Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

74 reviews

lefthandlou's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Favorites:
- Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth
- Wingless 
- Before I Go
- Behind Colin’s Eyes
- Scariest Story Ever
- Dead Owls
- Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning 
- The Scientist’s Horror Story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Racism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

elliottjunkyard's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Torture, Rape, Cannibalism, Genocide, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Body horror, Miscarriage, Colonisation, and Racism

cerasaurusrex's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Abortion, Addiction, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, and Violence

melshoo's review

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

I don’t feel that I can give a numeric rating to this book because the things I disliked are pretty inherent to the horror genre, such as body horror and violence. Very unsettling, especially with the undertones of racial violence and history included.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Stalking, Colonisation, Murder, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

singinwicked's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Sexual content, Rape, and Child abuse

annamorgan27's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Gore, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence

hillcm91's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.75

some of these were 4.5-5 starts and others were 2-2.5 so I'm averaging my rating to be somewhere in the middle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Grief, Rape, and Homophobia

letsgolesbians's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense

4.5

never whistle at night is an anthology of indigenous dark fiction, containing 26 stories from writers across a variety of tribes and areas. i dont read a lot of horror, so this was branching outside of my normal fiction genres, and reading bipoc horror is different than white horror because there are additional layers of horrors and things to fear for us.the stories in this collection tell tales of monsters, nightmares, bodies, bugs, of colonization and retribution. i didn’t give it a full five stars because i was hoping for a little more queer rep. 

the story i enjoyed most was uncle robert rides the lightning by kate hart, about love and grief and ghosts. my other favorite stories were kushtuka by mathilda zeller, white hills by rebecca roanhorse, hunger by phoenix boudreau, human eaters by royce k. young wolf, and the scientist’s horror story by darcie little badger. 

i want to thank whoever bought me this from my bookshop wishlist, it didnt come with a note!

TWs

general TW for colonization, death, murder, residential schools, and violence.

kushtuka: unwanted touching

white hills: forced abortion

navajo don't wear elk teeth: sex on page, unwanted rough sex

wingless: animal death, child abuse

quantum: child abuse/neglect

tick talk: misogyny, bugs

snakes are born in the dark: birth, destruction of petroglyphs, pus

before i let go: suicide

behind colin's eyes: body stuff (nails falling off, teeth falling out), mention of child labor 

heart-shaped clock: drug use

scariest.story.ever: animal death, drugs

human eaters: mentions youth death

the prepper: elder neglect, mental break, self-harm

uncle robert rides the lightning: grief

sundays: child rape, pedophilia, suicide

eulogy for a brother, resurrected: homophobia

limbs: physical torture

photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5CPl5hvClS/?igsh=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ==

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Abortion, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Self harm, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Rape, and Sexual content

bkwrm1317's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I generally don’t enjoy short stories, but do like anthologies a bit more sometimes. I found so many new authors whose work I want to read here and thoroughly enjoyed near all of these dark fiction short stories. 

Please do note CWs as there are a number to be aware of, and that shift from story to story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Body horror, Colonisation, Racism, Abandonment, and Torture

poisoned_icecream's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Physical abuse, Suicide, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Child abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, and Homophobia