Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Devourers by Indra Das

11 reviews

kell_xavi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

I was enamoured with this writing at the very beginning, Das’ canny  worldbuilding on the intricate foundations of mythos and South Asian history. The stories herein are a poetic and gritty recovery of  people, fundamentally, though their forms and settings carve the shape of the narrative. The courage and tenacity of one woman (a major player in the text) is an especially strong point, and the choices of the shapeshifters who take the bodies of men deepen what initially appears as swaggering brutality.

There is much about the body here, a visceral beastliness and texture to embodiment in many forms—though it is characterized by releasing of waste, blood, semen more often than is my preference. There is also a violence towards bodies, in their ripping apart and consumption, or the devouring of the title. Sexual encounters are carnal and animal as well, filled with pungency, passion. 

This is not a book for everybody, but I appreciated the ways in which Das made his shapeshifters seem more animal than supernatural, with an intensity to their worldliness. There is heat and bulk to them, rage and suffering. There is also a culture told by ritual, language, and customs that I could follow in their repercussions while not fully understanding their meanings. Where romance and human-creature relationship are prevalent in many supernatural novels, The Devourers is a welcome subversion. This book at once denies those plot lines, and works them back in, with more messiness and devastation that creates small, earned moments of tenderness. 

My last point, and another delightful subversion, is that this book is very queer. When we first meet him, the narrator (Alok) is quietly and somewhat shamefully bisexual; however, though I emohasize it here, in the text this queerness and gender is shown as a part of having a body—of embodying, using and changing flesh. The shapeshifters can choose the appearance of their first (humanoid) selves and their second (beastly) selves, altering gender or appearing with multiple genitalia. They are also sexual in a way not precluded by gender. Though women are treated with a misogyny that fits the historical context, the author (and the narrative) focus/es on agency and inner life of Cyrah with empathy and admiration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, and Colonisation

Minor: Vomit, Excrement, Biphobia, Animal death, and Classism

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Death of parent, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Death, Gore, Excrement, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Violence

smoothlikebutter's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Death, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Queer werewolves

mle11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Violence, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Animal death, Rape, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Biphobia, Excrement, Homophobia, Vomit, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Kidnapping, and Self harm

Minor: Colonisation and Drug use

ssjd411's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Beautifully written and very dark. The story held my attention even as it got darker and more violent. The character development is so rich that it pulls you through the death and destruction. It's like nothing I've read before, and it will stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Stalking, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cannibalism

tahsintries's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Murder, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Body horror, and Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia

triforcefusion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.25

This was a very, very odd read. I applaud the writing, and the mythology building. I could do without the very Freudian psycho-sexual aspect that permeates the book, especially the practice

of the Devourers grooming their newly made, or born, shapeshifters into then having a sexual relationship</spolier>. I also have a hard time with the author identifying as a cis male and writing about a woman's sexual assault and then making the whole book a metaphor for

transgenderism

. I see that people praise the way he handles it, but I felt like the metaphor is really twisted an dark, and the

transgender reveal

feels like "Oh, this kinda fits" without considering the unredeemable nature of the Devourers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Vomit

Piss and urination happens a lot

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Excrement, Sexual assault, Body horror, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gore, Death, Blood, and Cannibalism

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Murder, Rape, and Death of parent

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Abandonment, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Sexism, War, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Vomit

Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Colonisation, Abortion, Dysphoria, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Racism

Smoking. Urination. Discussion of and explicit descriptions of rape, as well as depiction of aftermath, but no extended scene. Sexual coercion, victim blaming/justification of rape (by character; criticized by others and narrative), discrimination against sex workers. Pregnancy and birth by rape. Decapitation. Metaphorical mentions of bestiality. Sexual relationships in a shapeshifter-unique dynamic compared to but not necessarily equivalent to parent-child dynamics, where one party has sometimes been raised by the other since youth; discussed and alluded to, but not graphically shown on-page.

aardwyrm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

Like all the best horror, weird, gross, kinda horny, never fully explained, rich and dreadful and spooky and gory, gets its claws in and won't let go. Warning: One of the POV characters is a rapist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Rape, Child death, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, War, Abortion, Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Kidnapping, Stalking, Vomit, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture