Reviews

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

jfogg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Clearly a great deal of love and attention from Ally to the setting, painting era-realistic characters, and that slow build up of an unknown horror. I really enjoyed the embedding of queer characters, Jonathan especially.

It's quite a large cast that was sometimes difficult to keep track of, and sometimes they behaved in a way that was too tropey (why did they keep posting watch??). The unforgiving ice didn't quite live up to that in Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, but was still impressive and made for a thoroughly engaging read.

lightscamerazaction's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

emiliefrancis's review against another edition

Just… boring. Descriptions of the setting were hard to pin down, even after rereading paragraphs several times. I’m told the ship is small, so I feel like I should be able to visualize the different parts. The main character was incredibly tiresome when it came to his temper. Love trans rep, love Polar Exploration, but I couldn’t do this. Might give it another shot later. 

nostalgia_reader's review

3.0

A strong 3.5 stars.

inkyjames's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

drsassitude's review

4.0

One of my formative memories as a horror lover is watching the X-Files episode Ice, set on abandoned arctic science station. All the White Spaces is gripping and well-written polar horror, and it explores the chilling (pun intended) effect of extreme conditions on the human mind. It follows Jonathan Morgan as he joins an expedition to Antarctica in order to prove himself after the tragic deaths of his two older brothers in World War I.

I loved the setting and the way Wilkes mixed historical accuracy with new ideas to create an entirely convincing alternate reality. She included a reading list at the end, and I’d invite those who were puzzled by the transgender rep in the book to look at a few of her sources—Jonathan is a very plausible character, and I was cheering for him the whole way.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

pumpkinivy13's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

myadventurewithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

monkeymcg's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

littlehauntedlibrary's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.25