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kellyinbookland's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
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.
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.
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
ofbooksandechos's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Homophobia
unluckycat13's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Interesting, artic mystery with an enjoyable emphasis on historical and practical aspects of sailing. Trans-male lead.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Violence
billie_budd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
I really, really wanted to love this book—on paper it has all the elements I want in a book right now, all at once (polar exploration, interwar period, trans protagonist). And others who are interested in some combination of those elements would probably find this well worth the read! But there was a lot that didn’t quite come together for me.
There’s about 50-75 pages in the middle where everything felt disjointed (in what I can only read as an unintentional way); quotidian things were happening but I could barely tell what they were, or if they were important, because they were interspersed so heavily with flashbacks and memories. Past that part there’s less of this muddled feeling, but it was a struggle to get past the middle of the book.
I also really missed relationships in this book, especially because there’s so much down-time plot-wise, on the ship, on the ice. But I didn’t feel that really any relationships between any characters were developed in any real way, even though they all spent so much time in exceedingly close quarters and enduring events that could have changed or strengthened their relationships in really significant ways, and several of them knew each other pre-plot. (An exception to this is the Randall/Clarke dynamic, which I felt was complex and genuine and changed compellingly over time.) I was frustrated by how much of the time I really wanted to be reading a conversation and instead was just watching someone hammer in some nail, lost in thought.
Some of the horror elements were genuinely spooky but I did feel that they could have been carried off better if the tension in the book as a whole had been carried better instead of feeling as flat as it did, and weighed down by various chores and memories—if the protagonist had ever felt present enough in his surroundings to show that tension.
All that said, I found the narrative of the protagonist’s transness and struggles with family transphobia very well done, and very well integrated with the plot’s main conflicts. This was a great read just to get to hang out with him (and in high-adventure places and scenarios typically considered all-cis-male-only, no less), even if by the end I wished I had been given a view of him and his expedition comrades that was somehow more personal.
There’s about 50-75 pages in the middle where everything felt disjointed (in what I can only read as an unintentional way); quotidian things were happening but I could barely tell what they were, or if they were important, because they were interspersed so heavily with flashbacks and memories. Past that part there’s less of this muddled feeling, but it was a struggle to get past the middle of the book.
I also really missed relationships in this book, especially because there’s so much down-time plot-wise, on the ship, on the ice. But I didn’t feel that really any relationships between any characters were developed in any real way, even though they all spent so much time in exceedingly close quarters and enduring events that could have changed or strengthened their relationships in really significant ways, and several of them knew each other pre-plot. (An exception to this is the Randall/Clarke dynamic, which I felt was complex and genuine and changed compellingly over time.) I was frustrated by how much of the time I really wanted to be reading a conversation and instead was just watching someone hammer in some nail, lost in thought.
Some of the horror elements were genuinely spooky but I did feel that they could have been carried off better if the tension in the book as a whole had been carried better instead of feeling as flat as it did, and weighed down by various chores and memories—if the protagonist had ever felt present enough in his surroundings to show that tension.
All that said, I found the narrative of the protagonist’s transness and struggles with family transphobia very well done, and very well integrated with the plot’s main conflicts. This was a great read just to get to hang out with him (and in high-adventure places and scenarios typically considered all-cis-male-only, no less), even if by the end I wished I had been given a view of him and his expedition comrades that was somehow more personal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
anniereads221's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
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
thebakersbooks's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was one of only two books I managed to read during Pride month, but it was definitely a "quality over quantity" situation; All the White Spaces is a masterclass in survival horror and offered up all the trans-masc feels. Set in the wake of WWI, the story features protagonist Jonathan Morgan, who talks his best friend into helping him stow away on the Antarctica-bound ship of a famous explorer. Jonathan's fascination with polar exploration is largely impressed on him by proxy: his two older brothers, who died in the war, spent their lives dreaming of going to Antarctica. The expedition is thus fraught with not only Jonathan's desire to prove himself in such a masculine pursuit, but his need to fulfill his brothers' dreams however possible.
The aspect of this book I liked most was that Jonathan maintaining his gender identity and concealing his assigned-at-birth sex was not a main plotline. He occasionally has to remind his friend of his correct name, etc., but the dire straits in which the expedition finds itself, coupled with everyone being perpetually bundled up against the cold, render it a nonissue. As such, this was a story that centered the survival-horror aspect, not the MC being transgender.My second-favorite thing about the book is how the nature of the threat is left open to interpretation. In many books like this, the mysterious scary thing turns out to have a natural explanation, but in this case, the apparitions and voices in the wind are strongly implied to be supernatural.
Jonathan wasn't necessarily a relatable protagonist, but he was easy to root for. His sheer audacity and determination were a joy to watch. Author Ally Wilkes did a stellar job of establishing the atmosphere of the Antarctic (thinking about the aurora still freaks me out months later) and chipping away at all the characters' sanity over the course of their attempt to survive the winter. All the White Spaces is a fantastic read for lovers of survival horror, particularly in historical settings. Be ready for lots of gruesome deaths, though!
