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A review by rhythmreads
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
So I had heard quite a bit about this book. And had recently read Hell Followed With Us, and I wanted a horror/gore read for October. So I decided to pick up Manhunt. I wanted gore, I wanted disgust, I wanted the same feelings I got from HFWU. I don’t think this is the book for that, at least it wasn’t for me.
Let me preface that as a trans person I love reading trans characters and the concept was incredibly interesting. I semi knew what I was getting into. I’d heard about this book from multiple people so I knew there was some heavy stuff in here. I knew it followed 2 trans women, a trans man, and a TERF. I knew there would be a lot of TERF shit and HOLYSHIT was there. I also knew rape was a theme and I’m glad I knew beforehand.
This is a heavy fucking book. I know it’s a commentary on TERFs and their ideologies and where they could lead in a fucked up world and that didn’t make it less fucked up. But it is a heavy fucking book and I would not recommend this to many or maybe any people if I’m being honest.
I did enjoy the book. There were funny quips and one liners, the main characters beside Ramona, had flaws but you could obviously tell were fleshed out people who were trying to live in an apocalypse and deal with their own shit along the way.
The writing was raw in its depictions of trans dysphoria and issues and a lot of trans shit. And it was an interesting look at all of it. And I enjoyed seeing into their thoughts and actions.
Ramona’s POV always pissed me off which it was supposed to I’m sure. She was the odd one out. The one obviously in the wrong and knowing it, and still making all those wrong decisions. She said she was in love and let that lover die just because. There were so many times she could have stood up, times so many people could have stood up and ended it, but they didn’t. From their safety they ignored the cries and pain of those that weren’t them and it screams of a privilege to not have to think. To be able to step away and live quietly while letting things happen because “I can’t do anything anyway.” It’s definitely a commentary on activism and it was really interesting to read, but I still didn’t sympathize.
There was a good amount in this book that was nice to read and interesting, but there was also a lot we probably could have done without. Authors can write what they want and if this is the story you want to write that’s fine, I will say though, that for a book that was only 293 pages, it didn’t need so many smut scenes. There were FIFTEEN. I annotated my book and let me tell you I love t4t smut scenes, it’s a great thing and I love to read smut in my books, but it was just SO much. By the end I was annoyed whenever a new one came up. And I wanted to be happy for the characters but it’s an apocalypse and they were so goddamn horny. It was exhausting by the end of the book. I get trying to showcase trans people and how normal it is for them to exist outside of surgeries but still, it was a lot.
And arguably I don’t think the rape scene needed to happen. It didn’t add much to the plot other than trauma to Beth and very little would have changed other than the disgust at it happening. I don’t feel it was necessary but again, traumatize your characters how you want it just felt really unnecessary to me. As we’d already been told about the horrible things the men were doing, we didn’t need front row seats, but if that was important to Beth’s character, it’s fine I just didn’t feel like it was there for anything but horror and gore. But I digress.
Teach was the head TERF and her beliefs and ideologies were horrendous. A lot of the TERFs in this book had realized after the virus had spread and men were now monsters that someone else could take over that monster slot and have the power to hurt others. I hated every time Teach would say something or monologue because it was always about how disgusting men were and the horrible things they were apparently programmed to do, while the TERFs were doing the exact same things to the trans people of the book. The horrible things they did were a power trip for most of the TERFs and it really stuck it that this is where these women wanted to be. They loved having a power they had craved before the men had turned and they just used it to hurt others because they could.
I won’t say this is a horrible book or story. There were parts I enjoyed and parts I absolutely hated. Parts that made me disgusted and parts that made me happy, but I don’t know if I’d recommend this book to anyone. It’s an interesting commentary and I won’t knock people from reading it, and I know most people who would want to, would even pick up this book, would be ready for all the shit in it.
It’s just a lot in so few pages and I’m not sure how else I’m supposed to feel about it. I wanted to love it, I wanted something different from this and it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read and I actually finished it. It’s a horror book, and it fits its genre. It just wasn’t what I wanted it to be and there was just so much that was probably there to pad the page number, and I really wished people would have talked about their feelings and relationships instead of just having sex. There’s so much more to a relationship, even in an apocalypse then sex.
This wasn’t a fave of mine and I don’t know if I’d ever reread it, I don’t regret giving it a chance but I’d definitely not recommend unless someone really liked horror novels. If you want to pick this book up, go ahead, and try and enjoy and connect with the characters but do be mindful of the content warnings and if you don’t think you could stomach it or that it would be worth it, definitely pass this one up.
