Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

96 reviews

eaprilfish's review against another edition

Not quite what I expected from the marketing descriptions. All the stories I read were well written and engaging, but I think I was in the mood for more dark supernatural or magical realism stories. There was a significant amount of SA, and violence against children in the first few stories I didn't expect and had a hard time with. I wanted to push through and finish all the stories, but each one felt like a big trigger-gamble for me. This definitely isn't a knock on any of the authors! I might come back to this,  but right now I was ultimately not in the mood for the intensity of the violence in some of these stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Abortion, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Gore

gnomeguy1138's review against another edition

dark tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Blood, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Death of parent, and Body horror

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Minor: War, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Genocide, Death, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

bex4dayz's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cannibalism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, and Pedophilia

theotherallie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal death, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

caitlynischeckedout's review against another edition

4.0

I averaged out my ratings for each of the 26 stories and then rounded up a smidge to 4.0 as I really enjoyed this collection. There’s a range of horror included from supernatural to interpersonal situations to colonization as a whole. The messages in the stories were powerful and well written, and I often felt strong emotions as I read. And that cover? So beautiful. 

My standout favorites were: 

• Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller
• Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau 
• Before I Go by Norris Black
• Behind Colin’s Eyes by Shane Hawk
• Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power
• The Scientist’s Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

othersociologist's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, and Rape

cryptidenthusiast's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

4.25

Overall a really good anthology with a nice mix of horror genres. Not sure about the printed version, but audiobook didn’t include trigger warnings so proceed with some caution!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, and Sexual assault

bleepbloop's review against another edition

3.0

some were good but a lot were way too dark rather than spooky. I don't like when The Monster is humanity :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Pedophilia

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 ‘Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology’ edited by Shake Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr is a great anthology collecting horror short stories from a variety of Indigenous writers. The stories span the more fantastical to the horrors of everyday lived existence. Between exploring folklore horrors and the horrors of humanity, this anthology does a great job of showcasing not only a variety of writing talent but also a variety of what Indigenous writers find horrific. A few personal favorite stories from this collection include: 

-          White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse, which touches on the violence of white supremacy and the idea of ‘pure’ blood 

-          Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons, which discusses feeling entitled to a person and seeing them as a commodity 

-          Quantum by Nick Media, which touches on the idea of blood quantum and the impacts of nurturing (or lack there of) on a child 

-          Scariest Story Every by Richard VanCamp, which discusses the importance of story and who gets to tell a story 

-          Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, which delves into academia and how academia collects diverse students to tokenize and use them 

I enjoyed so many of these stories and this is just a selection of some of my favorites. This anthology has definitely added more authors to my TBR list and I’m excited to explore some of their other works. I highly recommend this anthology if you are interested in horror short stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, and Colonisation

haleysversion's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Child death, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Addiction, Blood, and Cancer