Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

4 reviews

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Gruesome twist on a true story. I'm not overly acquainted with the true story, so I don't feel like I was able to appreciate this book as much as perhaps I could have.

Adding a wendigo vibe to a tale of cannibalism isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it was still interesting. I don't feel like all the questions were answered sufficiently. Specifically I feel the part of the story with Edwin Bryant felt unfinished. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Terminal illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child death, and Death

singlier's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

The Hunger 1.5/5 🐂s by Alma Katsu 

Oh I wanted to enjoy this book and I was so excited to give it a read. The Hunger is a horror retelling of the ill-fated Donner Party expedition during the mid 1800s, weaving real life histories and people with a supernatural twist of horror and fear.

But it just... Didn't hit. There were a lot of narrator characters (around 5: Edwin Bryant, Charles Stanton, James Reed, Tamsen Donner, and Elitha Graves) and I never really got close to any of them or felt a strong connection to them. The way the book is ordered, often something important would happen to a character, but it wouldn't be until the next chapter that it's revealed *why*. 

Also, there are just...a ton of characters and a few chapters in I just gave up trying to keep who's who straight: who was cousins with who, who was the daughter-in-law of who, who was who's son or the servants of who, so on. Rarely so I ask for this, but I really wished to have a family tree in the beginning to keep things straight.

The book struggles most notably with its treatment of Native American practices, quickly falling into the ideas of "Indigenous mysticism" as soon as things turn awry. Maybe it's playing off the beliefs of the settlers, but for once I'd like a horror where there wasn't "an old Native American folktale detailing this exact horror situation" going on, you know? Also, negative a million points for using the s-term to describe the collection of symptoms (cannibalism, violence, etc) of the settlers. Turning them into "creatures less than human" felt like it took away from the horror of the situation of the Donner Party: the scariest thing of all is realizing that even "good" people are not exempt from evil, and will commit atrocious acts to their fellow people in acts of survival or desperation.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Incest, Vomit, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

kt2e56's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A lot of this really worked for me! It’s clearly very well researched and the horror elements are very chilling. I think some of the different threads get a bit disjointed though and don’t fully mesh together. There’s also some reveals made towards the end that feel a bit like they were thrown in last minute (an example being

Tamsen being in love with her brother. I think that’s something that should have come up way sooner if she was so madly in love with him that she emotionally pushed herself away from other men and used sex to satisfy herself while she couldn’t get her brother. The way it’s presented in the book is very sudden and has nothing to do with the events at that point.

). The ending as a whole felt a bit rushed. Certain characters that we had POV chapters from felt pushed off to the side when I think hearing more from them could have added to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child death, Gore, Pedophilia, Suicide, Infidelity, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Self harm, Sexism, Alcoholism, Classism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Vomit

magellen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Solid, dread from the start story. Walks between the mystical and the desperate for scientific explanation.

For a while it's a jumble of POVs but they do ultimately tie together in a horrid grotesque bow. Don't get attached to anyone, don't hope for the best - if you know anything about the history of the Donner-Reed Party, you know what you've gotten into !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Violence, Homophobia, Grief, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Racism, Murder, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Confinement, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racism, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis