “Zoey Punches the Future in the D—“ and “Zoey is too Drunk for this Dystopia.” 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, Mental illness, Gun violence, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

jellyflesh's review

funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Child abuse, and Animal death