A review by readingrainbill
The Hunger by Alma Katsu

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

1.5

This book should have trigger warnings for almost everything. There's a lot of triggering stuff here but the biggest ones are rape, incest, and suicide. 
 
The Hunger had a good idea with poor execution. Taking moments of history and turning them into fiction is nothing new. I quite liked Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter as a goofy and enjoyable read. I went into this hoping for a dark and emotional journey into whatever evil befell the Donner party. But what I got instead was a haphazard mess that didn’t ever find its stride. Also, what the evil was, was never quite figured out. While we do find out some of the puzzle, like who the true bad guy was, the why and how is never answered leaving a unfulfilled feeling that left me wanting more but also glad the book was over because I was so disappointed.
 
This had a lot of potential but the aforementioned triggers were just too much. It was unnecessary and it felt like it was done for an easy reaction. This character had awful violence in her past? Well don’t you feel sorry for her now? This poor guy tried to do the right thing but when the love of his life was horribly wronged he was forced out of town, how terrible! It’s lazy writing. One traumatizing story for a character, fine. I get it. But there was so much trauma that it felt like you condensed a whole season of Law and Order SVU into one book.
 
Alma Katsu has promise as a writer but this book was such a swing and a miss that the pither hadn’t even thrown the ball yet.  Skip this book.
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