Reviews with content warning for Blood - Moon of the Crusted Snow

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

39 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Overall a solid, atmospheric read. I would def read more from this author.
It was overall quick, but for me, slow to start. I loved the premise and loved the way the dreams people had foreshadowed the story throughout. Also enjoyed the focus on how a First Nations community dealt with an apocalyptic situation since we usually get big city, white people POVs.
I wish we had a little bit more on the motivation of the first stranger arriving at the community and how the community dealt with the aftermath. But I did enjoy the focus on community traditions and the social commentary about how first nation's/indigenous peoples are treated today.

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haylzno's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A terribly chilling dystopian/world in ruins novel that centers around community, indigenous culture/heritage, and the dangerous of outsiders.

I think the most chilling aspect about this novel is how... close to real it felt. Both the author and narrator did a fantastic job of creating that anxiety fueled atmosphere that left me reeling chapter after chapter.

There were moments where I felt the plot lulled enough to take me out of the story, but those instances were few and far between. I'll definitely be continuing the series

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thesupermassive's review

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challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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agnesa_ast's review

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dark hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

WOW loved this book. with focus on an indigenous society and how white culture quickly breaks down their community, it is an incredible read through a dystopian lens.

the plot twist of justin scott being cannibal was such a poetic representation of how assimilation worked in the past/present - it would literally feed and eat away indigenous culture. CHILLS.

love love love

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

This was a chilling book in two ways that I thought was balanced relatively well. Rice sets up a bleak world in the dead of winter that is incredibly atmospheric. The collapse into a post-apocalyptic world is a subtle one that slowly unfolds, creating a unique kind of suspense. Somewhat relatedly, Rice also has the reader think about the violence that Indigenous peoples have faced, especially the devastating impact of settler colonialism. And, for Indigenous peoples, they have been living in a post-apocalyptic world for centuries. I’m struck by this particular quote that captures such sorrows yet expresses resilience:

“Yes, apocalypse. We’ve had that over and over. But we always survived. We’re still here. And we’ll still be here, even if the power and the radios don’t come back on and we never see any white people ever again.”

Rice quietly yet boldly challenges the dystopian genre with an Indigenous perspective that will have the reader reconsider the definition of “post-apocalypse.”

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starrysteph's review

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

"Our world isn't ending. It already ended."

This is a quiet, somber tale of the apocalypse - but from the viewpoint of a group that has already faced exile and devastation and several "world-ending" events.

We follow Evan, his family, and his isolated Anishinaabe community in northern Canada. They're already quite distant from the rest of the country, and loss of cell service and internet and even power is a fairly normal event (in fact, they've only recently installed a cell tower). When a couple of family members rush back home from the south, they realize that things are falling apart in the wider world.

Their community is prepared to live off the land, but not everyone has kept in touch with traditional skills. When a group of white strangers arrive, things quickly become uneasy and then downright dangerous.

The plot is simplistic, and this is mostly a character-driven piece. I appreciated the glimpse into culture and spirit and the take on the end of the world from an indigenous point of view.

While the world feels deeply authentic, the writing itself was very dry. The premise is so compelling that I was disappointed when the prose wasn't rich at all. I didn't feel like I got nearly enough insight into the minds of the characters, and many felt unchanged from start to finish.

Though we have a wide range of personality types (many reflective of how current societal groups have reacted to our current pandemic - and this novel was written in 2018!), many of the side characters felt too similar to each other. Within this group of smaller characters, it was often difficult to remember who was who. The villain was also a bit stereotypical - a hulking, scary bad guy without any sort of history or clear motivations.

Ultimately, I felt like this short, sad piece asked a lot of compelling questions (such as: how do indigenous communities stay connected with their identities - that have so often been ripped from them - in a modern world? who is best prepared to survive an apocalyptic event?), but the follow through wasn't quite enough for me.

CW: gun violence, death, murder, violence, animal death, cannibalism, alcoholism, suicide, racism

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anxiousnachos's review

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mysterious slow-paced

3.0

This was an unnerving apocalyptic-thriller following an Anishinaabe community during Winter as their contact with the outside world goes dark. Ultimately I think the strength of this novel is also its weakness. I loved the idea of an apocalyptic novel looking at a small community so far removed from usual apocalyptic settings. It helped create such a sense of foreboding and uneasiness due to the sense of ‘not knowing’ what was going on. But the novel also felt very removed from other aspects, like the characters. There was a very literary fiction style of distance to them? A coldness? It actually kind of makes me want to start to get out my English Lit hat and start analysing how everything matches the environment they were in 😂 An unsettling literary thriller but not my favourite style of character exploration, especially for horror.

Content warnings: Violence, gun violence, blood, starvation, cannibalism, death, dead bodies, hunting, animal death, racism

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