Reviews

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

jenhurst's review against another edition

4.0

This was so slow and haunting. The writing, pacing and setting was so beautiful. I love the idea of a post apocalyptic book in the cold Canadian winters. Having no power does sound terrifying.

campbellmc's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.5

meowyagnes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

deadtobeginwith's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

jodicooper's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

jill_holly's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

isitcake's review against another edition

2.5

I didn't like how this ended and we never know what exactly caused this apocalypse. We don't know if it's worldwide or localized. You'd think if it was a meteor or bombs there'd be meteorological signs but there's nothing, just an electricity and communications blackout, no contact with the world outside the Rez. And then this escalated to cannibalism supppeerrr quick. Felt like it could have been avoided if the community leaders had enforced more rules, more mandatory hunting.

The book is definitely slow. It's like the apocalypse in slow motion. There's a civilized run on the grocery store, people are warned to conserve energy. No one really things anything bad has happened at first. But the blackout continues and its the middle of winter. Eventually 2 of the reservations' sons come back from secondary school where they tell the tribal leaders about how no one knew anything and rioting and looting had started, people were starving, so they left to come back to the Rez.

Their community changes when Justin Scott shows up. I definitely didn't expect this to turn into a cannibalism book. He followed the boys here, and he has a gun. He's kind of a survivalist and he only joined their community because he saw they have food. The food continues to run out though, meanwhile he's gaining influence, and he starts getting people to join him eating the corpses of people who've died (the ground is too frozen to bury them). Evan confronts Scott, gets shot, but they kill Scott. 
Then the story just kinda ends with Evan's wife Nicole recalling the story and saying how this was just one of many trials their tribe has survived and they'll keep surviving. 

 

honnari_hannya's review against another edition

2.0

A bit too slow, even for a novel where the main point of tension is a small, isolated community suddenly beset by dangerous intrusions from the outside. I thought the lead up towards the appearance of the antagonist went on for a little too long, but once it did, the novel got very interesting for a short period. Unfortunately, in addition to the slow pacing at the onset, there were a lot of timeskips towards the end that I felt glossed over some of the more important parts of the story—how did this outsider gain so much of the community's trust, what was the tipping point where people began to take sides, the progression of that desperation and uneasiness.

Would be interested in more of Waubgeshig Rice's novels in the future, especially if there's an even more pointed speculative angle.

bentersbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

rowumutta's review against another edition

adventurous informative

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

there was a simplicity to the writing style that i was slightly wary of at first, until i realised it didn't reflect a low quality of work but rather a desire to contextualise. the love and respect waubgeshig rice has for his culture shines through beautifully, and i look forward to reading the rest of this trilogy