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A review by izzyvb023
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
1.0
Only rating 1 star so I don’t get roped in with the TERFs review bombing this because of the trans characters. This book isn’t bad because of trans people. It’s bad because it’s bad.
What I wanted from this book: badass trans women with cross bows fighting their way through a zombie apocalypse.
What I got from this book: weird rapey vibes, thinly veiled misogyny, and terrible writing
I am a big stickler for finishing things I start, but I had to DNF after 5 chapters. I simply could not keep reading. God, I wanted to like “Manhunt” so badly. I love horror! I love queer protagonists! I am obsessed with the cover design! I was SO excited to finally crack this one open. The disappointment was terrible.
As others have correctly pointed out, every page is either a depiction of violence, sex, or violent sex. I know the author herself is trans, but tbh I would not be shocked if someone told me the book was actually ghost written by a TERF to make it seem like all trans people are overly sexual and threatening. It felt like the author just added the word “rape” in every couple of pages just to be edgy. There was no need for all that.
I think the plague setting had some really cool potential and I was excited to see a depiction of queer and gender non confirming people navigating a post apocalyptic world. However, the fact that the plague simply turns all men into rabid raping monsters was a little surprising. This is especially strange because the main characters are trans women-meaning that if they don’t take enough estrogen, they will revert back to men and thus turn into the viscous raping creatures. I understand that this is the plot; however it doesn’t make a great premise for what is supposed to be a good depiction of trans people. TBH this premise almost makes it seem like the author wants us to believe that trans women aren’t real women and they are going to maim and rape “”real”” women if given the chance. I think the setting and the whole plague in general could have been handled WAY better in a better at that actually recognizes the characters autonomy and womanhood.
If it were just the terrible premises, I probably could have finished the book if I wanted. However, the writing was just awful! Every sentence had about 3-4 unnecessary adjectives, making each page just convoluted and unreadable. It felt as if the author thought she was writing poetry. Some of the paragraphs would have actually made beautiful poems if extracted from the book. Unfortunately, they were not poems in a poetry book: they were terrible sentences strung together in a poorly written novel.
With the writing + the poor representation, i just couldn’t bring myself to finish this book. I’m sorry “Manhunt” — I had such high hopes for you.
*** editing to add that apparently the author said that she believes “there should be more rape in horror.” Yeah this confirms my suspicion that she was just putting rape in the book for shits and giggles. What a deranged thing to think.
What I wanted from this book: badass trans women with cross bows fighting their way through a zombie apocalypse.
What I got from this book: weird rapey vibes, thinly veiled misogyny, and terrible writing
I am a big stickler for finishing things I start, but I had to DNF after 5 chapters. I simply could not keep reading. God, I wanted to like “Manhunt” so badly. I love horror! I love queer protagonists! I am obsessed with the cover design! I was SO excited to finally crack this one open. The disappointment was terrible.
As others have correctly pointed out, every page is either a depiction of violence, sex, or violent sex. I know the author herself is trans, but tbh I would not be shocked if someone told me the book was actually ghost written by a TERF to make it seem like all trans people are overly sexual and threatening. It felt like the author just added the word “rape” in every couple of pages just to be edgy. There was no need for all that.
I think the plague setting had some really cool potential and I was excited to see a depiction of queer and gender non confirming people navigating a post apocalyptic world. However, the fact that the plague simply turns all men into rabid raping monsters was a little surprising. This is especially strange because the main characters are trans women-meaning that if they don’t take enough estrogen, they will revert back to men and thus turn into the viscous raping creatures. I understand that this is the plot; however it doesn’t make a great premise for what is supposed to be a good depiction of trans people. TBH this premise almost makes it seem like the author wants us to believe that trans women aren’t real women and they are going to maim and rape “”real”” women if given the chance. I think the setting and the whole plague in general could have been handled WAY better in a better at that actually recognizes the characters autonomy and womanhood.
If it were just the terrible premises, I probably could have finished the book if I wanted. However, the writing was just awful! Every sentence had about 3-4 unnecessary adjectives, making each page just convoluted and unreadable. It felt as if the author thought she was writing poetry. Some of the paragraphs would have actually made beautiful poems if extracted from the book. Unfortunately, they were not poems in a poetry book: they were terrible sentences strung together in a poorly written novel.
With the writing + the poor representation, i just couldn’t bring myself to finish this book. I’m sorry “Manhunt” — I had such high hopes for you.
*** editing to add that apparently the author said that she believes “there should be more rape in horror.” Yeah this confirms my suspicion that she was just putting rape in the book for shits and giggles. What a deranged thing to think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic