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mollymoynihan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Minor: Suicide
randeerebecca's review
- 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? No
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Child death, Cannibalism, Death, Animal death, Gore, Sexual assault, and Murder
nnelsonaut's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Death, and Animal death
k3nzi3's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Violence, Racism, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Bullying
Moderate: Child abuse
thegayestghost's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Child death, Death, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Racism, Bullying, Blood, Hate crime, Gore, Incest, Murder, Grief, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Cannibalism
phantomgecko's review
- 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
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.
Moderate: Abandonment, Terminal illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child death, and Death
esterie's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
first off, i think historical fiction based on real events, involving real people, really isn't my cup of tea. the fictionalization of real people struck me as kind of.... dehumanizing. as netti90 said in their review (oh how i wish we could like reviews on here!): "I think it just weirds me out when real people are fictionalized because they actually existed."
second, the pacing was not great. a fair few great horror elements early on, with large swathes of boring droll in between and unnecessary "backstory" for certain characters, some of which served the narrative literally not at all. after reading up on the true account of the donner party whilst reading this, there's really no reason a book about their journey, even a fictionalized horror book, should be boring. but it was. i kept looking at my percentage read and feeling the sunk cost fallacy more and more. and the sheer number of "characters"! i take notes while reading (memory issues) and even then i kept having to search the book for names thinking 'who tf are you???'. keeping track of who was who, who was married into certain families, who was hired help, etc. was tedious. i know the donner party was large, but damn i felt like didn't know half these people when they were mentioned, they were integrated into the story so poorly.
how i imagined the story to go, before i started, would be to follow a fictional family on this journey, and their observations of the events. i think that would have fit so much better. OR, take this concept of a blood-born disease that fills one with an insatiable rage and hunger, and center it on a (fictional!!!) pioneer family. 10 people max. something stalking outside their cabin, cattle going missing, people acting weird, getting sick. all much smaller scale, but i think it would have been so so SO much more effective!!!
on the horror element btw, i was expecting it to be more of a skinwalker story. one very vicious malevolent entity sneaking into the group, changing appearance, sowing chaos. instead it was an.....
some plot points were just left up in the air? when
at least from this i heard about "The Indifferent Stars Above", which i've promptly added to my tbr. still jonesing for a good skinwalker horror story, unfortunately.
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Gore, and Sexual violence
narbine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Abandonment, Death, Mental illness, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Infidelity, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Animal death, Medical content, and Racism
Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, War, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Suicide, and Pedophilia
smolhandsdan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Homophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Rape, Classism, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
glassflowrr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Homophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Racism, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Abandonment