Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

17 reviews

melissa_cosgrove's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Animal death

ezwolf's review against another edition

I really really really wanted to like this. I love queer horror and this seemed like exactly what I’ve been trying to read. But oh my gosh I was so incredibly bored. I kept thinking “okay once I hit 20% the pace will pick up”. It did not. The plot is probably about to actually start but I just can’t make myself keep going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Dysphoria, and Vomit

Minor: War and Alcohol

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

samferree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Cold Horror (winter, arctic, Antarctic, etc.) is one of my favorite subgenres, and this is one of the best I have ever read. It's a meditative, melancholic, gripping, terrifying story set in a slightly alternate timeline in which Antarctica had not been more fully explored by 1920 when the protagonist and his party set out to try to reach the South Pole. Jonathan Morgan is a young trans man who lost both his brothers in the final days of WWI and is determined to fulfill their ambition of becoming Antarctic explorers. What I really love about this book is how Wilkes juxtaposes the horror and unfathomable slaughter of WWI with the desolation of Antarctica, and plays on themes of self-perception, social identity (and rejection), (suicidal) masculinity, guilt, and personal loss. They are all masterfully woven into the narrative and lead to a satisfying conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, War, Animal death, Dysphoria, Grief, Abandonment, Ableism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence

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

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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

bibrarian_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Violence, War, and Medical content

charlieeee's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Animal death

Minor: War and Transphobia

ninoshmino's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved the deep exploration of different kinds of masculinities, and the trauma, violence, and death men experience (and perpetuate) in trying to attain the impossible ideals of such, and finally what alternatives might exist. 
Bonus that it’s set amidst a terrifying landscape, with a monster stalking increasingly desperate men, and in the aftermath of war. It’s cool shit!
I could not tell 90% of these characters apart, which dampened the effect when they started dying and/or losing their shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Body horror

Moderate: War and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism

sdsmith80's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I've heard so much about this book in the last few months that I was both eager to get my hands on it, and afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype. I'm very glad to say that it very much did. The detail that the author puts into this world, with descriptions of the scenery, or lack thereof, the clothing, the accommodations, just everything, was so lush and encompassing that I actually found myself feeling chilled while reading. The characters are interesting and are fully fleshed out, so when something happens to even a side character, I care about them. Jonathan's growth, emotionally and physically, was rewarding as well, and I hope for a brighter future for all of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Vomit and Animal death