Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

34 reviews

hyggeandtea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gore, and Torture

katrinky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

2.5

this book was brutal, but the writing wasn't strong enough for it to totally land for me. the central plot point is clever (and devastating), but the book read like an idea the author had that wasn't fleshed out enough to make a whole book. this is one of those books that is close enough to being very good that it reminds you how freaking hard it is to write a very good novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Genocide, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Medical trauma, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Rape

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This is an award winner, no doubt. A rag-tag family of survivors journey through the wilds of Canada, evading the ever-present threat of those who would capture them and harvest their biological material. This is a story that is more about what it is to be human, than the speculative science of the future. Like many survivalist stories parts of it feel like (as one character puts it) "post-apocalyptic boy scouts" but this story is different from others in that the survivors are Indigenous North Americans, who are also trying to remember and rediscover how to live off the land, feeling the grievous loss of their language and their customs to the oppressive colonists.

spoiler alert.. ok not a spoiler at all; there are no zombies.

As the characters get to know each other and themselves better, it becomes clear that they have all suffered horrible trauma. The description of the physical sensations of trauma is real and visceral. This is the first time I have ever heard someone describe grief as living in the gut and in the backs of the knees. I have to agree (though I would say inside the knuckles also).

Although the teenagers in the group are scarred and damaged, they do have one thing that modern teens often don't and that is duty, and a feeling that they are desperately needed for the survival of their group. They have to look after the young and elderly, learn their languages to share them with future generations, and mind what the outcome of their "romances" might be. They are trained to move silently, to hunt and to track so that they don't go hungry.

Some parts of the book are magical, and based in the spiritual beliefs of Indigenous peoples. At no point is the book completely spelled out, or the rumours about the Schools where the people are detained, ever explained specifically, but I'm not upset by that. The ending is still satisfying, and the interpersonal drama is really what sells the whole experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Animal death, Colonisation, Grief, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Cursing, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, and Sexual assault

ragboii's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

The premise of the book is more interesting than reading it. After finishing reading this book, I was just generally disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Blood, and Racism

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

leahkarge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Rape, Stalking, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

couldyounot's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

The characters seemed rather flat, and some things probably wouldn't have happened in real life, and there is quite a bit of violence, but other than that it's a fine book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Blood, Child death, Violence, Gore, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Gun violence, Colonisation, Blood, Racism, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Genocide, Colonisation, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Animal death

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

dark

4.25

Wow, this was an incredible read. The language and prose itself is genuinely stunning, so so evocative, I am in love with the way Cherie Dimaline writes description. Inspired by the history of colonial trauma and residential schools in Canada, it does have a lot of very horrifying and chilling content, but it also has moments of hope, laughter with family and friends, beauty and dreams. 

Content warnings: violence, blood, gore, eye injury, rape, kidnapping, residential schools, colonial trauma, racism, nonconsensual medical experimentation, torture, pedophilia, death, murder, death of parent, death of loved one, death of child 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Death, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Blood, Child death, Grief, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Torture

qtcarolyn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Alcohol, and Colonisation