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Moon of the Crusted Snow (Moon, #1)

Waubgeshig Rice

Start date: April 1, 2019

Finish date: April 30, 2019

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Justine

Why we're reading this: Group Read SF - April 2019
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What Members Thought

Apr 05, 2019 Justine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: rereads, canadian-content, favourites, 2019-read, 2023-read, audiobook

2023 reread - 5 stars

I reread this excellent book in preparation for the upcoming release of its sequel, Moon of the Turning Leaves in October 2023. It remains as excellent as it was when I first read it. This time around I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the talented Billy Merasty, who does a masterful job of transporting me to the fictional reservation in northern Ontario where the story takes place.

I love the plain, neat prose and the straightforward style Rice uses to tell his tale. N 2023 reread - 5 stars

I reread this excellent book in preparation for the upcoming release of its sequel, Moon of the Turning Leaves in October 2023. It remains as excellent as it was when I first read it. This time around I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the talented Billy Merasty, who does a masterful job of transporting me to the fictional reservation in northern Ontario where the story takes place.

I love the plain, neat prose and the straightforward style Rice uses to tell his tale. No excess is required to make this story of survival dramatic; it is relatable, and therefore understandably frightening. The section of the book where two teens tell the story of their harrowing escape from their college in the south back home to the rez is simply chilling.

One of my favourite post-apocalyptic survival novels, and I’ve read a lot of them.

2019 read - 4.5 stars

I thought this was excellent. It is suspenseful and atmospheric; the ordinariness of the characters making it feel all the more real and true. This is an apocalypse story in the same vein as Good Morning, Midnight, personal and insular.

Rice captured so many things that felt honest in his fictional community. The living conditions on reserve, the community attitudes, the weather and the way geographical placement so far north lends itself to a singular experience and feel. I thought Rice did an exceptional job capturing the complicated relationship that indigenous people have with alcohol, and how it affects both individuals and the community as a whole.

I also see in the story a recognition and admiration for the enduring spirit of indigenous communities and their ultimate ability to adapt and survive.

The world isn't ending...Our world isn't ending. It already ended. It ended when the Zhaagnaash came into our original home down south on that bay and took it from us. That was our world. When the Zhaagnaash cut down all the trees and fished all the fish and forced us out of there, that's when our world ended...Yes, apocalypse. We've had that over and over. But we always survived. We're still here. And we'll still be here, even if the power and the radios don't come back on and we never see any white people again. ...more

56 likes · Like · see review

Apr 03, 2019 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bipoc-actor, sf-f-h, bipoc-author, canlit, x2020-read, x2019-read, library-book-club

2020-12, 4 stars: I enjoyed this story all over again, and actually found my reading deepened by having also recently read Sheila Watt Cloutier's The Right to be Cold, which brought home how important are things like one's language and stories, the knowledge and ways of elders about the land and the animals in it, and even something as simple as one's culture's food, and the sharing of it and other resources within the community. Waubgeshig Rice's story really drove home the point that those mor 2020-12, 4 stars: I enjoyed this story all over again, and actually found my reading deepened by having also recently read Sheila Watt Cloutier's The Right to be Cold, which brought home how important are things like one's language and stories, the knowledge and ways of elders about the land and the animals in it, and even something as simple as one's culture's food, and the sharing of it and other resources within the community. Waubgeshig Rice's story really drove home the point that those more connected to their heritage and old ways were the ones that coped better with the situation unfolding in his novel.

The parts that really stayed with me after finishing the book were the quiet moments between Aileen and Evan. My favourite passage from this book:

“They say that this is the end of the world. The power’s out and we’ve run out of gas and no one’s come up from down south. They say the food is running out and that we’re in danger. There’s a word they say too — ah . . . pock . . . ah . . .”

“Apocalypse?”

“Yes, apocalypse! What a silly word. I can tell you there’s no word like that in Ojibwe. Well, I never heard a word like that from my elders anyway.”

Evan nodded, giving the elder his full attention.

“The world isn’t ending,” she went on. “Our world isn’t ending. It already ended. It ended when the Zhaagnaash came into our original home down south on that bay and took it from us. That was our world. When the Zhaagnaash cut down all the trees and fished all the fish and forced us out of there, that’s when our world ended. They made us come all the way up here. This is not our homeland! But we had to adapt and luckily we already knew how to hunt and live on the land. We learned to live here.”

She became more animated as she went on. Her small hands swayed as she emphasized the words she wanted to highlight. “But then they followed us up here and started taking our children away from us! That’s when our world ended again. And that wasn’t the last time. We’ve seen what this . . . what’s the word again?”

“Apocalpyse.”

“Yes, apocalypse. We’ve had that over and over. But we always survived. We’re still here. And we’ll still be here, even if the power and the radios don’t come back on and we never see any white people ever again.”

