Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham

15 reviews

cait's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

monsterofidaho's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

My thoughts about Winterset Hollow come in two halves. The tone of Durham's writing feels very put on at times. Between that and the numerous typos, the technical aspects of the book feel very much like the work of a debut author. On the other hand, the actual themes of the story are fascinating. The story being told through the characters, ignoring the stilted dialogue and the faux-British narrative style, is definitely something to come back to more than once.

Winterset Hollow clearly takes inspiration from Watership Down. Despite the story itself being set in the Pacific Northwest and the fact that the author himself is not British, it seems as though he's trying to fully imitate that style of narration and it does not work. It's clunky and it detracts from what parts of the story actually work. Bits of prose feel somewhat pretentious at times and Durham does a lot of preemptive thinking for the reader, as though he wants to be positively sure that the reader will come to the same conclusion as him no matter what.

That said, the actual story of Winterset Hollow is beautiful, wild, and devastating. As someone who grew up with Watership Down and Grimms' fairy tales, this story means a lot. The four antagonists are usually more interesting than the other characters--with the exception of Eamon, who also has a lot going on--and the way that Runny, Flackwell, Finn, and Bing all try to cope with their traumas and seek vindication are treated as complexly as they should be.

Finn's rage and his inability to stop hunting Eamon to the death no matter how his friends try to reason with him is bittersweet with an emphasis on the bitter. He's a terrible person but there's also something to relate to with never wanting to forgive your abusers.

If Durham can improve his technical skill, I will be thrilled to see what other writing he publishes in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment and Confinement

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Addiction, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, and Torture

tamiam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.5

Highly original melding of childhood classic, found family, slasher horror adventure with a smattering of social horror. Beautifully written. Memorable characters and a definite re-read for me (I had to buy the book).  This is one that will likely achieve cult classic status and rightly so. . 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Slavery, and Animal cruelty

tkatt20's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I almost DNFd at 20 pages because I did not like the writing style and I found it too descriptive and long winded, but something told me to keep reading and I am so happy I did. The characters were so fleshed out and well crafted that they were practically jumping off the pages, with an equally elegant setting to boot. There were so many layers to this story I could go on and on about all the emotions it made me feel and all the questions it gave me about my own morality but I truly have no words to express how good this book is. I rarely cry when reading books but this one had me sobbing when I reached the ending. The pacing was beautiful and matched an equally beautiful story and I am forever adding this book to my recommendations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Slavery, Colonisation, Abandonment, and Genocide