So rarely do I pick up an ARC that I requested, begin reading, and find myself completely turned off. The summary sounded intriguing, but from page one, the author casts this miserable post-apocalyptic world without also helping with the setup of what happened, how long ago, etc. The language used was coarse, and again, I don't consider myself a prude when it comes to language, but this just had a junior high-level bully vibe. I made it a few chapters but quickly realized that I was not going to enjoy where this was going, and I wasn't enjoying any of the pages I had worked (hard!) through so far. Dark and depressing for the sake of being dark and depressing doesn't do anything for me. Not for me, but may still be of interest to others.

Okay, there was no way that I was going to skip out on Manhunt, not after that pitch. I mean, a combination of Y: The Last Man and The Girl With All the Gifts? Yes, please! Written by Gretchen Felker-Martin, this book had big shoes to fill. Oh, did I mention that Manhunt is essentially a gender-based apocalypse story? Yeah. It's going to get intense.

Beth and Fran live a very dark but unique life. They travel what remains of the country they once knew, hunting feral men. Why? To harvest their organs and stave off the same feral fate that awaits them.

Meanwhile, Robbie has learned the hard way never to trust other people. Yet somehow, these three will end up surviving together, fending off TERFs and worse. All while trying to survive the wasteland left behind for the few survivors.

“Community is when you never let go of each other. Not even after you’re gone.”

Holy cow. There's a lot to unpack from Manhunt, and I adore that. There's so much to adore about this book, assuming you can stomach all of the gore and graphic details constantly popping up in this post-apocalyptic world.

Manhunt was marketed as a cross between Y: The Last Man and The Girl With All the Gifts. I haven't read the latter, but I can affirm the accuracy of the first comparison. Because wow. Much like Y, Manhunt does not pull punches. It tells exactly the story it wants to tell, and it doesn't much care about how you'll process it. Or how much it'll hurt your heart (or your gut – some of those graphic scenes got me hard).

I think the thing I love the most about Manhunt is this is arguably the first post-apocalyptic story I've ever seen that portrayed characters that weren't cis. The representation in this book is divine, and I love that this rep was the foundation of the story, not an afterthought. We need more books like this out in the world. I want to read them all.

I liked this book, but I did not love it.

I found that the author's writing most succeeded during scenes of action. We open with action and hardly have a chance to catch our breath through the whole first section. When we did slow down, I sometimes found the author undercut herself with pop culture references or easy humor, which pulled me out of the story and suggested a discomfort or lack of confidence in her own skill. I wish we had been forced to sit with our feelings a bit more, but maybe that is more of my literary fiction bias showing.

I did find certain aspects of this truly horrifying, and I'm glad it went as far as it did. There isn't a lot of subtlety in its thinking about TERFs or dismantling the patriarchy, but I don't think it was trying to be.

I found the characters a bit lacking. It took me quite awhile to differentiate the two main characters without having to remind myself who had what injury. Eventually they felt more distinct, but I think the writing was not strong enough to make them feel like completely separate and fully realized people.

I wish we had slowed down more in the middle, to really nail down a false sense of security before the second part, but I was ultimately satisfied at the end.

Major trigger warnings for sexual violence, misogyny, and transphobia.

Oh my god, "Manhunt" by Gretchen Felker-Martin is not what I expected, and like nothing I've ever read. A post-apocalyptic, deeply queer horror tale that is grotesque, erotic, nihilistic, and dark fun. This book is not for everyone, and the review-bombing the author has received proves that. Open-minded horror fans will find a lot to enjoy with this one, and Felker-Martin is a voice I can't wait to hear more from in the future.

Wow. Horrifying, breathtaking, disgusting, and beautiful. Both a fantastically in-depth meditation on the complexity (and sometimes simplicity) of love, sex, and gender AND an action-packed hilarious post-apocalyptic splatterpunk ride. Exactly as many digs at JKR's expense as you would expect from a book about a world where men have transformed into grotesque zombie-like monsters, but TERFs are the real threat to a peaceful life on Earth. A soon to be horror classic, No doubt in my mind!

