Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - White Horse: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

White Horse: A Novel by Erika T. Wurth

63 reviews

symabee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.5

I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit disappointed in this one. Maybe my hopes were too high after reading the premise, but it just fell flat for me.

There were things I did like about the book. The horror and supernatural elements were cool, I enjoyed learning about Native culture and mythology, how it addresses addiction and trauma, and the fact that it shed light on the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.

Now for the things I didn't like.

It all felt very disorganized and had a lot of subplots thrown in that distracted from the story. At times, this felt more like a love letter to Denver, Colorado than a horror/thriller. So much time was spent describing local businesses, their decor and signage, and how they had changed over the years. Lots of talk about gentrification and yuppies taking over the area. I understand a certain level of this is needed to set the scene for the story, but this just felt rambling at times. A large portion of this book is also spent on the main character's cousin, who is in an abusive marriage. The cousin is basically just emotional support for the main character, so I'm not sure why we needed to know so much about her marriage.
There are also many references to Stephen King, David Mustaine, Bud Light beer, and reading old paperback novels in random places like noisy bars. After a while, it started giving "I'm not like other girls" vibes.

I loved the idea of this book, and it had some great qualities, but the execution was very lackluster, unfortunately.

Content Warnings

tysbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This started off creepy and I was engrossed in the story, but by the end I was left feeling just okay about it. We follow Kari, an indigenous woman, that works at the White Horse bar. Kari is approached one day by her cousin Debby with a bracelet that belonged to her mother and Kari is suddenly haunted by her mother's ghost. We follow her as she slowly learns what happened to her mother to cause her to disappear and abandon her at two years old. Kari also discovers all of the other family secrets she was not aware her mother's family was hiding.

I enjoyed learning about the culture and the folklore in this book. Also the first half of the story was really strong with Kari being visited by the ghost of her mother and her learning about her mother's activism within the community. We then see the trauma this family has gone through, how it has been passed down and how Kari is still dealing with it but having a hard time admitting it to herself. At times I found this book to be repetitive with the horror elements, it seemed like towards the end of the book sort it sort of lost its steam. The character of Kari seemed like she read a bit younger than 35 years old. We continuously heard about how much she just loved her favorite band and how she just wanted another cigarette, but at a point it became annoying. This book does touch on some heavier themes such as drug and alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse and gun violence. Even though this didn't completely win me over, I would still recommend.

Content Warnings

mandkips's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

Content Warnings

mfallon3491's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

cranewife's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

archaicrobin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

White Horse is a creepy mystery with indigenous folklore, family secrets, and some drama. I really enjoyed the unique voice in this novel and the supernatural elements were truly eerie. However, there were several subplots in this one that felt unnecessary and forced, like they were thrown in to meet page count or something. This is made the second half of the novel a slog for me to get through and I felt like the twist was very obvious.

If you’re a horror fan or want to read more indigenous fiction I would definitely recommend White Horse, but if you’re looking for something ground breaking or truly terrifying look elsewhere.

Content Warnings