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Moon of the Crusted Snow
Publisher's Summary
A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice
With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.
The community leadership loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision.
Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn.
What the critics say
“Perfect for those who read Iain Reid’s Foe this summer and are looking for something in the same vein.” (The Globe and Mail)
“The creeping tension and vividly drawn landscapes make Waubgeshig Rice’s characters’ choices all the more real.” (Toronto Star)
“Moon of the Crusted Snow asks how do we live in a good way during the collapse of the infrastructure that supports modern life? For Evan Whitesky, the answer lies in rekindling Ojibwe, the old ways, language and culture. For other characters, when the food runs out, all options are on the table, no matter how gruesome. As the tensions between those surviving the end of modern civilization build to a harrowing conclusion, Rice deftly weaves tender family moments with his brutal survival scenes in the unforgiving northern Ontario winter. Chilling in the best way possible." (Eden Robinson, award-winning author of Monkey Beach and Son of a Trickster)
Go Behind the Scenes of Moon of the Crusted Snow
''What I hope people take away from Moon of the Crusted Snow is that there is hope,'' author Waubgeshig Rice shared with Audible in a conversation held at the 2019 Festival of Literary Diversity in Brampton, Ontario. ''Despite all the darkness that we endure even in modern society, there are things to be hopeful for.''Related Collections
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- TheMer
- 2020-01-31
Enjoyable for ALL Canadians
As a Cree from Northern Saskatchewan I knew almost every character he described making it hit close to home. It's nice to have Waub Rice and now many other Indigenous authors out there to choose from; their perspective is much needed in the literary world. Nitiniki (from my heart).
3 people found this helpful
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- Eagle Loft
- 2019-06-29
Hoping for a sequel
I really enjoyed this novel. It is an interesting peek into a community very different from my own, and yet similar in many ways as well. I appreciated the epilogue, but I still want more and hope for a sequel in future.
3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-02-13
Highly recommended
I enjoyed this novel. it is rooted in indigenous storytelling with deeper meaning and understanding
1 person found this helpful
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- Pablo W.
- 2019-11-12
Genuinely enjoyed this, inspiring
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Having worked in and around First Nations for decades I can admit to holding a hopeful curiosity for how these communities would react under a scenario like this.
This book brought me so close to this community that I am now seriously considering booking a week or two on a First Nations Territory up in Northerm Ontario to learn and use my trade skills to help my friend build something on his land there.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mike M
- 2020-06-29
Outstanding!
Loved this story. Enjoyed learning a First Nations perspective on surviving their second apocalypse.The first happened when white men arrived. Narrator was excellent.
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- Robyn
- 2020-06-24
A story that quietly tightens it's grip on you
The story and narration are really well done. The setting and characters are vivid, and the details you don't know are as important as the details you do, just adding to the unease or comfort of the particular scene beautifully.
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- mathew
- 2020-06-17
Listend 3 times
I got it for school cuz i was in a rush to finish my essay on the book, but i re listend to it 2 more times because i just genuinely adore this story. The narrator is incredible and does a perfect job at getting the listener invested more into the story. The story is incredibly perfect as well. Cant recommend it enough
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- Amy Sherred
- 2020-04-14
strong start slow end
This story tells a tale very to real to the heart given the currant COVID-19 situation. This book starts very strong with loads of mystery and suspense then unfortunately flatlines in the 20's chapters. The story ends very abruptly leaving the reading with so many unanswered questions. Unless this open ending was intentional leading us to a second part?
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- Ron Dean Harris
- 2020-04-07
great story!
great story and I loved the narration! definitely a page turner. well written and well preformed
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-01-24
Good story - hard to listen to.
It was hard to get into the story with the narrator. Trying to do the voices and nuances of the different characters was distracting. This might have been a better book to actually read myself from the book. The story itself is very interesting and once I was a few chapters in I was able to get locked into the story before giving up.
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- Malia
- 2019-04-23
Really great book!!!
I heard about this book while listening to CBC. Radio, and wanted to read it as soon as I noticed it was on Audible. I don’t read a lot of post-apocalypse books but I knew I wanted to read this one because it was about Northern Ontario where I used to live. The narrator is excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope that many others will want to read it and learn more about the Anishinaabe people, and what it is like to live in North Western Ontario Canada.
8 people found this helpful
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- Gina
- 2020-03-29
great story!
great story! it was very hard to take any breaks, I wanted to find out what happened next!
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- RieRie K
- 2020-01-05
Narration rusty at beginning
This is a slow-burning allegorical tale. Narrator I s rusty at beginning, but is excellent thereafter.
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- Jessi McCain Owzarski
- 2019-12-15
excellent
This was a hopeful story with superb naration. I really enjoyed the journey and the detail.