Wow. I can't describe this book. But I think that everyone should read it. What an amazing blast of fun.

I’ve been a fan of post apocalyptic fiction since reading Matheson’s classic I AM LEGEND back in 1980 when I was in junior high and since then have always been looking for something unique, especially in the wake of the ridiculous amount of end times zombie novels that started erupting around 2005. While MANHUNT manages to be somewhat different in that we see an apocalyptic situation through the eyes of several trans characters, the structure of the story will feel familiar to fans of the subgenre.

Instead of zombies, MANHUNT deals with a virus that turns anyone with testosterone into savage, animalistic killers, hence men (and certain trans men and women) have pretty much become doomed. Surviving trans women now hunt rabid male victims of the virus and harvest their testicles for their own survival (hence this novel’s fantastic cover art).

Our survivors eventually find their way to a safe house that’s (surprise) run by people who may not have their best interest in mind. There’s lots of violence and action, although I found much of the fighting scenes (especially during the finale) to be quite confusing. The large cast is a bit to keep track of, too.

I didn’t find the violence even half as extreme as most reviewers are claiming (and suggest those who did stay far away from writers like Edward Lee, Bryan Smith and Monica O’Rourke). It’s entertaining, but aside from the trans angle, MANHUNT is set up like a standard end times horror novel, and the familiarity of its structure left me wanting. The writing itself felt small press, too, which is very surprising coming from a Tor release.

Horror fans should give it a try, but those thirsting for something different in their post apocalyptic fiction might want to check out HOLLOW KINGDOM by Kira Jane Buxton or AFTERLAND by Lauren Beukes.

DNF -- I love me some gore in my horror, but the descriptions of castrating a tumour-filled corpse were a little too much for me. One of those weird situations where I'd be fine if it was a movie but reading it myself was a bit much. That being said, I think I'll still keep an eye on this author in the future.

My favorite thing about Manhunt is how the author showed the audience how dangerous TERF rhetoric can and does lead to violence against the trans community. The scenes that happen in this apocalypse parallel what really happens. A great social commentary through the horror genre!

*this review basically spoils the entire book, so read at your own risk!*

CW: fatphobia, internalized fatphobia, homophobia, antisemitism, ALL the transphobia.

I did not like this book. The only reason I’m giving it two stars is because I liked parts of the idea of the story, and I did like part 1, but otherwise I really have nothing good to say about it.

So, the premise of the book is that there’s a virus that only infects men and they become these awful rapey cannibals. The book starts out following two trans girls, Fran and Beth, who are man hunters. They kill the awful rapey cannibal men, cut off their balls and cut out their kidneys, as they are one of the only sources of estrogen left in this apocalyptic world. I thought this was a really interesting premise. I also gave a chuckle when the villainous militia showed up because they’re called TERFs. I was really interested to see how this would all play out. Then Fran and Beth meet up with a trans man, Robbie, and they form a little group of man hunters, who eventually make their way back to the doctor that the girls have been working for (and who is an old friend).

Things just kind of get bad from here. Our little band of trans folks plus the doctor move into a compound where they are supposed to be safe, but the compound is basically just a bunch of upper class white ladies trying to get pregnant (which is why they need the doctor). Then Beth is forced to be an unpaid sex worker on the compound, where she has to dress up as a man and fuck the apparently penis starved ladies of the compound. Like, that is just a whole lot of fucked up. And when she’s not good at doing this, the women in power send Beth off to basically be a slave to the TERFs.

Meanwhile, the TERFs are executing any trans women they come across. And that’s fairly graphic on page.

At around this point Robbie and Beth rebel, rescue Indi (the doctor) and Fran, and make their way, along with a bunch of other trans women and the startling few decent cis women, to an old bunker on the coast (they’re somewhere in New England). Things seem good, they can easily defend themselves from the awful rapey cannibal men. Except then the TERFs show up in a warship that they’ve somehow got running again, and blow the bunker to bits. Like, that just seems like A LOT of effort to go to to get rid of a handful of trans women. I get that the TERFs are terrible, but this seems a bit extreme?