Content warnings: graphic depiction of death by frostbite; off-page implications of people eating dogs; setting-typical animal cruelty; accidental outing (not of main character); brief period-typical homophobia
The aspect of this book I liked most was that Jonathan maintaining his gender identity and concealing his assigned-at-birth sex was not a main plotline. He occasionally has to remind his friend of his correct name, etc., but the dire straits in which the expedition finds itself, coupled with everyone being perpetually bundled up against the cold, render it a nonissue. As such, this was a story that centered the survival-horror aspect, not the MC being transgender.
Jonathan wasn't necessarily a relatable protagonist, but he was easy to root for. His sheer audacity and determination were a joy to watch. Author Ally Wilkes did a stellar job of establishing the atmosphere of the Antarctic (thinking about the aurora still freaks me out months later) and chipping away at all the characters' sanity over the course of their attempt to survive the winter. All the White Spaces is a fantastic read for lovers of survival horror, particularly in historical settings. Be ready for lots of gruesome deaths, though!
Content warnings: graphic depiction of death by frostbite; off-page implications of people eating dogs; setting-typical animal cruelty; accidental outing (not of main character); brief period-typical homophobia
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death and Grief
Minor: Animal cruelty, Outing, Body horror, and Homophobia
cmaples's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.25
This was the very first time I've ever browsed the horror section and picked up a book about a character who's like me--a trans man. And a horror book at that! What a perfect combination.
There's so much to like about how Wilkes handles the trans narrative here. It's historical fiction so it doesn't use any modern language to describe Jonathan; the word "trans" is never mentioned. But he is undoubtedly a trans character; he makes that very clear.
So many things he mentions resonated with me, too. Little details like hating being called a "late bloomer," people using your full name against you because they know you hate it, and the demand to behave ladylike. The joy at seeing yourself in the mirror for the first time.
And so there I was, 1/3 of the way through the novel when I realized I loved Jonathan because he's a great reader-insert for trans people. And that's both a strength and a flaw. The problem is, for so much of this book I really had no idea how Jonathan felt or who he was. He'd get irritated easily; sometimes I could tell why, and sometimes he seemed really uncharitable to other characters and I couldn't figure it out. He just doesn't seem to have transparent internal struggles, and despite narrating the book in first person, he doesn't let us in on what he really thinks about a lot of the other characters and events. There are times where if feels like he's just going with the flow, along for the ride, without much of an opinion about where that ride is going.
All that being said, I really enjoyed this book and I value the representation a lot.
If that's not what you're here for, it's also got a lot of other things going for it! The arctic setting is really terrifying. It's hard to *not* think about the Thing when you read it, but thankfully it stops short of being derivative. It just has that same, deserted in the deadly white Arctic with something very dangerous, sort of feel to it. Though the horror takes a while to ramp up, it goes from eerie to full blown terrifying. I loved a lot of the other characters and some of them got good development and had interesting secrets of their own. If you like historical fiction & horror, I recommend you check this out.
There's so much to like about how Wilkes handles the trans narrative here. It's historical fiction so it doesn't use any modern language to describe Jonathan; the word "trans" is never mentioned. But he is undoubtedly a trans character; he makes that very clear.
So many things he mentions resonated with me, too. Little details like hating being called a "late bloomer," people using your full name against you because they know you hate it, and the demand to behave ladylike. The joy at seeing yourself in the mirror for the first time.
And so there I was, 1/3 of the way through the novel when I realized I loved Jonathan because he's a great reader-insert for trans people. And that's both a strength and a flaw. The problem is, for so much of this book I really had no idea how Jonathan felt or who he was. He'd get irritated easily; sometimes I could tell why, and sometimes he seemed really uncharitable to other characters and I couldn't figure it out. He just doesn't seem to have transparent internal struggles, and despite narrating the book in first person, he doesn't let us in on what he really thinks about a lot of the other characters and events. There are times where if feels like he's just going with the flow, along for the ride, without much of an opinion about where that ride is going.
All that being said, I really enjoyed this book and I value the representation a lot.
If that's not what you're here for, it's also got a lot of other things going for it! The arctic setting is really terrifying. It's hard to *not* think about the Thing when you read it, but thankfully it stops short of being derivative. It just has that same, deserted in the deadly white Arctic with something very dangerous, sort of feel to it. Though the horror takes a while to ramp up, it goes from eerie to full blown terrifying. I loved a lot of the other characters and some of them got good development and had interesting secrets of their own. If you like historical fiction & horror, I recommend you check this out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Death, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Dysphoria, Abandonment, Animal death, Deadnaming, Outing, and Homophobia
Minor: Confinement
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