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blarth_scarenghi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
A weird one for me (in terms of my reaction, rather than the content of the book). There were parts I liked and parts I didn't. Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped to, but I enjoyed it enough to keep going and see it through (and certainly enjoyed some elements). Going straight down the middle with my rating cos I don't feel like I can say I liked it, but also can't say I didn't. My copy was riddled with misprints, which slowed down the pace occasionally as I had to double-take and check the sentence (absolutely not a flaw with the book, but a shame for the publisher). There was also some repetition at one point which, to my mind, can only have been an error (rather than deliberate choice), which feels a little frustrating. I don't want to seem wholly critical, so I'll leave it there. I wouldn't recommend this, but don't regret reading it.
raforall's review against another edition
4.0
My review: http://raforall.blogspot.com/2019/02/trending-bizarro-fiction-with-bonus.html
Three Words To Describe This Book: Fun, Speculative, Compelling
Three Words To Describe This Book: Fun, Speculative, Compelling
findingmontauk1's review against another edition
4.0
This book has so much going on - but in a good way! It never stops being entertaining while at the same time pushing the boundaries on what you might come to expect from a story with this synopsis. This book has creature feature elements (I mean there are kaijus, after all! OOOH and little parasitic bug monsters!), claustrophobic suspense, themes of trans acceptance and understanding, humor, sex, and LOTS of other sexy things! And all of these things DO end up going together quite nicely to tell one amazing bizarro story!
I definitely need more bizarro from Glasser! 4 stars - highly recommended for fans of bizarro and erotic horror!
I definitely need more bizarro from Glasser! 4 stars - highly recommended for fans of bizarro and erotic horror!
exorcismofemilyreed's review against another edition
4.0
"We were giving birth to our own version of what we'd wanted the monster to be, now that we seemed to be in control."
F4 by Larissa Glasser is one of the strangest and most entertaining books I've read. There's so much packed into this little book, and it's a wild story. There are three different sections of this novella, and I could have easily read a book for each section.
First off, kaijus have arrived, so of course humans have experimented on them and finally subdued the fourth kaiju (F4) so that a luxury cruise ship could be built onto its back. This immediately drew me into the story, and I've learned that I love cruise ship horror. The trapped environment is so unsettling to me. This is a bizarro book, and the cruise ship setting totally fits. Regarding the kaiju, there's a lot going on with how humans treat creatures that they don't understand, and how humans shape things to be what they want them to be. These are good points to think about, and I enjoyed Larissa's creativity in covering them.
F4 covers such a wide range of topics that I'm not sure how to touch on everything. There's a political aspect, relationships, family, a sci-fi aspect, and also discusses the main character Carol's experience as a trans woman & how trans people are treated in society while all of these storylines are going on. It was awesome, and I loved how everything pulled together.
As I said earlier, this is a bizarro book, and a super sexual one at that. I don't think I would recommend F4 for a first-time bizarro reader since it gets kind of intense, so read a few others first & come back to this one. Larissa's writing is humorous, and I was grossed out and amused at the same time.
The timeline gets a bit confusing at times, but I think I got it sorted out by the end. The wrap-up to this book is over-the-top and funny. I really enjoyed reading this one & I can't wait to read more from Larissa Glasser!
F4 by Larissa Glasser is one of the strangest and most entertaining books I've read. There's so much packed into this little book, and it's a wild story. There are three different sections of this novella, and I could have easily read a book for each section.
First off, kaijus have arrived, so of course humans have experimented on them and finally subdued the fourth kaiju (F4) so that a luxury cruise ship could be built onto its back. This immediately drew me into the story, and I've learned that I love cruise ship horror. The trapped environment is so unsettling to me. This is a bizarro book, and the cruise ship setting totally fits. Regarding the kaiju, there's a lot going on with how humans treat creatures that they don't understand, and how humans shape things to be what they want them to be. These are good points to think about, and I enjoyed Larissa's creativity in covering them.
F4 covers such a wide range of topics that I'm not sure how to touch on everything. There's a political aspect, relationships, family, a sci-fi aspect, and also discusses the main character Carol's experience as a trans woman & how trans people are treated in society while all of these storylines are going on. It was awesome, and I loved how everything pulled together.
As I said earlier, this is a bizarro book, and a super sexual one at that. I don't think I would recommend F4 for a first-time bizarro reader since it gets kind of intense, so read a few others first & come back to this one. Larissa's writing is humorous, and I was grossed out and amused at the same time.
The timeline gets a bit confusing at times, but I think I got it sorted out by the end. The wrap-up to this book is over-the-top and funny. I really enjoyed reading this one & I can't wait to read more from Larissa Glasser!
claben's review
5.0
When it comes to bizarro it can be difficult to separate the merely-shocking sheep from the genuinely transgressive goats, but F4 is the latter. It doesn't just fuck with the gender binary but with every binary it can find, including victim/aggressor and hero/villain, biological/mechanical and magic/science, linear/nonlinear and rational/irrational, etc. Not a strong contender for people who want their heroes to be pure and their plotlines to make sense, but if you were looking for that you're on the wrong cruise...
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