In the end, Fran dies, Robbie leaves, and Beth and Indi go somewhere? And that’s the end. There is no real resolution, just a whole lot of awfulness and then the end.

Maybe there is something here that I’m just not getting, being cisgender, maybe I’m missing something? After the first part I thought it was going to be a story about this group of trans folks who are surviving, while having occasional run ins with the TERFs. I thought it was going to be a story about the virus and transness and found family. But what it ended up being was an awful story where transphobia seemed to be the main plot, with a splashing of fatphobia, an antisemitic joke, and some homophobic slurs thrown in for good measure. I just don’t get it?

Overall, I wish I had not read this.

Men are monsters. This sentiment is literalized to a terrifying degree in Gretchen Felker-Martin’s post-apocalyptic horror novel Manhunt, which came out just last week. This book is gruesomely violent and goes to a lot of dark places, so it won’t be for everyone. But it gives a unique take on a gendered apocalypse from a transgender perspective.

Life as a trans woman was precarious enough before the end of the world. But after the t. rex virus turned anyone with high enough testosterone levels into mindless cannibalistic beasts, trans women like Fran and Beth are in danger from all sides. Their own bodies could turn on them if they don’t keep their levels of testosterone down with a steady supply of estrogen and spiro. The need to constantly hunt down more estrogen puts them in the path of packs of feral men. And as if that wasn’t enough, the east coast of the former United States is being taken over by an army of militarized TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) whose top priority is wiping out the few trans women who have managed to survive this long in the post-apocalyptic landscape. Luckily, Beth and Fran don’t have to go it alone. By their side is their trusty medical doctor Indi, who patches up their injuries and processes their scavenged hormones. And soon their little found family is joined by Robbie, a trans guy who is slowly learning how to open himself up to other people after experiencing a terrible tragedy. But with the soldiers of the Matriarchy closing in, these four friends will need to fight to carve out a place for themselves in this new world.

Manhunt blends elements of the gendered apocalypse novel with the zombie apocalypse genre to create an apocalypse story that is new and unique. Early apocalypse stories—from the very earliest with Mary Shelley’s The Last Man—tend to focus on male survivors, or bands of mostly men, with perhaps a few women to be fought over as love interests. Even other stories with an apocalyptic event that targets men, such as the comic book series Y: The Last Man, still focus on men as their central characters. Manhunt instead depicts a post-apocalyptic society populated almost entirely by women and focuses on the plight of trans women at its center. The inclusion of trans women along with trans men and nonbinary characters adds some nuance to a premise that in other hands could easily devolve into reductive views of gender and bio-essentialism.

As for its connection to the zombie apocalypse genre, readers will find the concept of a sudden and unexplained virus that turns a significant portion of the population into flesh-hungry monsters quite familiar. But Manhunt differs from zombie novels in several important ways. On the surface level, the monsters that the men become aren’t shuffling corpses but rather are described in animalistic terms—almost dog- or wolf-like. They travel in packs and are reduced to their basest instincts: eating, fighting, and fucking. On a deeper level, zombie novels are generally about fears of contagion or infiltration from an outside source. In contrast, the primary anxiety explored in Manhunt is about our own inner natures. It is suggested several times throughout the novel that the monsters created by the virus are only a more extreme manifestation of the selfishness, violence, and crudeness already inherent in men before the apocalypse. The question that divides the protagonists from the TERFs is centered on the inner nature of trans women: deep down, are they truly women, or just violent and monstrous men waiting to break free? By the end of the novel, we see that trans characters like Beth and Fran are capable of nurturing love and sisterhood, while many of the cis women who pride themselves on their femaleness wind up simply replicating the hierarchy, violence, and cruelty that had defined patriarchal society. I found the novel ultimately a bit reductive in its conclusion that the ability to form community based on love is evidence of a feminine inner nature and that the militant TERFs have a masculine inner nature rather than truly questioning or deconstructing this binary. But while not really a sophisticated philosophical treatise, I think Manhunt is primarily a revenge fantasy romp in which the naked fascism of TERF ideology is put on display for all to see and trans women get to kick some serious butt at the end of the world.

