Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

8 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

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

quinnpjd930's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

blor_12's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Started really slow but gains pace half way through and is consistent through the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Grief

milesjmoran's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

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

shawcrit's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual harassment

nefariousbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

3.0

Underwhelming. I kept waiting for the main even to come, the monstrous, the hideous to begin, and it never did. The strangest thing is, if the writing allowed it, it would have? What I mean is in theory, what they sis was terrible and monstrous, only the way we are told the story doesn't really do it justice. 
I am frankly disappointed. This could have been exciting, dark, passionate... but it fell flat. Somehow it was barely dark. In my opinion this could have been a great book, but it needed to lean into the horror, and do some serious editing. As it is, it's just. Fine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic