Reviews

White Horse: A Novel by Erika T. Wurth

caseyapederson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.0

rebel_rocketman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

raygersh's review against another edition

2.0

It makes me sad to give this book 2 stars. Erika T. Wurth is an indigenous author, local to the Denver area who cares about community, justice, and ghost stories. All good things! I expected to love White Horse but unfortunately I really did not. The book is a bit of a mess. What seems like a haunting ghost story is really more of a murder mystery. This makes the novel's plot pretty convoluted with sloppy and pointless scenes. The characters are also caricaturized and whiny. I did not like or relate to any of them. And perhaps White Horse's worst offense was the constant references to real Colorado establishments, landmarks, and history. I love when books are set in Colorado and I can recognize certain locations, but this book takes that to an extreme. I'm not convinced that Wurth didn't have a side bet going with her publisher on how many Colorado icons she could shove into one novel. It got old fast.

Overall: White Horse turned out to be a disappointing and slightly shapeless novel.

torrie_reads's review against another edition

5.0

Thoughts

I loved this book so much! It makes me a little sad I didn't read it sooner. 

Kari has been through some stuff. But when her friend finds a bracelet that belonged to her mom it starts her on a path of finding out what really happened to her mom. And she quickly realizes that it is possible that her mom is one of the missing and murdered Indigenous women that are never spoken about. 

Kari's love for Stephen King really made this book kind of nostalgic. While on this journey to find out what happened to her mom with her, you are taken back to your own journeys with King's novels or movies. 

I absolutely loved everything about this book. 10/10 would recommend this book to anyone. 

savvystory's review against another edition

3.0

I loved the play on family demons. The pacing lagged at times (especially with the extended tour of The Stanley). It may have packed more of an emotional punch if more attention had been paid to developing fewer relationships/important people than were in the book. I would check out future books this author writes.

charliegirl21's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the premise but I knew it was the grandpa pretty much the second he was introduced. Wurth gave away too much early. I liked the twist of there being a sister. I am also excited to research more on the history of AIM in Denver. The novel was like “They were dangerous”, but I don’t know much about them hurting their own people. The novel didn’t give enough info on the subject. As this was one of my favorite topics, I wish there would have been a lot more.

I kind of felt that way about all of the subordinate story lines. The mother and father were supposed to be so in love, but in all the flashbacks there was nothing. The mother supposedly loved her daughter. Author introduces flashbacks but does nothing with this?

The battle scene with the monster was pretty lame. I wish it could have been more frightening and the whole Geronimo’s club was laughable.

I love a book set where I live. There is also the problem with knowing that the character’s favorite bar that they go to all the time probably wouldn’t be about a 40 minute drive from where they live and neither would be the place they work if they are a waitress. Not exactly commuting for a six figure salary. Why not have your character live in Lakewood instead of Aurora? I realize this is petty, but it bugged me.

Simultaneously, the White Horse is currently on the market for $1.5 million. What universe can a 34 year old waitress qualify for a loan by herself for anything near that. I realize these are dumb details, but it bummed me out because I loved all the other Denver stuff.

I really liked the main character and her storylines. It is the reason I am ranking it so high as I list off a long list of what I didn’t like. I was rooting for her. I liked her and her struggle. I liked how her life resolved. All the relationships surrounding her needed the same care. The author has it in her. She just needs to narrow her focus to the details that really build a real world.

lmcoffman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

• 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

4.5

sassyjax's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

vylinn's review against another edition

3.0

While I'm not native American, I am part of a Canadian indigenous group, and that was enough to make me really enjoy having natives be the default in the book. But like.

Idk. A lot of things didn't make sense and I felt beaten over the head with a number of things. That about sums it up.

raechel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

White Horse is the story of Kari, a Native woman is told her mother stepped out when she was just two days old, her father needs round the clock care, and Kari herself is a recovering addict carrying heavy guilt. Her cousin Debby gifts her her mother's old bracelet, granting Kari visions of her mother's past and sparking an investigation to find out what really happened to her.

Kari is a Stephen King obsessed rock-n-roll buff who floats through life. The entire book reads like "My Heart is a Chainsaw" meets "Fleabag." I thought I would enjoy this more than I did, but there's no main issue I can point to to say that I didn't like it. I felt like parts of the plot were skipped over and we simply learn through exposition that they already happened. I HATED Debby and Jack's relationship and felt like it was semi-approved by the author. It was also weird to me that Kari was in her mid-30s before she started to wonder what happened to her mother.

I did like the strange King parallels we see through the book, I'm also a big King fan. The creature we see through the story was also really interesting and I liked hearing about that. I think there's a lot of great potential in this book but it could have used another pass through editors. There's a part where a character says his father is passed away, but in a later chapter tells Kari that he called his dad to invite some people to the local bar.

Not a bad book at all, but I think it really needed more editing.