Welcome to Litsy!

Wow this one packs a punch! Only 100 pages but very powerful. A penal colony is in the middle of nowhere with a warden who hunts the prisoners for sport. Different perspectives from the guard and the prisoners and the official who‘s sent there to close the place up. Will be thinking about this one for a long time. Thanks to all who recommended it and there are a lot of you!

As others have said, this book is brutal, though less so than I expected. It explores how one man‘s sadism can trickle down and impact so many, carrying on a legacy of violence and domination. Huh, oddly fitting for our current moment. I found the ending satisfying in some ways. #TOB26

In a remote penal colony in Brazil, the Warden has been hunting the inmates. As their numbers dwindle, desperation begins.

I didn't realize before I started this that it is a prequel to Maia's excellent Of Cattle and Men. Both books are brutal and bloody examinations of Man's propensity for violence, and the generational effects of the brutality as it infects the very land beneath their feet.

Cont'd in comments

“He and the world both changed, but not in time with each other. Valdenio got older, sick, not much sharper. The world renewed itself. To be thrown outside the walls would be to serve another sentence of survival and resistance that he couldn't stand to repeat.“

#ToB26 #13

This short, brutal novel hit me harder than I expected. Set in Brazil, in a remote penal colony where prisoners are released only to be hunted, it‘s stark and unsentimental, yet gripping. Maia writes violence without glorifying it. The bleakness is heavy, but the sharp writing kept me fully absorbed. So I am with you, Helen and Sarah!

#ReadTheWorld2025 #34 #Brazil

As @squirrelbrain noted, this book is violent, but I also wasn‘t put off by it - it was necessary to the story and didn‘t feel gratuitous. It was powerful to read this short book in one go. I was tense in my plane seat until the very end. A propulsive pick by a Brazilian writer from #TOB2026.

This is an INCREDIBLY violent book, but I didn‘t hate it - don‘t know what that says about me. 😬

There aren‘t many prisoners left in The Colony, because the governor releases 2 on each full-moon then pursues them to their death. What will happen if / when the authorities arrive to close the facility down?

I don‘t know if I should recommend this to anyone - just be prepared.

I‘m sure I‘ve missed someone who‘s reading the ToBlonglist - sorry!