It’s been five years since T-Day; five years since those who produce high enough amounts of testosterone (mostly cis men) were infected with a virus known as t. rex and turned into predatory, humanoid monsters whose only drives are to mate and feed. Any woman who actually manages to survive being raped by the creatures and ends up impregnated can look forward to a shorter pregnancy, with the trade-off being a feral baby eating itself out of the womb. In between the cis men becoming slavering beasts and the cis women leading the fractured pockets of society exists the liminal (and precarious) space where transgender and non-binary people live, where taking testosterone or running out of androgen blockers and estrogen are now a death sentence.

Beth and Fran are women living in this space who are not only trying to avoid being murdered by the rampaging beasts roaming the country, but by the TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) led Legion who enjoy hunting, dismembering, and lynching transgender men as well. Being transwomen and manhunters (people who hunt feral humans and harvest their adrenal glands and gonads for estrogen production), Beth and Fran are in constant danger, and when a hunting trip goes horribly wrong, the pair end up relying on a loner named Robbie who reluctantly agrees to help them get back home. When Indiresh, the doctor Beth and Fran hunt for and who produces the estrogen, is offered the position of in-house doctor for a billionaire “bunker brat,” it seems like a great opportunity for security and support. Unfortunately, nothing is ever that simple and even in a dying world, prejudice, fear, and hatred still reign supreme; thus, the monsters lurking outside aren’t nearly as dangerous as the people and “allies” surrounding you.

Manhunt is an intense, emotional, and brutal post-apocalyptic horror story that is in your face in a lot of ways. The horror element (particularly the body horror) and portrayal of the testosterone monsters are descriptive, visceral, and unflinching, but so is the horror inflicted by the females in power. Like many stories set in a post-apocalypse world, most of its uncertainty, lack of safety, and sense of dread are rooted in social horror—how societal norms, prejudices, and power structures can continue to create different, but just as deadly, monsters to fight. From the testosterone rex virus sharing a name with a book about biological sex and gender, to a world where extremists only welcome “certified XX” women, and even see those who can’t be vectors but are intersex, genderqueer, transmen, etc. as dangerous to The Matriarchy because they are “upholding” the patriarchy, the social commentary is loud and clear. Manhunt tackles a lot of ugliness that is prevalent, but not talked about as often when the victims and targets are trans and queer people, especially those of color.

The blurb and narrative is clear in its goal as a “response to every gender-based apocalypse story that failed to consider the existence of transgender and non-binary people” and achieves this aim by keeping the familiar markers of the subgenre, while using under-explored perspectives, shifting first-person POVs primarily of trans characters, and having many different supporting characters from marginalized communities. Beth and Fran carry much of the story, but just as important are Indi (a larger woman of Indian decent), Robbie (a transman of Indigenous decent), and Ramona (a cis white woman in the Legion whose desires make her an outsider). The POV characters have an airport’s worth of baggage from their old lives that gets added onto instead of jettisoned as they stare down the end of the species. The characters Flecker-Martin creates are deeply complex, raw, and damaged; their interiorities, interactions, and choices are jagged, messy, and affecting and I enjoy how the narrative explores many people’s need for belonging and family and how it can be a source of salvation and peace or ruination.

