A review by jayisreading
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

This was a chilling book in two ways that I thought was balanced relatively well. Rice sets up a bleak world in the dead of winter that is incredibly atmospheric. The collapse into a post-apocalyptic world is a subtle one that slowly unfolds, creating a unique kind of suspense. Somewhat relatedly, Rice also has the reader think about the violence that Indigenous peoples have faced, especially the devastating impact of settler colonialism. And, for Indigenous peoples, they have been living in a post-apocalyptic world for centuries. I’m struck by this particular quote that captures such sorrows yet expresses resilience:

“Yes, apocalypse. We’ve had that over and over. But we always survived. We’re still here. And we’ll still be here, even if the power and the radios don’t come back on and we never see any white people ever again.”

Rice quietly yet boldly challenges the dystopian genre with an Indigenous perspective that will have the reader reconsider the definition of “post-apocalypse.”
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