Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Mond des verharschten Schnees

Wow. This book packs a punch. Don't be deceived by the slower pace of the first few chapters. Soon things kick off, and the rest of the book is so tense that it's hard to put down. This books masterfully transitions from a very realistic contemporary tale of life in a Northern Anishinaabe community... to a world that begins to crumble. The rest of the book toes the line of becoming an apocalyptic thriller. Anishinaabe lore, traditions, and language are weaved throughout the story, and there is some powerful allegory here, looking at colonialist invasion on Anishinaabe territory, but through a creative lense.

All around a great read.

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linneak's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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queersubtext's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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lasafica_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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cepbreed's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

“The world isn’t ending,” she went on. “Our world isn’t ending. It already ended. It ended when the Zhaagnaash came into our original home down south on that bay and took it from us. That was our world.”

Holy shit. I was assigned this book as a part of my Indigenous Pop: Anticolonialism and Genre Fiction class and I never expected to love it so much. The building tension nearly had me shitting bricks. The way this book reads is perfectly timed with the rate at which the Ojibwe are also gaining more knowledge about their predicament. Sure, going into this book I knew it was apocalyptic fiction, but that never took away from the slow build of dread as the winter got colder and the electricity continued to stay shut off. I have an exactly equal amount of love and hate for the fact that the last couple chapters are so vague.

I appreciate not seeing incredibly graphic cannibalism but at the same time I would've loved to see Evan's POV again to just assure he is alive. After discussing this in class I cannot believe I was so blind to the obvious. Justin Scott is a wiindigo. He is trying to corrupt the community to his insane cause, he encouraged others to join him in cannibalism to survive the winter and became an even greater monster. This is even more scary thinking about how he followed the two boys from the city to their community, was he planning to attack and eat them? Then the man he shot, is his body actually decomposing in the snow or did he eat him?

I'm confused but totally in love with this narrative.

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