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A review by orcamagicka
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
adventurous
dark
funny
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
3.0
An intense, gorey, nasty, sex filled, and at times deeply relatable apocalyptic story about being trans in a TERF run world overrun by virus infected flesh eating men.
Things I liked
- SO MANY TRANS CHARACTERS! It's rare to find a book with a trans Mc, so an entire cast was a treat
- Unapologetic queerness and trans identify, including using actual physiological terms when referring to trans genitals. Such as saying "clit" when referring to a trans guy instead of saying "T-dick" for example.
- Satire and the author's witty sense of dark humor and sarcasm
- Fascinating yet horrifying worldbuilding
- The idea of having to routinely harvest and eat literal testicles in order to naturally keep estrogen levels high is disgustingly hilarious
- A complex look at transphobia and how it manifests. Transphobes aren't always extreme evangelical conservatives, they can also be radical liberals and self proclaimed "feminists". For trans people, both the left and right wing are a threat to our lives and freedom
Things I didn't like
- I'm ALL for smut in stories, but this was too much for me. It seemed the author was purposefully using the most disgusting descriptors imaginable, nauseating me more than the actual violence and gore. I never want to hear semen described as "mucus" ever again. There wasn't a single sex scene in this entire story that was enjoyable to read nor didn't deeply gross me out, which is a crime in my smut loving opinion.
- The large cast of characters and constant POV changes made it more difficult for me to follow the story and connect deeply to the individual characters. I really liked Beth, Indie, and Robbie, but I wish I could have gotten to know them more instead of feeling wrenched around between other POVs and trying to keep track of other side characters
- I may have missed it, but to me there was a large plot hole in the story that deeply confused me. Why was the TERF squad of Seabrook hellbent on killing innocent trans women, meanwhile they forcibly feminized and gave estrogen to all the teenage and younger cis boys that entered puberty post T-Day in order to prevent them from being infected? Maybe this double standard was intentional to show the hypocrisy of the TERF leader, but I wish it would have been developed more.
Things I liked
- SO MANY TRANS CHARACTERS! It's rare to find a book with a trans Mc, so an entire cast was a treat
- Unapologetic queerness and trans identify, including using actual physiological terms when referring to trans genitals. Such as saying "clit" when referring to a trans guy instead of saying "T-dick" for example.
- Satire and the author's witty sense of dark humor and sarcasm
- Fascinating yet horrifying worldbuilding
- The idea of having to routinely harvest and eat literal testicles in order to naturally keep estrogen levels high is disgustingly hilarious
- A complex look at transphobia and how it manifests. Transphobes aren't always extreme evangelical conservatives, they can also be radical liberals and self proclaimed "feminists". For trans people, both the left and right wing are a threat to our lives and freedom
Things I didn't like
- I'm ALL for smut in stories, but this was too much for me. It seemed the author was purposefully using the most disgusting descriptors imaginable, nauseating me more than the actual violence and gore. I never want to hear semen described as "mucus" ever again. There wasn't a single sex scene in this entire story that was enjoyable to read nor didn't deeply gross me out, which is a crime in my smut loving opinion.
- The large cast of characters and constant POV changes made it more difficult for me to follow the story and connect deeply to the individual characters. I really liked Beth, Indie, and Robbie, but I wish I could have gotten to know them more instead of feeling wrenched around between other POVs and trying to keep track of other side characters
- I may have missed it, but to me there was a large plot hole in the story that deeply confused me. Why was the TERF squad of Seabrook hellbent on killing innocent trans women, meanwhile they forcibly feminized and gave estrogen to all the teenage and younger cis boys that entered puberty post T-Day in order to prevent them from being infected? Maybe this double standard was intentional to show the hypocrisy of the TERF leader, but I wish it would have been developed more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Cannibalism, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Trafficking
Minor: Animal death