Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

5 reviews

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I think this might be one of the best conclusions to a trilogy that has ever existed. The incorporation of horror rules (the Scream 3 rules are references explicitly by characters), the emphasis that the Final Girl does not exist without a community and family supporting her, the idea that to truly cure what ails a toxic society requires you to go and right the original wrong that was committed there and that the original wrong is violence against Native people, specifically Native women...everything is flawlessly done. The prose is beautiful, I was so invested in the characters... truly one of the best endings of a trilogy I could imagine. It is ridiculously violent, with so many deaths that are pointless in that if the characters had just listened or been more careful, they would have lived, but again serve to emphasize the point of a toxic culture leading to more and more easily avoidable deaths. 

 

It has been a while since a character's death hit me so hard, but Banner's had me spiraling in the kitchen at 11:30 p.m. I was so, so sad about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Self harm, Racism, and Pedophilia

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

 

This was a solid end to the trilogy, and I really liked how things wrapped up. Once again, it was chock-full of horror references that went right over my head, but I still enjoyed finding out what happened to Jade and her friends and how Proofrock finally recovered (?). Jones has a gift for creating narratives that move quickly and and catch you off guard, and this book was a great example of this. My only real critique is that so much happened in the previous books that it was sometimes hard to remember events or who was who when they came up in this book. More than anything though, that makes me want to re-read the series from the beginning and read all three books back to back.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gore, and Death

Minor: Racism and Death of parent

catsandbookstacks's review against another edition

3.0

*Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the eARC and physical ARC.* 

Book three of the Indian Lake Trilogy pulls no punches with the esoteric horror movie references and elaborate deaths. I love Jade in My Heart Is a Chainsaw and Don't Fear the Reaper, so I had really high hopes for the final installment.

The first 30% had me riveted but then fell flat. With the change of POV between all the books, the first person point of view in this ended up being my least favourite. Jade wasn't back to her fever dream dialogue of book one but she just couldn't keep my attention with the meandering. There ended up being too many out of nowhere threads to wrap up and I lost my sense of caring. I don't know how I managed to be bored with chainsaws, bears, and "Chucky" but it happened.

Happy to have read and finished the trilogy, but I think I'll be imagining that it's only a duology.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Gore, Drug use, Murder, Animal death, Grief, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Kidnapping, and Self harm

Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Sexual assault

hydecircus's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm going to miss Jade forever she truely is one of the best protagonists in the world to me. I know "we can't pick our genre" but I am sad she and Letha didn't get together, but at least we got confirmation that Jade is into women and honestly who knows what the future holds for them... But God. What a final installment. I love how well this book balances so many different types of killers at once and yet ties it all together in the end... Oh Jade... I'll miss you forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Incest, and Car accident

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Child death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Racism, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Classism, Torture, and Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Genocide, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Car accident, Excrement, Alcohol, Confinement, Sexual assault, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Suicide, Abandonment, and Ableism