Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Moon of the Crusted Snow

“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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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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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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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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kstericker's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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caseythereader's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

- MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW is a slow build, a book that evokes the feeling of rising panic and attempts to tamp it down. The dawning horror as you realize what's going on is perfect.
- I picked this up because I saw it categorized as "speculative fiction," and really, it's only infinitesimally removed from our reality. The community in the book deals with many issues real life Native communities deal with, and the storytelling woven into the book really highlighted that as well.
- I listened to this on audio and highly recommend that if you're an audiobook person. It's read by Billy Merasty, an actor of Cree descent, and he really makes you feel like you're right there in the story.

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