Reviews with content warning for Death - All the White Spaces

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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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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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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layzuli's review against another edition

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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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arlingtonchamberofgay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

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anniereads221's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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abbeyhuffine94's review against another edition

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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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thebakersbooks's review against another edition

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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

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