Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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

9 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

I don't like the short stories in audiobook format. It's too confusing. I also don't think this is the book for me. A lot of the stories were interesting, but heavy warning for so many things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Incest, Kidnapping, and Rape

Minor: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Trafficking, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

rubl_b's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cursing, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Sexual content

ramakn22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Genocide, Death, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Body horror, Slavery, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Gun violence, War, Racial slurs, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Murder, Rape, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Suicide, Racism, and Torture

kittyinatophat's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. All of these were so well written and scary in their own right, genuinely did not read one that I didn’t enjoy. I can definitely see myself coming back to this to reread in the future! 

I did have some that I found more unsettling than others that I have to highlight:

Kushtuka - Mathilda Zeller
Hunger - Phoenix Boudreau
Before I Go - Norris Black
Night in the Chrysalis - Tiffany Morris
Scariest Story Ever - Richard Van Camp
Human Eaters - Royce K Young Wolf
Dead Owls - Mona Susan Power
The Prepper - Morgan Talty
Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected - Carson Faust
Night Moves - Andrea L. Rogers
Capgras - Tommy Orange
The Scientist’s Horror Story - Darcie Little Badger 
Collections - Amber Blaeser-Wardzalla

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Slavery, Violence, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Rape

cadence99's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this fantastic Anthology. Many stories were deeply disconcerting, and had me jumpy and on edge after some late night reading. Some of my favorites were White Hills, Scariest. Story. Ever. and Eulogy for A Brother, Resurrected (this one in particular was my favorite, and I look forward to reading more from the author!)- I’d highly recommend this to anyone looking for thoughtful, well crafted horror that packs a punch

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Ableism, Abandonment, Abortion, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Gore, Physical abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Addiction, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Violence, Racism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Vomit

haleysversion's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Child death, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Addiction, Blood, and Cancer

klb77's review

Started as good spooky stories and social commentary that I THOROUGHLY enjoyed but then pretty immediately devolved into descriptions of rape, sexual coercion, a nonconsensual forced abortion, child abuse, child abandonment, and child torture. Be aware that there are also graphic needle and syringe scenes which affected me very physically. Those are not spooky stories and absolutely not what I signed up for. 



The fact that content like that is presented without content warnings at any point? or a general note at the beginning? They’re topics I can handle in small bites but not as surprises and not constantly and ideally not without justice. Maybe they get lighter or change but I’m not interested in finding out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Ableism, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal cruelty

laurareads87's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I was very excited to read Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, and it has absolutely lived up to expectations.  The collection is wide ranging, and diverse in terms of both the themes the stories explore and their styles, moods, and approaches to horror.  Inevitably, as with any anthology, I preferred some stories over others.  I was drawn to this collection as it contains several authors whose works I've previously enjoyed, and I finish it with quite a few authors who are new to me but whom I hope to read more from. 

Content warnings - there are a lot of them: Violence, murder, death, torture, sexual violence, rape, gun violence, domestic violence, child abuse, child neglect, injury detail, xenophobia, racism, colonialism, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, gore, body horror, animal cruelty, animal death, and probably more.  There is some very difficult to read content in this collection.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada & NetGalley for providing an ARC for me to review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Rape, Gun violence, Death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Racism, Abandonment, Sexism, and Body horror

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Body horror, Gore, Racism, Gun violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual violence, and Grief

Moderate: Cannibalism, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Alcohol, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Vomit, Genocide, Colonisation, Abortion, and Chronic illness

Minor: Excrement, Misogyny, Death of parent, Animal death, Self harm, War, Cancer, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Infidelity, Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

Residential schools, MMIWG2S.