Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

3 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

I enjoyed most of this. Except, strangely enough, the vampires? 
 
Energy: Enervated. Conscientious. Cruel. 
Scene: 🇺🇸 Fictional town of Deadhart, Alaska
Perspective: We follow multiple characters in the town. Mainly an easygoing, dedicated detective with a background in vampire anthropology visiting to assist in the investigation, and an unknown captive being kept in a small room while being cared for (somewhat) by their captor. 
 
🐕 Howls: Losing interest near the end. The underdeveloped fantasy-style lore of the vampires. 
🐩 Tail Wags: The writing style. Barbara (the anthro-detective). The world-building and atmosphere. 
 
🤔 Random Thoughts: 
Reminded me of Stephen king style of writing. Cinematic, slow burn descriptive style.
 
To enjoy this, I think you need to build some level of care for the community (regardless of the vampires) otherwise it would probably feel like a slog. 
 
Audio was easy to listen to. The chapters aren’t from any specific perspective, so if you zone out for a second, you’ll likely be lost for a bit but quickly get context clues on who is speaking and where we are without having to skip back. 
 
I’m iffy with police procedurals, but this one was interesting. I agree it has a Fargo vibe, where people beyond the police are such characters and the police parts are more investigative hunting down clues rather than high stakes action. 
 
I was initially intrigued by the vampire structures/society, but near the end we do a deep dive in to the colony and lost my attention. It just felt like suddenly we were expected to understand the colony and its hierarchy. Maybe I was just hoping for more of a day-in-the-life get-to-know-them style, but it felt underdeveloped. 
 
I was losing track of peripheral characters late in the story, especially if they ended up having a more major role later on. At first, I felt like I was keeping up, so didn’t keep detailed character notes, but I wish I had!
 
The violence and high stakes action is quick and sprinkled throughout so never felt drawn out or boring. But I also wouldn’t call this heavy on high-stakes action-adventure if that’s what you’re looking for. 
 
----
🤓 Reader Role: A little bit of an outsider. Observing and overhearing conversations, with the narrator filling us in and taking us to different scenes. 
🗺️ World-Building: Cinematic, immersive and descriptive. 
🔥 Fuel: Did a vampire murder a teen boy? If so, why? If not, who did? Why did one of the characters commit suicide? Who is the girl being held captive? Will Barbara be able to solve the case? Will it result in a legal cull to the vampire colony?
📖 Cred: Sci-fi style realistic (think modern day but vampires are real and were present throughout our human history). 
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Sour bar smells. Earthy scents. Christmas lights. Falling snow. Coffee. Rot. Dark buildings. Howling winds. 
  • Anthropological sci-fi with Us vs Them elements
  • Police investigation whodunnit and whydunit
 
Content Heads-Up: Infidelity. Suicide (brief mention). Prejudice. Confinement. Blood. Death. Murder. Alcohol use. Alcoholic parent (recall). Loss of child (teen). Animal death (bat, pig). Sex trafficking and abuse. Violence. Genocide/cull. 
 
Rep: Indigenous, Black, and White Americans. Transgender. Cisgender. Gay. Heterosexual. Diverse body sizes. 
 
📚 Format: Library Audio
 
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

katelynprice's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed the overall vibe and mystery of this book, but I found the mystery wrap-up in the end to be rushed, a bit underwhelming, and confusing. Barbara was a great main character, and I would definitely read another book about her if there is a sequel. The social commentary was right up my alley, but I can definitely see it being off-putting to some readers. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

amy_reading_23's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is a well written and fast paced book. I'd say it fits more the crime genre than fantasy, it just happens to have vampires in it. I think it was an interesting take on vampires and they were certainly used as a device to explore real life issues like prejudice, inequality, and scapegoating. The vampire colony shared a lot of similarities to native American reservations and how indigenous people of America have been treated - I am not indigenous or American so can't really say if this was done sensitively but it seemed to be to me. It was certainly interesting, and it's one of my favourite things magical books does - is to hold a mirror up to society and make us think. 

I thought it was refreshing to have a middle aged plus sized lesbian protagonist and I mostly enjoyed her character, however I was dissapointed by one throw away comment towards the end that she should cut down on calories. I would love it if one day we could have a plus sized character who isn't told or isn't thinking about losing weight.

This book doesn't shy away from the heavy topics, and some content is quite explicit, so if you are worried about finding some things triggering then check out the content warnings first. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...