Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Hunger - Die letzte Reise by Michael Pfingstl, Alma Katsu

22 reviews

rmnedder's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I love the Donner Party incident, and I love a good historical horror, so I had high hopes for this book. And unfortunately, I was let down. I will admit, the horror element of this book is intriguing, if a bit under-developed, and the inclusion of so many key players in the actual Donner Party was refreshing. However, there were so many things happening - so many secrets and so much interpersonal conflict - that the melodrama of it all actually eclipsed the horror. The plot crawls forward; any tension built up for the horror is immediately dissipated by the many strangely-placed interludes and frequent perspective changes. It's a little jarring and more than a little disjointed. 

It's a fine enough choice if you want a spooky Donner Party fiction novel (copious historical inaccuracies aside), but if you're looking for something true to history, or something genuinely thrilling, I'd skip this one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Physical abuse and Pandemic/Epidemic

cvab's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

While a bit slow to get into (things started to amp up about 100 pages in), this was a very fun read. I'm not usually one for historical texts, but I can tell the author put a lot of care and passion into research for this novel. Piecing the story together through various characters' accounts made me feel as though I was a part of the wagon train myself, trying to figure out what was going on. The "big bad" is a very interesting premise, but I don't dare say more for fear of spoiling things. Great read!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Any and all sexual themes here (

rape, incest

) are used for horror purposes and not glorified or romanticized.

juliatindell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! It’s been on my mind in a big way since I finished it. This would be great for folks who enjoy historical speculative horror! It’s very creepy and mysterious, but wasn’t as disgusting as I worried it would be. Check the content warnings!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Incest

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide, Pregnancy, and War

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thedemonastagoth's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

piepatch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, and Alcohol

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I was really interested in this book, knowing that this is (loosely) based on a true story I was expecting to get more addicted to it. But that didn't happened.

Although, at some points this is a very dark and twisted story I found it very dragging and kinda hard to keep up. There are too many characters, too many similar names, too many background stories...

Maybe I need to reread it and the next time I will enjoy it more. We'll see!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Colonisation and Classism

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Kidnapping

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

The Details:
Narrated by Kirsten Potter
Unabridged 

I think I would have preferred having read the non fiction event of what happened, which is a first for me.
It just felt a bit off and I can't exactly pin point why - but I know that for me, I quickly lost track of all the characters.

The skin walker lore was interesting, and I would like to read more about that in the future.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic