Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

16 reviews

hiddenfallacies's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-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

4.5

Our Hideous Progeny is a delight of a novel, bathed in the essence of Victorian-era science and all the opportunities it held - if you were the right person. It follows Mary Frankenstein, great-niece of that Frankenstein, as she struggles to realize her place and purpose in the world. Her anger and sorrowful past leads her to an idea - one that most would find absurd: bringing a dinosaur to life.

From its real-world details (that had me pausing in my reading to look up the historical context) to its richly expressed environments, I found myself lost in this story quite easily. The narrative often made me feel as if I was experiencing the world alongside Mary, sharing her sorrows and triumphs and everything in-between. Perhaps that was one of my favorite things about this novel - all of the characters felt real. 

The only thing preventing this from being a five-star read is that I felt the story ended right as it was truly beginning for Mary! I would love to see the follow-up the author joked about in their note at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Vomit, and Colonisation

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Colonisation

rowan2323's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings: child death, misogyny, racism, body horror, blood

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Grief, and Classism

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Misogyny, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Racism

jenniferropell's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

eleanora's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

natahoochie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Coulda been gayer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I love the concept of this novel: it's very original and a fun gothic take on historical fiction for the classical lit nerds. It does drag a bit in the middle for me, so I think it could have been shorter. The queer rep is there but only just barely, honestly, and I wish it had been explored more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a wonderful read! Pretty dark, at times (both content-wise and thematically) but it was fun to read a queer woman in STEM Frankenstein spin-off and I appreciated the writing style. Lots of of-the-time misogyny and homophobia that can be rough, but I liked the ending (a happy ending imo) and

personally choose to believe that the monster made its way back to Scotland and lives on as the Loch Ness Monster

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

sproutedpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Chronic illness representation: 

• Maise: migraines, asthma and lung issues, heart issues, history of childhood illness. 
• Mr. Jamsetjee: tremors (likely Parkinson's) referred to as “shaking palsy”.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Discussion of phrenology (challenged) and racism in science, description of animal corpses and their decomposition (not overly graphic), description of surgical procedures on animal corpses, use of laudanum to treat chronic migraines, infant death/stillbirth