Being only five years after the apocalypse and the virus not having the almost exponential spread of infection seen in many zombie/creature horror allows for examination of mindsets still entrenched in ideas/feelings from “before.” The same, classist/racist/[insert -ist] beliefs still reign supreme, with cis women who had connections and money still catered to, living sheltered lives, and acquiring estrogen for their PCOS, HRT, or other hormonal imbalances without a thought for the “dirty” underclass and “trannies” providing it, and now that the time for The Matriarchy is here, the same power grabs and oppression for those considered lesser and/or who don’t conform to a rigid definition of womanhood apply. This is one of the reasons I find the author’s chosen method of destruction to be so effective as a vehicle for annihilation and commentary—for while it is the literal end of the species and most stories show survival as being most important, people like Fran and Beth can’t put aside the heartache, trauma, and struggle of being trans because the same rhetoric and fear from before has become a realized, militarized terror to be survived as well. It also helps that Beth and Fran have a long history, complicated by their different experiences as trans women (with Fran having passing privilege and ingrained expectation of protection that Beth does not) that color their relationship and how they navigate the new world—needing each other, being friends yet not far enough from past fractures and emotional turmoil.

As effective as Manhunt is in spotlighting growing social disparities and following characters who aren’t the typical MCs, it’s also just a good end-of-the-world tale where you have some Governor/Negan faction with domination as its goal targeting people who are fighting to survive (or in this case the right to survive), including an admittedly over-the-top, yet still poignant and thematic, third-act last stand. There are a couple threads I wish were clearer and I did end up mentally tripping over some terminology and explanations about t. rex that had me dredging up memories of virology class and trying to puzzle out mechanisms like a calculating meme, but overall, it’s pretty easy to go along with the premise of the virus and how it works. That being said, even for lovers of post-apocalypse and horror, Manhunt won’t be for everyone. The amount of inner pain and almost constant self-doubt, self-disgust, and angst the POV characters feel and the unrelenting powerlessness and othering at the hands of extremists and “allies” that the trans characters experience (on top of the sheer brutality found in this type of setting) can be overwhelming at times. For me, the vividness of the characters/their journeys and simply encountering obstacles and situations I never imagined in an end of the world scenario makes it worth the read.

Like don't get me wrong I think it's pretty dope to have a story that centers trans women and the very real and violent existence of TERFs, especially one that is gore-y, gruesome, sexual and visceral--it has trans women engaging with "the end'. the women are fighting to find hormones, struggling with interpersonal relationships, surviving vicious viral beasts and the literal terror of terfs hunting them down as said terfs continue to wrongfully see them as men. I'm not really into sex so it was a lot for me to read these pretty detailed sex scenes and sensual engagements but honestly cis-hetero narratives do it all the time (i hate it even more). But as a black trans lesbian person it was pretty cringe to see how white it all was for me even though I could see the attempt to punish those who lean more towards moderate white ideology or the one person that went from terf to double agent--like it was more physically dealt with than like structurally described. But it felt sort of empty to me because I didn't like how she wrote Black women in this story. Like at all. I felt the Black women were flat and only surfaced for demonstration. Both violent violation of a Black woman's body and for a Black liberator. Also white women have no claim over the d slur--that's a Black only term and to see her use it was frustrating. I'm fine without trigger warnings, i think shit happens--its nice for people to know so they can prepare themselves however they need to to engage with a book. So when I got to the detail with the Black woman who was a terf getting thrown under the bus and then mutilated for it--that scene felt antiblack and I was pissed. Granted there was a lot of overt violence towards all the characters. I just think its weird when a white woman writes about Black people being mutilated in grave detail. Its weird. Its funky. Its gross. And one could argue--it happens to everybody--but the thing is the way this Black person was harmed didn't add anything to the story. We got it terfs are fucked up and evil--but also terf ideology stems from white supremacy and slavery. But I guess I expect too much from a sort of gore-core sci-fi. I think personally I never like when white writers kill or harm Black people in their stories whether that is part of the world or not--i couldn't even finish walking dead after certain Black and Brown deaths so that's just my beef. But i can also see that because the person that was mutilated was a terf it was justified? But I think I'm overthink things.

I’ve never read anything quite like this before. This book was graphic and gory but also had a lot of emotional depth to it. I’ll be thinking on this one for some time.

