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lasafica_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Cannibalism
cepbreed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
“The world isn’t ending,” she went on. “Our world isn’t ending. It already ended. It ended when the Zhaagnaash came into our original home down south on that bay and took it from us. That was our world.”
Holy shit. I was assigned this book as a part of my Indigenous Pop: Anticolonialism and Genre Fiction class and I never expected to love it so much. The building tension nearly had me shitting bricks. The way this book reads is perfectly timed with the rate at which the Ojibwe are also gaining more knowledge about their predicament. Sure, going into this book I knew it was apocalyptic fiction, but that never took away from the slow build of dread as the winter got colder and the electricity continued to stay shut off. I have an exactly equal amount of love and hate for the fact that the last couple chapters are so vague.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Alcohol
krispy_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Wonderful storytelling. I would recommend the audiobook so you can hear the spoken native language in some dialogue scenes.
Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Racism, Suicide, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Grief, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
bittennailbooks's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
If you are a fan of "The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones, here is your next read. For being from 2018, Rice certainly predicts the future of post-pandemic ideologies, mass panic, and bleak survival. A devastating read about a power outage in a remote reserve and the surrounding area. This book does an incredible job about discussing the impacts of racism, residential schools, community, and trauma within the stories context of survival.
Thumbs up: One thing I've been sitting with since finishing this surprisingly short book is Rice's incredible way of not demonizing those who have been deeply impacted or removed from traditional ways of knowing. That there were serious and ongoing impacts of colonization and fleshes out the reasons that the conditions and plot (without spoiling it) resulted in how they did in the novel. The discussions of how ripping one from one's culture creates a reliance on oppressive structures that lead to the novels incredible conclusion.
Thumbs down: If you're looking for romantic prose, you will not find it here. The writing is very straight forward and overtly descriptive. However, that's certainly not a turn of for me with this novel.
Was it a nail biter? Absolutely, I devoured this book in one sitting and think it absolutely deserves space on your shelf at home.
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Spoiler content warning:juliej0715's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism and Alcohol
maregred's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Colonisation
cait's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
3.5
It was overall quick, but for me, slow to start. I loved the premise and loved the way the dreams people had foreshadowed the story throughout. Also enjoyed the focus on how a First Nations community dealt with an apocalyptic situation since we usually get big city, white people POVs.
I wish we had a little bit more on the motivation of the first stranger arriving at the community and how the community dealt with the aftermath. But I did enjoy the focus on community traditions and the social commentary about how first nation's/indigenous peoples are treated today.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Blood and Cannibalism
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.25
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and War
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I liked it a bit more this time as I took it slower whereas before I blasted through on audio. Still not a favourite but I liked the chilling tension!
*original 2019 review*
Somehow this was a bit disappointing for me. The action took too long to build and by the time it was finally there, it was a little too late. And I felt that there wasn't enough character back story or character development, many felt a bit flat and could have been so much more vivid. I love the idea behind this and I'd read another by this author, but this wasn't a favourite.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol
food insecurity, MMIWG2S