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hyurutchi 's review for:

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
4.5
challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

extreme horror, not for the faint of heart or stomach.

tldr: everything is about sex except sex, which is about how transmisogynists should be blown up 

brainwyrms is an incredibly visceral, disgusting, emotionally moving, funny, timely, violent, relatable, down to earth, and understanding novel. it shows many intense, extreme acts of human sexuality and violence and uses those as a method to contextualize the lives of LGBT people in our increasingly more regressive world, by creating a horrific and deeply compelling near future sexual nightmare world. brainwyrms presents a rictus, bitter grin against the very real evils in this world and indulges in everything bigots claim you are at your worst to brutally (and literally, in the text) rip open the regressive trappings, transmisogynist leaders, and escalating bigoted extremism in miserable, resentful glee.

expect to have weird, slightly erotic nightmares while reading this, and be prepared to cry for all involved — primarily for your trans self and loved ones. 

i was quite enamored with rumfitt's ability to call upon modern internet culture from disparate social circles as a method to tell her story and establish the elements of satire. one chapter is literally just different people on Twitter getting curiouscat anon asks, many chapters reference well known LGBT memes (such as the lesbian master doc) or online behavior (such as receiving replies about suicide statistics as a form of harassment). she also does some fantastic reader addresses, which ask some difficult questions of you as a reader. 

quite literally every content warning you could applies to this, by the way. it is an extraordinary way to examine the worst of humanity, and you should go in expecting that. 

I have read a couple other more extreme horror novels (such as tender is the flesh) and i feel that brainwyrms succeeds more than most. while it is gross, it is also exceedingly sarcastic and clearly and very deeply loves the subjects at the heart of what it is speaking of. if I could recommend this book, I would. 

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