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kchin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, War, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Rape, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Confinement, Child death, and Trafficking
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism
rachelfayreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Violence, Racism, Kidnapping, Genocide, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Rape, and Murder
pcharp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Rape and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child death and Death
zombiezami's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Death, Child death, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Colonisation, Vomit, Sexual violence, Stalking, Rape, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
abitbetterbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book was stunning from start to finish, the prose was flawless, descriptive and evocative, the characters vibrant and life-like, the concepts and world-building absolutely horrifying and captivating, so close to home and hauntingly prophetic.
The only thing I wished for was a bit more plot wrapping up at the end, it felt like there was a lot of lead up to one particular moment and I was kind of hoping for a few more answers to how everything would unfold, even now knowing there’s a second book!
Anyways, Wab deserves the entire world, and I don’t think I’ve ever had my heart broken by anything as much as Isaac & Miig.
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, and Racism
Moderate: Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault
katrinky's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Genocide, and Child death
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Medical trauma, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Minor: Rape
cepbreed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
“It began as a rumor, that they had found a way to siphon the dreams right out of our bones, a rumor whispered every time one of us went missing, a rumor denounced every time their doctors sent us to hospitals and treatments centers never to return.”
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, and Misogyny
Minor: Pregnancy
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
The term "found family" is both accurate and inadequate for the character relationships. They're the remnants of a much larger and more complex community which was hunted, shattered, and even now is pursued. They were part of a community generally even before they found each other specifically, and now they're all they have left. Frenchie lost his parents before the novel opens, and loses his brother in the opening chapter. He finds a group of traveling Indigenous people, on the move in order to stay alive. I like Miig as a leader, he's doing his best and focusing on teaching the younger ones what they'll need to know. He and Minerva are working to pass on their culture, balancing the need to understand with the maturity of the individual children.
A lot of the worldbuilding is conveyed though stories, either “Story” told nightly by Miig, or the characters’ “creation stories”, each person’s own history of how they came to be with the group. It lends a ponderous air to these details, where the reader’s desire to know more synchronizes with Frenchie’s hunger for any scrap of connection he can get. From the premise, I anticipated a scene in the factories, detailing the dystopia through voyeuristic gaze into the mechanisms used to cause their suffering. It doesn’t do that, thankfully, it stays focused on the characters, their journey, and their community. The physical bits of worldbuilding are in the places they pass through, the abandoned structures, and the garbage on the ground, the detritus that marks the wreckage of the world that was and the dangerous other people who also inhabit it.
I love the way the plot is unhurried. The endless travel is devoid of meaningful landmarks except for detritus. The pivotal scenes mostly hinge either on encounters with others or from stories. This changes toward the end after an encounter irrevocably changes the status quo and prompts them to change how they're running. I love the ending, it would be the best part if not for how great the rest of the book is.
Graphic: Kidnapping and Genocide
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Murder, Death, Rape, Gun violence, Cannibalism, and Child death
Minor: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Ableism, Excrement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Confinement, Vomit, and Death of parent
dearbloveme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Cherie Dimaline pens a beautiful prose, in which she fuses the stories of genocides past with the mysticism of Indigenous spirituality to present the story of a survival of a group of Indigenous people.
The hardest part of this book is my knowledge of the plight of people of Indigenous decent. Seeing all those horrors reanimated in this book and mixed with the familiarity of the enemy made this a difficult one for me, and I usually love a good traumatic read.
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, and Physical abuse