Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

9 reviews

chezler24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow! Hiron Ennes with an absolute knockout of a debut novel! This fed my love for Gothic science fiction and horror and left me wanting more. I'm excited to see what the author creates next. Here, they excellently craft this unsettling post-apocalyptic world which leaves just enough in question to disturb the reader while egging them along to learn more about its secrets. Ennes is able to tackle ideas surrounding identity, bodily autonomy, personal agency, and morality under the umbrella of this grotesque yet beautifully written story. 

(I should have finished this book a week ago, but headaches and a busy schedule halted me. If I wasn't hindered by those two things I would have absolutely torn through this book quicker than my timeline shows.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Gore

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Dysphoria, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

krisalexcole's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

maimy_santiago99's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It's fast paced for a Gothic, but readers unfamiliar with the genre will probably find it slow. Takes a bit to get going, but that might be because I had to shift into a more scholarly frame of mind- the language of Gothic novels being deliberately a bit obtuse in modern novels in order to mimic the feel of the originals takes a bit more concentration to parse than your average SFF. 

A nice twist on the latest trend in Gothic horror, I found some of the more esoteric bits of world building a bit too puzzling to be creepy. I think the normally of people with their organs outside their bodies and with mechanical replacements, for example, could have been established as being completely ordinary and not unusual a bit earlier, though I don't know how without it becoming tedious and ruining that lovely opening. The mysteries abound and few are explored, though, and that pulled me out of the story a bit as things continued to tangle but very few threads came loose.

The queerness in the story is simultaneously entirely incidental and completely pervasive- a character with he/him pronouns who lactates and acted as a wet nurse presented and seen as just another person rather than a trans person or a genetic anomaly (I assume the former, but in the world of the novel it could easily be the latter), the androgyny of the narrator for the first half of the book, the almost neglectful acceptance of physical differences... It's clear that in this world, queerness of any stripe isn't a huge deal to anyone who doesn't desperately want heirs, to the point where it is ubiquitous and almost blasé in its presentation, but it still feels revolutionary in the world we live in.

The twins were a highlight for me, and I'd happily have read a version of this novel that centered on them instead of the doctor/narrator (which is not to say I didn't enjoy this version!)

All in all, an enjoyable debut. I'll keep an eye out for their sophomore effort. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Confinement

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Genocide, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Infidelity

readmeup's review against another edition

dark tense 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

thehmkane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

Every hour or so, this book delivered a line or a concept or an event that made me think, gee, this it the genderiest book I've ever read. That holds true to the end. It's complex. It's unsettling. And it is determinedly not cis.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Animal death, Colonisation, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Medical content, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Stillbirth

missbrookss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Body horror, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child death

hellocath's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pregnancy, Death, Murder, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Classism

Minor: Colonisation, Infertility, Cursing, Drug use, and Infidelity

caidyn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

All these books coming out with fungus or creepy things being the culprit are some of the best. And this book grabbed me. A world that's somewhat post-apocalyptic yet fantastical and sci-fi. It definitely was a good read. It dipped towards the end, but I still greatly enjoyed this read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Death, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Miscarriage