2019-04, 4 stars: I love it when Canada figures in a speculative fiction story. And rather than situate this post- apocalyptic tale in a city, Waubgeshig Rice places his protagonists in a Anishnaabe reservation in northern Ontario. None of the aboriginal characters has special powers, or hidden abilities. Everyone is ordinary, and is faced with an extraordinary, steadily worsening situation. How the people of the reservation cope with the fallout of some unnamed disaster elsewhere is fascinating. The loss of their electricity, phones and various other amenities is not the overwhelming disaster for the people of the reservation that it would be for a typical city dweller. The people in this story, particularly the elders, remember the time when the Canadian government forcibly moved them from their former lands to their current location. This traumatic event, along with many other incidents created by the inimical interactions for hundreds of years with western culture, resulting in forcible displacement, successive broken treaties, the 'reeducation' and physical and sexual abuse of their young in residential schools, and the addictions, abuse and suicides arising for generations afterwards, has the people of the reservation managing the transition away from some of their 21st century comforts somewhat more calmly than I've typically encountered in post-apocalyptic fiction. That's not to say that there isn't hardship and hopelessness amongst the reservation population. Rice gives us the emotional toll upon people from the crisis, and how they cope with the introduction of outsiders in this quiet story. (view spoiler) I really liked this deceptively simple, well-told story of people in a terrible situation. ...more

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Nov 13, 2020 DivaDiane SM rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: diane-s-meager-effort, sffbc-book-shelf

A rush to the end these past couple days. Also, I was not feeling great today, so I spent the better part of the day on the couch reading.

I enjoyed the book. What I liked best was the window into life for a First Nations Community on a reservation in far north Ontario. There was cautious hope despite the apocalyptic nature of the events being described. I just wish there had been more to help me, a non-Native and non-Canadian, understand what was not the norm. It could’ve easily withstood 50 or ...more

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Apr 19, 2019 Cathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Update November 2021: The author completed the first draft of the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow. Although it‘s been 2 and a half years since I read this, I still remember it quite vividly and positively — despite my not very favourable review. So let‘s call it a 3.5 stars and I will probably read the sequel when it comes out.

http://www.waub.ca/

+*+*+
Review from April 2019:

Decided to get the audio. The narrator is an Aboriginal Canadian, same as the author. The first few chapters were odd, as ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2021 Liam || Books 'n Beards rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-2021, 2021, science-fiction, owned-audible, audio

What a great little novel! My friends at SpecFic Buddy Reads read this back in 2019, and I remember seeing the cover and being immediately interested.

A remote northern rez (indigenous reservation) is cut off from the rest of the world when reasons unknown cut off all electricity, network, water, etc. - general post-apocalypse survival follows.

The plot of MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW isn't anything to write home about, it's pretty standard fare - however the way it is presented and the scale of the s What a great little novel! My friends at SpecFic Buddy Reads read this back in 2019, and I remember seeing the cover and being immediately interested.

A remote northern rez (indigenous reservation) is cut off from the rest of the world when reasons unknown cut off all electricity, network, water, etc. - general post-apocalypse survival follows.

The plot of MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW isn't anything to write home about, it's pretty standard fare - however the way it is presented and the scale of the story is somewhat unique, as well as the setting. The author is First Nation, as is the narrator of the audio book, and as much as it might fall under writing what you know, setting a post-apocalypse thriller in a remote, snowbound native reservation is an inspired choice.

The novel does a good job of introducing you to Evan, his family and the a general glance at the Anishinaabe culture and people - between this and the almost hypnotic narration of Billy Merasty, I almost forgot that it was meant to be a post-apocalypse novel for the first third or so, and was ready to simply continue experiencing the day-to-day lives of these people in this faraway place.

The slow pivot from daily life to thriller is very well done, and feels very natural and believable, and the drama and conflict is on such a small scale - the community is quite small, after all - that it feels very intimate and important where something like the Walking Dead with its huge empty cities and hordes of zombies feels impersonal and distant.

The only thing I really have to criticise is that when the 'white folk' show up, mainly Scott who acts as the primary antagonist of the novel, he is portrayed as almost singularly evil and ruthless which just felt a tad.. lazy and maybe a bit obvious. Effective, however, as Christ I hated him.

I hear that Rice is working on a sequel which I'm very excited for - he's got a winner of a setting here and I would love to see more stories and maybe find out a bit more about what occurred to the rest of the world. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2019 Linda rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019

3.5 stars

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2021 Leticia rated it really liked it

Shelves: storytel, storytel_read, storytel-favorites, read_all_the_books

This was a very beautiful book that I wanted to take my time and hear slowly. I wish it had been longer. I'll keep an eye for more books by this great author. ...more

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Feb 18, 2023 Lulu rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, books-read-in-2023

3.5*

A eerie tale of a town cut off as the world ends. The concentration on community and finding ways for everyone to survive was refreshing and comforting. I did really enjoy how many cultural practices were included, and just how important those practices were for survival, but it sometimes felt like the author was turning to me directly to explain things when the characters wouldn't necessarily be infodumping about their culture. There was stuff that made me think, "Cool, can't wait to resear ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2024 Cindy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, fiction

What happens when there is no Internet, no next-day delivery, no government? If you are not a billionaire with a secret bunker, you’ll want to be a Native American living as part of a tribe where the elders still remember and can teach you survival skills. Stories like this are why I still own some printed books and manuals. This is a disturbing and all-too-likely scenario of what could be our near future in a destabilized world. It’s from the POV of an indigenous family in a cold, northern rese ...more

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Oct 26, 2023 Sarah rated it it was ok

This ended up being a straight up post apocalyptic novel, although I was thinking it would have more than that in it. Like an explanation. And it wasn't horror, although it was tagged that way. ...more

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