Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Last Migration

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy

35 reviews

nataliecoyne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I don't think that this is a bad book by any means, and to an extent, I did enjoy it. I still feel comfortable giving it 3 stars, so that does mean a level of enjoyment. But I found it to be more interesting in the abstract, overall idea of the book sense. The actual contents of the book just didn't end up being as interesting, and was boring at times (particularly the sections set in the past, and especially the sections in the beginning that were set in the past, were boring).

However, this was a book that I kind of stepped out of my usual comfort zone to read, I don't usually partake in sci-fi/speculative fiction/dystopian fiction books and I could definitely see someone who is a huge fan of these genres enjoying this book more than I did.

In conclusion, it's good, but it just didn't hit the way I was hoping it would for me.

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jenlengland's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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melissa_b_67's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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sarahholliday's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Honestly, so close to a 5 star read! The ending lost me a little—it seemed a little too "wrapped up with a neat, pretty bow" compared to the rest of the story, but I was happy that Franny ended up where she did so I can't complain too much.

McConaghy is a brilliant writer—her prose are gorgeous, and I really enjoyed the structure of this story. The slow reveal of Franny's past, and the impact it's having on her present, built the tension of the story beautifully. And McConaghy's dedication to illuminating the consequences of climate change while also wrestling with the complexities of everyday life is incredibly impressive. All of these things make her an automatic read for me!

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chasingwonder's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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iseinkpen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

A very emotionally powerful book. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, as the story devolved increasingly into quite melodramatic and difficult to believe plotpoints.

The crew becoming so ride-or-die for Franny? Ennis and Franny managing to walk across fricking Antarctica with no prep and barely enough food, yet surviving? Also how did they get back afterwards? How did the ships survive such long journeys when they were breaking down? I don't mind suspending disbelief but I felt like my suspension was doing some seriously heavy lifting.

Nevertheless, the themes and characters were powerful enough that it affected me emotionally, even if from a plot point of view I was dubious.
I read McConaghy's second novel about wolves first, and I've got to say they are remarkably similar - it feels a bit like she copy and pasted the template, but I guess if it works it works. But like her other novel, it's billed to be about climate change and wildlife destructions but deviates a lot from that plot/theme to explore the character's own trauma. That isn't a problem per se, but the birds and climate change plot felt a little unfinished, like it petered out because she didn't exactly know where to take it. BUT, not nearly as much as in the wolves book, hence my higher rating for this one. The near apocalyptic world also felt somewhat underdeveloped (if that much wildlife had died off, humanity would be struggling a lot more).
On the writing, it was very evocative and emotionally powerful. And that's when I'm reading it in Swedish, which isn't my native language - if the emotion and skill in describing the natural world and bodily experiences survived that much level of translation, I reckon if I'd read it in the original English this writing would have hit me like a truck and left me a blubbering mess on multiple occasions. As it was, I just cried at the end (on a public bus!).
Important to be aware that it's a lot darker than the blurb would imply so definitely heed the content warnings - of which there are many and very explicit. There's no option for ecocide in the content warnings, but like big time on that (of course).
Overall, I did... Enjoy isn't the right word, but I was transported by this book. I learnt about birds, and it's left me thinking a lot about how I want to treat the people - human and animals - in my life, and perhaps that's the most important thing of all.

Content Warnings