mikerickson reviewed Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
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5 stars
There are a lot of things going on here that are right up my alley: nested stories within stories, cannibal death cults, atmospheric-as-hell Gothic prose, real-world places that geography nerds geek out over, a well-written gay couple, epistolary, and just a bleak, doomed-from-the-beginning narrative. I was always going to like this.
This book is a long journey across multiple Old World locales, told through three protagonists that are separated decades apart from each other. It's told from most recent (the 1910's), to older (winter of 1876), to oldest (the Crimean War in 1856), then back up through both levels. And interestingly the pacing seemed to mimic this structure; the more recent events happened quicker and the oldest section in the middle was the most slow-paced. While yes, at the end of the day we're still following three British dudes during the peak of their Empire, they did manage to …
There are a lot of things going on here that are right up my alley: nested stories within stories, cannibal death cults, atmospheric-as-hell Gothic prose, real-world places that geography nerds geek out over, a well-written gay couple, epistolary, and just a bleak, doomed-from-the-beginning narrative. I was always going to like this.
This book is a long journey across multiple Old World locales, told through three protagonists that are separated decades apart from each other. It's told from most recent (the 1910's), to older (winter of 1876), to oldest (the Crimean War in 1856), then back up through both levels. And interestingly the pacing seemed to mimic this structure; the more recent events happened quicker and the oldest section in the middle was the most slow-paced. While yes, at the end of the day we're still following three British dudes during the peak of their Empire, they did manage to feel quite distinct from one another.
I've seen a lot of reviewers wringing their hands over how this could be construed as a West vs. East white savior narrative, but that feels like performative pearl-clutching to me. Yes the main antagonists are a secretive, banished sect of Buddhism and yes our three leads have a shared interest in Eastern religions as a linking characteristic. But that interest is what allowed them to get roped into the plot in the first place, and they find plenty of Asian allies who have been fighting the good fight long before European colonization. Also, spoiler, hard to argue the savior angle when John ultimately fails in the climax.
The horror ranges from subtle, "wait, what was that?," passing mentions to outright in-your-face action, but it does all fit in and doesn't feel like unearned jump scares. And even though the beginning sets me up to expect the worst, I was still gutted when it happened and hoped against hope that the past wouldn't come to pass. Overall I thought it was a great read with characters I connected with, and I appreciate when horror is allowed to dress itself up in high-brow and literary language.
