Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

5 reviews

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

5.0

Set in the 1920s, an Antartic expedition adventure quickly becomes deadly and frightening, when the crew become stranded and begin to see spectral apparitions.

I went into this thinking it was going to be horror from the start and was turned off when that wasn't the case and felt very heavy on the historical fiction, but I'm so glad I carried on, because I quickly ate this up whenever I picked it up.

It felt like like I was there with the expedition, feeling bone cold with the men and dogs out on the great expanse of ice and snow. I began to agree with their paranoia, thinking one or more of the crew had intentionally sabotaged the expedition, but to what ends and I grew insistently more anxious as to what supernatural forces were at play; why were the dogs going mad? Where was the German expedition? How longer would Jonathan be able to keep his privacy and will Harry, in a fit of rage, out him? How would they make it back home? ... If they ever would...

I adored this for the trans rep. I wasn't expecting it and to be in the head space of Jonathan, trying to navigate how he's always felt, whilst hiding on a ship he shouldn't be on, and trying to keep his body a secret when discovered was such a different experience. A perspective I thought was well explored (coming from a cis female).

This was such a great story. It felt pretty slow burn and psychological but when others confirmed sightings of ... <i> something </i>... it made me spiral as to how corporal these phantoms were and what they could do to the living.

A well written, well researched tale of isolation, desperation, identity and hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gore, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Violence, War, Vomit, and Transphobia

layzuli's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Animal death, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Grief, and Gun violence

anniereads221's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Misogyny, War, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Transphobia, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gun violence, and Suicide

abbeyhuffine94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

I'm obsessed with Antarctica so I snatched a spooky book set there right up! This was extremely eerie and unsettling due to the completely desolate atmosphere. I found the sheer isolation and desperation of the setting even eerier than the supernatural elements of the novel. The supernatural aspect was done so well because it was left so ambiguous that, as a non-believer, I could read it as the psychological affects of the environment on the characters.
WWI is a constant in the background of the novel. While I typically don't find war interesting, I think it was such a genius time setting for our protagonist. He is a trans man and the time period meant he couldn't live as himself without severe persecution. He had to deal with the trauma of his older brothers going off to be war heroes while he was left behind. He was able to live as himself among the exploration crew and carry out a dream of his and his brothers that he was previously excluded from - exploration of Antarctica. I think the time period was very interesting for the protagonist and furthered his development - why was traveling to remote, unknown, deadly Antarctica so important to him? The war, the time, his identity and family dynamics, make it so important for him.
Also I thought the characters were full of depth and nuance and very real people in all their challenges, imperfections, and impossible situations.
4.5 out of 5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Transphobia

blklagoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I haven’t been this engrossed in a book in a long time. The descriptions truly chilled me to my bones, I understood the cold. Spooky and mysterious to the end, with just a touch of gore. And a trans protagonist in horror? Where his gender was a minor detail and there was actual plot not relating to gender? Incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming, Gore, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Animal death