Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

16 reviews

chasingpages1's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Torture, Cancer, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Pregnancy, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Confinement, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Genocide

Minor: Trafficking, Gun violence, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Infertility, Rape, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bibliomich's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Umm, I'm not even sure where to begin with this review.

That was a trip, and one that I'm not sure I ever need to go on again. The world that Lucy A. Snyder created in Sister, Maiden, Monster was one that I was able to get swept up in immediately. The exposition moves quickly, as the first of three protagonists (and the reader) are thrust into a new, post-COVID pandemic, the impact of which seems dire. Over the course of the book, we follow three different narrators, whose stories ultimately overlap in meaningful ways, as they navigate illness, exposure, and survival in a rapidly changing world.

I was invested in all of their stories, and I found the story moved pretty quickly, but ultimately the ending fell flat for me. It felt like a lot of buildup with a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion. I think as the book became more and more unhinged, I just expected the ending to live up to that level of build up. I'm interested in reading the short story on which this book was based, and I would definitely read Snyder's work again. Just probably not this one...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Animal cruelty, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Dysphoria, and Trafficking

lady_valhella's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

It is graphic and gory and equal parts frighteningly brutal and beautiful. Getting from a proposal to

a hostile alien terraforming take over by a cephalopod race

is magical!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Colonisation, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Violence, Cannibalism, Confinement, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Self harm

airwreckah's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Other than a bit of clunky writing at the very beginning and a handful of pages explaining how viruses work, this book was paced well and genuinely managed to create palpable tension. The different character perspectives wove together wonderfully as I progressed through the novel. This one definitely took me outside of my comfort zone and I’m glad to have taken a chance on something so different

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, Medical trauma, Cancer, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit and Sexual content

Minor: Child death, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

oleaceae_18's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is the goriest book I've ever read. It was such a wild ride to read, at first I thought it was going to be like a typical pandemic book, but then it escalated to like a sci-fi/fantasy sort of realm maybe? My jaw was on the floor after finishing Savannah's story, and then I continued to be shocked at everything going on after that. I really liked the progression of the book, and I liked the explanation of the PVG virus and the pandemic progression. Highly recommend if you like books that leave you with a "what the fuck did I just read" ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Body horror, Murder, Gore, Vomit, Blood, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Murder, Cancer, Dysphoria, and Medical content

LOTS OF GORE! Graphic descriptions of brains and cannibalism.

kaiyakaiyo's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

that was. something.

hmm. I would by no means recommend this book to anyone I know BUT the first and last thirds of this book were fascinating. the middle… I could’ve done without it or her perspective; simultaneously deeply depraved yet extremely annoying at the same time. 

i really like cosmic, unknown, uncanny horror and that’s exactly what this delivered on, if a bit more gorily than i would have liked. 

poor nurse allegra, she was who i was really rooting for 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Self harm, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Dysphoria

silentquercus's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Body horror, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Pregnancy, Stalking, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Drug use, Ableism, Genocide, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Abortion

sarah984's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I really liked about the first third of this book - Erin's story has some interpersonal drama, compelling pandemic fiction, and an interesting point of view character. Unfortunately once the POV switches the book just fell apart for me. I get that Savannah is a bad person but she uses such cringy language and a lot of the narrative choices felt a little iffy to me (using the full first and last name of a real child victim of a sex crime, the bizarre scene where a ghost castigates her for killing the only Black woman in the book). While Mareva's story at least felt like it had a point, the King in Yellow stuff felt very silly, the thee/thou dialogue was terrible, and I felt like it just didn't match up to the expectations that Erin's chapters had set for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Cancer, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Colonisation, Death, Self harm, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, and Racism

Minor: Abortion, Ableism, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Police brutality, Trafficking, Genocide, Child death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Excrement

swashbuckling_mathematician's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Basically every trigger warning.  It's a good story but...graphic...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Genocide, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Self harm, Body horror, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Slavery, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Gore, Sexism, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, War, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

It's graphic. Very graphic. Really, if violent imagery gets in your head and bothers you, don't read this book.

madelinequinne's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Well that was disgusting…

This book had my stomach churning and my eyes filling with tears at the same time, all whilst making me think how awfully the world deals with pandemics and people who don’t fit into our capitalist ideas of how society should run. There were a lot of metaphors for how chronically ill people are treated, how messed up the government is when it comes to global catastrophes, and honestly that may have been the most sickening thing about this book. 

I definitely need to read something lighthearted after this to recover 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Cursing, and Gore

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis