Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

By Way Of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl

12 reviews

finnthehuman217's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

3.5

I don’t think I liked the messaging about a successful White Trans Woman using a black trans woman’s trauma of killing somebody in self defense as “motivation” for her to continue working. Like the book is very much a story of a woman who is basically stealth and is outed by her involvement in a case involving a trans prostitute who I mentioned above. I liked the idea behind it but the way Erin is very “your resilience inspired me to continue working” is super white savior-y. But the other thing I will say is that Erin doesn’t seem to have a close group of trans girlfriends and so she doesn’t have the connection to the community besides in Sharise. It was disappointing because I was looking forward to reading it. The story was very good but it seemed like because of the year it takes place, (2006) the culture was not up on the community and so it feels trapped in that moment where trans women are either already established in their career or they’re prostitutes. It’s very disheartening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

yoyoitsflo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was such a great book! It was a legal thriller that felt engaging and relevant with all the character experiences that are part of the novel. This isn’t common, and I can’t wait to follow Erin more in the future books! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Deadnaming and Toxic relationship

The above content warnings are in the context of a murder case that leads to a series of events that affect multiple characters. The book also focuses on the experiences of two trans characters both past and present in relation to their families, friends, etc. Most of it is not written in a derogoratory way per se, but it is written out and described clearly at names which can potentially make it uncomfortable. It doesn’t affect the content of the book overall, but it’s something to be mindful of!

stormplains's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Racism and Police brutality

Transphobia, deadnaming, and misgendering surrounding the main characters is a major part of the novel. The author handles this tactfully, and the portrayals of people who “just don’t get it” are realistic. That said, if you are not in the headspace to navigate that, that’s okay. Spoiler and major transphobia warning:

part of the plot involves the murder of a transgender sex worker, who is a friend of Sharise. The death happens off-screen. There are no graphic descriptions.

readthesparrow's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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

3.5

A pretty decent legal thriller! Though there were some sticking points for me (it was very clear the author doesn't speak AAVE and there was a lot of summary instead of narrative in the second half), I still overall enjoyed the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

joybuglib's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, and Religious bigotry

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Intriguing format and overall plot, and the author's background in law grants the story a lot of believability (though it does get somewhat cliche at some points). However, the writing style is very dry -- lots of telling and repetition, which dampens the action and any emotional impact, and the dialogue is very scripted and impossible to distinguish between most characters, with the one exception being a grimace-inducing attempt at AAVE from a white author. The characters are pretty flat in general, and a lot of the suspense is also mitigated by scenes expanding on the antagonists' motivations and plans in detail. Definitely some strong commentary on the legal/justice system and violence against trans people, especially trans women of color, but unfortunately not as compelling a read as I had hoped. Still, it is a debut, so I may still check out more of Gigl's writing in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide, Vomit, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

joey1914's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Outing

aislinreads's review against another edition

I wanted to finish this book to see how the mystery would resolve, but I couldn’t take any more trans suffering. This was such a hard and heavy read. Take the TW seriously, please!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Racism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• 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

4.0

I’m really glad I read this because it enlightened me further on the special challenges that face transgender people who are just trying to live their lives in peace. The author is a transgender lawyer and her main character is a transgender lawyer defending a transgender woman accused of murder. Nothing about this book is subtle but it’s a well-written, intriguing mystery about characters I’d like to know because I admire them. 

I confess I was a bit disappointed in the plot in the last fifteen pages but that didn’t affect my rating. I’m hoping to read the second in this series to see how lawyer Erin McCabe develops. And a third in the series is being published soon so I can look forward to that, too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kaydawn's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault

misgendering/deadnaming, transphobia, murder, SA, child abuse, homophobic/transphobic slurs