Reviews tagging 'War'

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

15 reviews

anarmandameg's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism

melissa_cosgrove's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

ezwolf's review against another edition

I really really really wanted to like this. I love queer horror and this seemed like exactly what I’ve been trying to read. But oh my gosh I was so incredibly bored. I kept thinking “okay once I hit 20% the pace will pick up”. It did not. The plot is probably about to actually start but I just can’t make myself keep going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Vomit, and Dysphoria

Minor: Alcohol and War

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Set in the 1920s, an Antartic expedition adventure quickly becomes deadly and frightening, when the crew become stranded and begin to see spectral apparitions.

I went into this thinking it was going to be horror from the start and was turned off when that wasn't the case and felt very heavy on the historical fiction, but I'm so glad I carried on, because I quickly ate this up whenever I picked it up.

It felt like like I was there with the expedition, feeling bone cold with the men and dogs out on the great expanse of ice and snow. I began to agree with their paranoia, thinking one or more of the crew had intentionally sabotaged the expedition, but to what ends and I grew insistently more anxious as to what supernatural forces were at play; why were the dogs going mad? Where was the German expedition? How longer would Jonathan be able to keep his privacy and will Harry, in a fit of rage, out him? How would they make it back home? ... If they ever would...

I adored this for the trans rep. I wasn't expecting it and to be in the head space of Jonathan, trying to navigate how he's always felt, whilst hiding on a ship he shouldn't be on, and trying to keep his body a secret when discovered was such a different experience. A perspective I thought was well explored (coming from a cis female).

This was such a great story. It felt pretty slow burn and psychological but when others confirmed sightings of ... <i> something </i>... it made me spiral as to how corporal these phantoms were and what they could do to the living.

A well written, well researched tale of isolation, desperation, identity and hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

layzuli's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

samferree's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Cold Horror (winter, arctic, Antarctic, etc.) is one of my favorite subgenres, and this is one of the best I have ever read. It's a meditative, melancholic, gripping, terrifying story set in a slightly alternate timeline in which Antarctica had not been more fully explored by 1920 when the protagonist and his party set out to try to reach the South Pole. Jonathan Morgan is a young trans man who lost both his brothers in the final days of WWI and is determined to fulfill their ambition of becoming Antarctic explorers. What I really love about this book is how Wilkes juxtaposes the horror and unfathomable slaughter of WWI with the desolation of Antarctica, and plays on themes of self-perception, social identity (and rejection), (suicidal) masculinity, guilt, and personal loss. They are all masterfully woven into the narrative and lead to a satisfying conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and War

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Homophobia, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and War

bibrarian_'s review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and War

charlieeee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Violence

Minor: Transphobia and War

ninoshmino's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved the deep exploration of different kinds of masculinities, and the trauma, violence, and death men experience (and perpetuate) in trying to attain the impossible ideals of such, and finally what alternatives might exist. 
Bonus that it’s set amidst a terrifying landscape, with a monster stalking increasingly desperate men, and in the aftermath of war. It’s cool shit!
I could not tell 90% of these characters apart, which dampened the effect when they started dying and/or losing their shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and War

Minor: Cannibalism