Manhunt
in a nutshell: A post-apocalyptic zombie tale, wherein individuals with a certain level of testosterone are susceptible to a virus that transforms them into mindless, rabid predators. The surviving women, trans men, they/thems, and prepubescent boys contend with violent struggles to create community, re-imagine society, and survive in general. You would think this kind of world might hold utopian potential, once they get the power grids back up, but alas, not so, because of fuckin' TERFs. Humyn, all too humyn.
the vibes: A trans-focused splatterpunk survival horror with a healthy heaping of dyke drama and, because women just can't help ourselves, plenty of self-loathing over personal desires, body dysphorias, and old fashioned jealousy. A giant dosage of Lack of Solidarity, too, of course. Classic.
main themes: Nobody is content with their body; the desire to be desired; various flavors of self-loathing; no one is ever a woman the Right Way; power corrupts everything; what do we value vs. what do we sacrifice; billionaires hold negative value for societies, even post-societal collapse
the writing: This was a fun one for me, but I absolutely understand the mixed reviews from readers. Felker-Martin has been very open in interviews about her body dismorphic disorder, so the way it's written is painfully real. Even from a cis perspective, it was rough to read the visceral trans self-loathing, but I find myself empathetic to it because, well, I am also a woman. We have no harsher a critic when it comes to our looks, our bodies, our gender performance, than our own selves. Plus we've all been online, we see how cis people talk about non-cis people, jesus christ. Anyway, it didn't feel unnecessary, even if it understandably turned off some trans readers.
The pacing of the story was blended well, the environments interesting, and the various factions believable. A common critique is that there's just too much sex but, idk, it's the end of the world, I believe people'd be fuckin'. Overall, cool world-building but definitely molded for specific social commentary. For instance, I was so curious to read what non-American cultures might be building or fighting over in such a world, but Felker-Martin's scope didn't reach that far. The story doesn't lose anything for it, but, it would've been cool. You pick up the world of the story pretty quickly so the majority of the book is character-driven, and I will happily introduce you to our characters now.
BETH
Crossbow-wielding badass manhunter, who jumps into the fray to protect her own, even if it means killing bitches with her bare hands. When we meet her, she's mowing down wild man zombies and cutting off their balls to eat the estrogen inside. Gnarly! If societal collapse happens, we all need a Beth on our team. Alas, none have suffered as Beth hath suffered. This poor girl! The most brutal self-loathing and constantly taking L's for the sake of her friends. I kept wanting to hug her. But when she finally hits her breaking point and allows herself to be a priority, she's the one I can't imagine anyone rooting against. (And God did her story arc have a satisfying ending, we love to see it.) Fuck 'em up, Beth!
FRAN
The prissy gal, who has a hard time seeing past her adorable reflection, but is still down for the cause. Honestly I related most to Fran, and while she was frustrating she was also hilarious. I, too, could save someone's life by bludgeoning their attacker to death, and they'd still think I held the brick "in a faggy way." While running from an onslaught of arrows, her survival instinct takes the form of trying to remember a tweet she read once about whether she should run straight or in a zig-zag pattern. Girl! I laughed out loud when she breaks the silence between her and a hardened militia member stationed alongside her to ask "Do you think I should have worn something different?" while waiting to meet an enemy faction. Girl.
INDI
The resident doctor (a fertility specialist, no less) who sews everyone up when they return with pieces falling off. A matriarchal character who makes tradable estrogen out of the hunted testes Beth & Fran bring her. A family business, of sorts. In contrast to our trans gals, Indi's body dysmorphia stems from her fatness. This same fatness that means she can't travel the wilderness to reach a safer, TERF-less city, thereby chaining her friends to their current spot. Like Beth's inner turmoil, Indi's loathing was hard to read but also necessary for the book's aims. And like Beth, Indi getting to get hers in the end was satisfying, especially over the corpses of bitches who underestimated her because of her body.
ROBBIE
Our trans man who sadly doesn't have the most personality but does have plenty of background trauma. He's got a spidey-sense for when shit's about to go down, a complete reluctance to form lasting connections, and a knife hidden up his sleeve. I liked the guy, and he forced our main two girls to re-evaluate their shit. If the story were a video game I would probably play as Robbie, only cause Beth would be handicapped with some bullshit stat imbalance or whatever (seriously the girl could not win for the first half of the book.)
RAMONA
Our token TERF character. She's a soldier climbing the ranks in her violent army, but also a DL chaser enamored of an enby sex worker she secretly frequents, and therein lies the rub of her flavor of self-loathing. Understandably, an antagonist's pov was necessary to narratively get behind the enemy's walls, but she didn't quite get us inside the enemy's head, I would argue. But honestly, how does one do that without just repeating low-IQ tribalist talking points? Judith Butler is right (ofc); TERFs are just fascists. We don't need to 'get' why, there's no true logic to be found, just hate. Anyway, she's whatever.
SOPHIE
I immediately pictured Sabrina Carpenter, and if this is ever adapted for the screen, please cast her. Sophie is a bunker brat, a petite doll-like teenager who claps and squeals and has inhereted her billionaire parents' doomsday bunker and all its resources, thereby making her a fuedal warlord of sorts, but like, in a cute way. (And she isn't the only one-- the book mentions that there are other such bunker brats across the world, which, believable!) Anyway the hard drive that contained Sophie's fave youtube videos was corrupted and now she's turned her attention to becoming a mother. For this, she enlists Indi's help, bringing our 4 heroes into the fold of the bunker's fucked-up mini society, which the TERF army is sniffing around. Sophie's plans for becoming a mother turn out to be nothing short of psychotic, so our heroes find themselves caught between a rock, a hard place, and roaming packs of wild men who want to eat them. Let the adventures begin!
