Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Anoka: A Collection of Indigenous Horror by Shane Hawk

9 reviews

laurareads87's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Anoka is a really solid horror short fiction collection written from an Indigenous perspective. The stories range in length from a few pages / flash to quite a bit longer, and are very diverse thematically. What unites the stories is the setting of Anoka, MN, 'the Halloween capital of the world.' Hawk seamlessly blends horror, mythology, and elements of contemporary Indigenous life throughout his work; some of the stories I found absolutely horrifying, and at one point I did need to make the decision to stop reading so close to bedtime. I appreciate Hawk's inclusion of notes at the end explaining his inspiration and thoughts about each story. Definitely recommend this collection for horror readers, and I'll look forward to reading more from Shane Hawk.

Content warnings: blood, gore, body horror, murder, death, blood, vomit, child death, death of a parent, suicide (mentioned, not on page or graphic in any way), violence, cannibalism, racism, colonialism, spiders/arachnophobia

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

persian_green's review

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Racism and Cultural appropriation

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

aubzilla's review

challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Alcohol

notthatlibrarian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual assault, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

krys_kilz's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

2.0

I do not read a lot of horror, so I don't have much to compare this collection to. I did find a lot of the stories creepy and unsettling, but they lacked any real punch that would make me gasp or check under my bed before going to sleep.

This collection also claimed to be firmly rooted in place/history, but I really did not get that from reading it. It could have been set almost anywhere, which felt disappointing to me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.0

I’m really sad but this collection did nothing for me. I found the writing to be ineffective and a bit forced, and the stories lacked depth and punch. There were some really unnerving/gross/creepy ideas (yuck, spiders! Ah, creepy copy of your kid!) that I think could have worked with a bit more finesse. I also wished that the idea of place was explored a bit more, the intro made me thing that each story was intrinsically linked with Anoka as a town, but in reading the stories they really could have been happening anywhere had the town name not been mentioned. I didn’t see the “history” the author was talking about really until reading his notes afterwards. I think had the collection been more grounded in place/in history, this would have been more successful.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Vomit, and Murder

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault

bookishcori's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Miscarriage and Murder