Let me preface that as a trans person I love reading trans characters and the concept was incredibly interesting. I semi knew what I was getting into. I’d heard about this book from multiple people so I knew there was some heavy stuff in here. I knew it followed 2 trans women, a trans man, and a TERF. I knew there would be a lot of TERF shit and HOLYSHIT was there. I also knew rape was a theme and I’m glad I knew beforehand.
This is a heavy fucking book. I know it’s a commentary on TERFs and their ideologies and where they could lead in a fucked up world and that didn’t make it less fucked up. But it is a heavy fucking book and I would not recommend this to many or maybe any people if I’m being honest.
I did enjoy the book. There were funny quips and one liners, the main characters beside Ramona, had flaws but you could obviously tell were fleshed out people who were trying to live in an apocalypse and deal with their own shit along the way.
The writing was raw in its depictions of trans dysphoria and issues and a lot of trans shit. And it was an interesting look at all of it. And I enjoyed seeing into their thoughts and actions.
Ramona’s POV always pissed me off which it was supposed to I’m sure. She was the odd one out. The one obviously in the wrong and knowing it, and still making all those wrong decisions. She said she was in love and let that lover die just because. There were so many times she could have stood up, times so many people could have stood up and ended it, but they didn’t. From their safety they ignored the cries and pain of those that weren’t them and it screams of a privilege to not have to think. To be able to step away and live quietly while letting things happen because “I can’t do anything anyway.” It’s definitely a commentary on activism and it was really interesting to read, but I still didn’t sympathize.
There was a good amount in this book that was nice to read and interesting, but there was also a lot we probably could have done without. Authors can write what they want and if this is the story you want to write that’s fine, I will say though, that for a book that was only 293 pages, it didn’t need so many smut scenes. There were FIFTEEN. I annotated my book and let me tell you I love t4t smut scenes, it’s a great thing and I love to read smut in my books, but it was just SO much. By the end I was annoyed whenever a new one came up. And I wanted to be happy for the characters but it’s an apocalypse and they were so goddamn horny. It was exhausting by the end of the book. I get trying to showcase trans people and how normal it is for them to exist outside of surgeries but still, it was a lot.
And arguably I don’t think the rape scene needed to happen. It didn’t add much to the plot other than trauma to Beth and very little would have changed other than the disgust at it happening. I don’t feel it was necessary but again, traumatize your characters how you want it just felt really unnecessary to me. As we’d already been told about the horrible things the men were doing, we didn’t need front row seats, but if that was important to Beth’s character, it’s fine I just didn’t feel like it was there for anything but horror and gore. But I digress.
Teach was the head TERF and her beliefs and ideologies were horrendous. A lot of the TERFs in this book had realized after the virus had spread and men were now monsters that someone else could take over that monster slot and have the power to hurt others. I hated every time Teach would say something or monologue because it was always about how disgusting men were and the horrible things they were apparently programmed to do, while the TERFs were doing the exact same things to the trans people of the book. The horrible things they did were a power trip for most of the TERFs and it really stuck it that this is where these women wanted to be. They loved having a power they had craved before the men had turned and they just used it to hurt others because they could.
I won’t say this is a horrible book or story. There were parts I enjoyed and parts I absolutely hated. Parts that made me disgusted and parts that made me happy, but I don’t know if I’d recommend this book to anyone. It’s an interesting commentary and I won’t knock people from reading it, and I know most people who would want to, would even pick up this book, would be ready for all the shit in it.
It’s just a lot in so few pages and I’m not sure how else I’m supposed to feel about it. I wanted to love it, I wanted something different from this and it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read and I actually finished it. It’s a horror book, and it fits its genre. It just wasn’t what I wanted it to be and there was just so much that was probably there to pad the page number, and I really wished people would have talked about their feelings and relationships instead of just having sex. There’s so much more to a relationship, even in an apocalypse then sex.
This wasn’t a fave of mine and I don’t know if I’d ever reread it, I don’t regret giving it a chance but I’d definitely not recommend unless someone really liked horror novels. If you want to pick this book up, go ahead, and try and enjoy and connect with the characters but do be mindful of the content warnings and if you don’t think you could stomach it or that it would be worth it, definitely pass this one up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fatphobia, Excrement, Medical content, Alcohol, and Classism