dziggetai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: Slavery, Excrement, Drug use, Alcohol, Classism, Murder, Colonisation, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit
ellenigrace's review against another edition
4.5
Spoiler
the collective group of queer editorsGraphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Transphobia
slinkmalink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Vaguely knew about Wild (from horrible histories ofc) but I hadn't heard of jack Sheppard at all n I thought they conveyed a really vivid picture of crime/prison system in that era that was v interesting
Also a very different perspective on gender than u usually get which was interesting
Moderate: Transphobia and Racism
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism, Medical content, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Vomit, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Classism, Alcohol, Gore, Racism, Colonisation, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Grief, Murder, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Excrement, and Violence
readingtrees's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Spoiler
narrative/historical fiction, from the perspective of trans masc individuals, engaging with/resisting legalized violenceModerate: War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Confinement, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Trafficking, Lesbophobia, and Slavery
shipyrds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
That being said, the narrative of Jack Sheppard is well-done; Rosenberg nails a particular sort of 18th-century cadence (possibly anachronistic; I don't really care.) Jack's narration is as slippery as the thief himself, both poetic and crude. The end of the book is spectacular, and Bess's discussion of the Fens is lovely.
Even in print, though, I found myself wishing the footnotes weren't there at all - as much as I enjoy a metanarrative, I think there's enough metanarrative present in the "18th century" portion itself, which touches on environmental destruction, the carceral state, the new calcification of racial categories, and transgender lives and loves. I don't think the book actually needed our modern day Dr. Voth in order to make the narrative speak to the present; it does that just fine on its own without the frame narrative, and I ended up getting distracted trying to track the details of his near-future academic dystopia.
So, overall: great book, loved Jack and Bess, (shockingly for me) could have done without the frame!
Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Slavery, Xenophobia, Racism, Police brutality, and Medical content
ninjamuse's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, and Police brutality
Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Forced institutionalization
streberkatze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Excrement
morelsupport's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Dysphoria, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Police brutality