Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

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

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Racism

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

jessereadsthings's review

dark tense fast-paced

2.0

Some really interesting ideas for short stories that were either a bit too short to be effective or started really good but did not nail the ending. Which led to this collection being just okay overall. However, this is definitely an author I want to read more from in the future. Especially, since certain parts of the author’s writing really hit for me at times.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Suicide

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

bumblebeefarts's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault

lorie336's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

This was a wonderful debut showing a variety of horror and what I truly enjoyed was the story notes on what inspired each story. The rating is due to I want more, I couldn't wait for the next one, although the first story was too short, but each one had its own personality and each story was in the POV of an indigenous person.

Have to say that the last one was kind of my favorite and reminded me of The Children of the Corn. 

Please, pick this up, it was a short, but sweet book of tales and am looking forward to more from this author.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Body horror

leahrosereads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

What a fantastic collection of short fiction!  These stories were disturbing in the best possible way.   Every single one had me so intrigued and horrified, "flipping" the pages of my e-reader so freaking fast.  If I had to pick favorites, it'd be Imitate and Dead America.  Oh boy were those two just the pinnacle of creepy!  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Vomit