All The White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price – £8.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook

In the wake of the First World War, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Antarctic expedition, determined to find his rightful place in the world of men. Aboard the expeditionary ship of his hero, the world-famous explorer James “Australis” Randall, Jonathan may live as his true self—and true gender—and have the adventures he has always been denied. But not all is smooth sailing: the war casts its long shadow over them all, and grief, guilt, and mistrust skulk among the explorers.

When disaster strikes in Antarctica’s frozen Weddell Sea, the men must take to the land and overwinter somewhere which immediately seems both eerie and wrong; a place not marked on any of their part-drawn maps of the vast white continent. Now completely isolated, Randall’s expedition has no ability to contact the outside world. And no one is coming to rescue them.

In the freezing darkness of the Polar night, where the aurora creeps across the sky, something terrible has been waiting to lure them out into its deadly landscape…

As the harsh Antarctic winter descends, this supernatural force will prey on their deepest desires and deepest fears to pick them off one by one. It is up to Jonathan to overcome his own ghosts before he and the expedition are utterly destroyed.

Expeditions and seeking to conquer the many wild spaces of our world is something we always praise. It’s a test of humans are capable of. Endurance, strength and bravery It is not just a physical test but a mental one crossing seas, mountains or deserts takes its toll. But in these vast empty spaces who knows what lurks awaiting us and what that will do to us when our guard is down. This is one aspect of Ally Wilkes very interesting horror novel All The White Spaces that explores this facet of humanity but also unpeels how masculinity and bravery are often linked both for toxic and good reasons.

Jonathan Morgan in 1920 stows away on a ship heading for the southern hemisphere with their friend Harry Cooper. Both have been impacted by the aftermath of WW2 which Harry fought in and Jonathan lost both his brothers in. A family obsession of the brothers had been the adventure sof famous explorer James ‘Australis’ Randall and Antarctica. For Jonathan joining Harry’s trip is a chance to honour them. Jonathan is soon discovered but Australis is persuaded to let Jonathan join as a ‘spare’ for the team working hard doing all the jobs as the seas get colder and the weather more inhospitable. The expedition is heading to a previously unknown part of Antarctica that only one other crew is known to have attempted this trip recently and they’ve never been heard of since they left. The expedition soon finds themselves in trouble and the crew all find themselves in danger and aware that the empty spaces around them may be looking back.

This story really pulls you in. Right from the off there is an air of dread and death in the whole tale. Rather than going for bloody loud scenes this is the subtle and quiet horror where the isolation, the loneliness of the estuation being just the only living being for thousands of miles around you while the weather itself is bad enough to kill you; yet alone whatever else could lurk out there. From the off we are aware this a group that all are in the aftermath of WW1 where many of the team fought; lost loved ones or in one imprisoned. Leaving the busy world of the northern hemisphere is a chance for them to resume their older innocent lives before the war but we soon learn all of the crew have their baggage; something that an evil force is only too keen to exploit.

To make this work Wilkes opts for a very precise and informative type of storytelling. We spend a good half of the novel travelling with the team to Antarctica and this really helps to get us into the mindset and approach of travellers back then. The shortage of fresh food, the ways the crew entertain themselves, the dangers of sea travel and the reliance on dogs rather than machines for travel. The world we get to see all through newcomer Jonathan’s eyes is hard tough and we soon realise easily broken if your luck fades. Injury at sea is fatal, taking a glove off accidentally could lead to limb loss and as we head further south, we get the feeling this group is getting particularly unlucky.  I was very impressed how organically we get to know this world seeding these facts into our reading rather than constant huge infodumps.

The other apect here and one I think is extremely cleverly done is exploring what this type of activity means for masculinity. Jonathan is a young trans man (and I should note trans people in history have been around a very long time); they’ve escaped the family home to honour their brothers and also be the man they  have always wanted to be. But Wilkes smartly asks exactly what is being a man. While Jonathan gets to dress and act the way they’ve always wanted they have only had a certain view of what a good man should be. Brave, stoic and ready for battle just like their lost brothers or how Australis is shown in the papers. What this tale though does is show us many other shades of being masculine. Australis the leader is described in the style of Shackleton as loud, taking the centre stage and makes his men follow him anywhere. This though is shown to have hidden dark sides – moodiness, a failure to listen and a huge temper. We see some men who are living in the moment and others who need a leader to serve (even when the probably could have done a better job). Harry as Jonathan’s best friend is a brave kind veteran, but he is also a man recovering from PTSD caused by the trenches. Most interesting is the character of the expedition’s scientist Tarlington who is discovered to be a conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing to fight in the war. Just after the war we see how veterans take this as a personal insult (reacting in kind) but we soon find out WW1 really was not going to be a marvellous easy adventure and this expedition too is showing the darker sides of humanity. Jonathan as things get harder has to revise their opinion of what is a good and great man and what this means for who they want to be as well. It’s a really impressive angle and handled very well and the use of post WW1 when many Brits were finding they were no longer masters of the world and working out what they want to do next is neatly paralleled. Coming of age for the UK and not just the main character

This tale is slightly more cosmic horror. The supernatural steadily ramps up from strange sights out of the corner of your vision to full on attacks of a very personal kind. It is not explained it is just simply people in the wrong place and wrong time who become playthings of something very inhuman. Working out how this force attacks and how it can be stopped push the story. My only reservation is there are some pacing issues and just when you think the story is ready to fly halfway it loses some momentum. But if you read the various novel parts episodically, I found it worked very well.

All The White Spaces is a very smart, enthralling and compelling story. It successfully delivers that hard task of mixing horror and an exploration of people in a really interesting way and when it gets creepy it gets verrrry creepy; yet there is always a lot of humanity being explored in the story. I shall be very much looking forward to what else Ally Wilkes has in store for us in future work. Highly recommended!