Beth and Fran are two trans women trying to survive: they are manhunters, forced to harvest organs from feral men for a chance at life. A group of murderous TERFs are after them (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), hating them just for who they are. The pair becomes entangled with Robbie, a trans man, who has been fending for himself for a long time. The trio protect each other and try to battle the vicious world.

This is one of the most graphic books I have ever read: from gore to explicit sex scenes. This will not be a book for sensitive readers. The world Martin has created us grim but the parallels to our current world with anti-trans legislation makes it all believable (and the JK Rowling jabs sure were fun.) The relationships Martin crafted are intricate, raw and real - it’s what soared for me in this book. I want to rate it higher but so many peripheral characters were folded in, I became a little lost and unfocused. I look forward to reading more by this unique author

⚠️Trigger Warning: Transphobia, Gore, Violence, Suicide, Detailed Sexual Acts, Antisemitism, Sexual Assault, Self Harm, Death, Murder

This book shows how different life is for cis and trans women and how ridiculous TERF behaviour is. A book written by a trans woman about trans women is a must and it's nice to see.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. That's not to say it's badly written, because there were times when I was pulled into it, but on the whole I struggled to read it. I would definitely say to give it ago, even if it's just the first few chapters, as it'll give you a new point of view.

Holy Sh*t!!!!! THIS is why I read!
It's only March but I'm pretty sure this is going to be my favorite book of the year. What an emotional ride.
I didn't know too much about the story going into it, but I was immediately hooked. Felker-Martin has written these characters so well, I really felt all their emotions. This book is so much more than a gore-fest (although it is an amazing gore-fest too!) It is sad. And also funny. I wasn't expecting it to have so much emotional depth but it is pretty heartbreaking, which I think is especially impressive since the story is told from multiple perspectives.

I really thought I would enjoy this book and I absolutely loved the synopsis. I was so excited to receive the ARC of this one and then within just five minutes of starting it I was completely floored with how awful the writing was. It had nothing to do with the LGBTQ narratives which I know have been a big turn off for some with this novel, but for me that had nothing to do with my dislike. The author is obviously a very novice writer. Her vocabulary was subpar and the ideas in this book were just disgusting. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited and then even more disappointed by a book. It was so bad I don’t think I’d give the author another chance if she writes in the future.

Utterly gripping. I stayed up late in the night reading this, and continued as soon as I woke up. Not for the squeamish or faint of heart, as there is plenty of body horror and gore present, but all is necessary to the atmosphere and none of it feels gratuitous or exploitative. A post apocalyptic premise that's actually believable and well thought out, this is the new gold standard for me in regards to gender focused dystopian novels. Felker-Martin is an author I'll be eagerly awaiting more books from.

4.5 stars!

Fran and Beth are trans women living in apocalyptic hell. A mysterious disease has transformed the people with high testosterone levels into ravenous, dangerous, horny monsters. The cure? Well… you’ll just have to read it. (The cover is accurate.)

It’s no secret I’m not a fan of gender/sex-based disease/apocalypse/dystopian novels. Manhunt was a breath of fresh air. I would always be reading these books screaming how that’s not how any of this works (!!!) and now I’ve finally found it. The apocalypse book that does it right. Gender and sex are not binary, are super complicated, and even just acknowledging trans and nonbinary individuals is a godsend. Mixed with some strong yet messy queer characters, it really was a joy to read.

Besides being gross and scary, it was also super meta and I am living for it. Fuck TERFs—and there’s some satisfying kills in this book that had me smiling.

I need *more* from Felker-Martin. I’m privileged to follow her on Twitter, but I’m eagerly awaiting her next book.

CW: transphobia, body horror, rape/SA, and deadnaming

I liked the idea of the storyline but couldn’t get into it. Plots in which where women dominate the men in society and female characters are strong—mentally and physically—are of interest. Such as The Power. But this book seemed to be gender-violence porn, and grotesque for grotesque sake.