Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

84 reviews

rubl_b's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cursing, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Sexual content

pigeonmellow's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I’m hesitant to put a star rating, because I don’t want others to see a low-ish star rating and assume I thought Never Whistle at Night was bad. 

If you’re considering reading it, you’ll likely find something to enjoy!! It’s an anthology with over 20 short stories by as many authors, so you’re bound to find a story and an author you connect to. 

I enjoyed hearing all the different writing styles (I listened to the audiobook version), and especially loved the voice actor Sheldon Elter, who voiced several of the stories. Sheldon Elter brought the characters and action to life with his emotion and voices — and none of his skillful spice distracted from the heart of the story, only served it. Sheldon Elter — you rule! 

This book swerved for me towards the end. First, because I wasn’t aware when I picked it up that SA would be a major element in two stories (there was something that border-lined sexual violence in a third one, but it wasn’t viewed as a assault by the character who experienced it). Some readers can get through SA in their stories, but for me, it’s a trigger I can’t get past. Speaking of which: I completely skipped the second to last story (I think it was that one?) because, without warning, it opened with a first-person description of child SA in progress. I couldn’t do that one. 

Second — as someone with a mental illness, I’m always hesitant when it comes to horror stories that paint mentally ill people as monsters or mental illness as a supernatural evil. At best, it’s tired — at worst, it’s perpetuating a harmful stigma. So yeah — for me personally, it’s not enjoyable to find that the “horror” of the story is a character being mentally ill and not taking their medication. In this anthology, there was one story that disappointed me in that way. 

Lastly, I wasn’t ever creeped out by any of the stories, or on the edge of my seat with any of them — something I was looking forward to, as it was a horror anthology. Maybe that’s because I was listening to the audiobook version, and not reading in silence? 

Huge trigger warnings for colonization, racism, white supremacy, racial slurs, talk of genocide and all of that directed at Indigenous people. If that is something that is a trigger for you, just know that all of those topics come up in almost every story. As one would expect, likely, given that these are horror stories written by Indigenous people, about Indigenous characters from this real world, where all of these horrors make up the real past and present. 

Okay. ALL THAT BEING SAID: I did *really* love learning more about indigenous culture, and hearing about the fears, battles, resilience and triumphs of indigenous people. I am very interested in continuing to read my fav authors from this anthology! I learned a LOT I didn’t know before, and so much of the writing was so visceral, which I enjoyed immensely. This book has further motivated me to continue reading work by indigenous authors featuring indigenous characters and stories.

I want to note here, too, that horror stories deal with complicating and disturbing topics. So (apart from painting mental illness as an “evil”), I understand that my displeasure at some of these topics mostly means I’m a bit of a picky horror reader! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Cursing, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Racism

hannahleewhite's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Racism, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ksaratom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

like most short story collections I have read before, I found these stories to be hit or miss. this took me a lot longer to read as most of them just didn’t hold my attention. but I enjoyed reading the dark, eerie atmospheres of each story and learning about different indigenous mythology. my favorites were kushtuka, white hills, snakes are born in the dark, night in the chrysalis, dead owls and collections. 

please check tws as I wasn’t aware for some of the stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Violence, and Sexual violence

asurasantosha's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Child abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Racism, Stalking, Abortion, Animal death, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, and Violence

sakiido's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Stalking, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Bullying, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Car accident, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug use, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicide, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

nexusgoblin's review

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Hate crime, Death, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence

dezzella's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Went a little outside of my usual genre reading this, not usually the horror/thriller type reader, but I really enjoyed this! I thought there was lots of variety in the types of stories you encounter (whether from a paranormal/otherworldly experience to just other humans doing some terrible things). Glad I picked this up, and would recommend for those who love dark stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Racism, Blood, Abortion, Gore, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Stalking, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

lantastic1's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book of short stories. Horror isn’t generally my genre, but indigenous fiction definitely is, so I went into this with an open mind.

I loved this collection. It’s the perfect mix of truly terrifying body horror (I don’t know I’ll ever quite get over Snakes are Born in the Dark), traditional horror stories (Hunger was one of my favorites), stories centered in indigenous traditions (Scariest. Story. Ever. let me into a world I know little about), and social commentary (Quantum was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read, and Sundays was heartbreaking).

My favorite stories, however, were the two more traditional satire pieces - White Hills and Collections. They have a Get Out feel to them but with this added layer of written tradition that I really responded to. I won’t give anything away about the plots - you should just read the book, seriously - but they were both captivating and deeply disturbing.

Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. did a great job curating this collection, and you can absolutely tell that they are Own Voices editors by the stories they chose. This was amazing, highly recommend you checking it out, even if Horror isn’t your first choice!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

ramakn22's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Genocide, Death, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Body horror, Slavery, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Gun violence, War, Racial slurs, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Murder, Rape, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Suicide, Racism, and Torture