A review by zarap
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Be aware: Manhunt is very dark. But I felt very much in good hands the whole way through, in the sense that it was always very clear who the reader is meant to be rooting for. Several of the "bad" characters are sort of a dark gray in the sense that they're clearly human and don't feel like caricatures, but/and they've done/are doing a lot of really bad shit - I never got the sense (like I have occasionally from other books) that I was supposed to go "wellll they're having a hard time, it's okay," if that makes sense.

And with the caveat that I don't hold all of the identities represented in Manhunt, I thought the representation in it was/is SO well done. On a personal level, I'm so so grateful for the fat representation in this book.
just. Indi being fat and smart and surviving the apocalypse but not being able to rough it in the same way as her friends, and their choice to stick with her through it all, and the fact that she ends up in a loving relationship with someone who views her body as a normal and lovable part of her!! Just!! I cannot. I also think it's pretty clear that we're supposed to assume Indi is superfat, which I ESPECIALLY appreciate as it is so rare. I'm not sure I've ever read a book with a character as fat as Indi represented well and complexly.


I also think the trans and nonbinary rep is excellent but as a probably-cis person I don't know that I have as much to say about it, except to say that I have absolutely never read a book with SO MANY TRANS AND NONBINARY PEOPLE. SO GREAT. WHAT A VARIETY. I feel like my all caps is coming off sarcastic but it is absolutely not. And we see a wide range of the good and bad of queer relationships in a way that feels very real - like, these people are not supposed to be that far off in time from our current day queer communities, and they feel like it.

I'm still not compleeeetely sure how I feel about the ending, but generally I like it (that probably makes no sense/is not at all helpful but oh well). 

TL;DR: HIGHLY recommend but definitely check out the content warnings and uh, gird your loins? 
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