Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Sisters of the Lost Nation

A gorgeously written look at the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, woven together with the history and culture of the Takoda tribe. Anna's journey and search for inner strength throughout the book will resonate with those who have never felt like they quite fit in, and how to find the beauty in that space.

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hannahleewhite's review

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adventurous dark emotional

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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lovelymisanthrope's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I picked this up because it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for the month of May.
"Sisters of the Lost Nation" follows Anna Horn. Anna is a young Native girl who lives on a reservation with her family. She struggles to fit in at school and is constantly being bullied. When Anna is at work, she begins to see things that are suspicious, and she thinks the shady behavior is linked to the disappearances of other Native girls from the reservation. When Anna's own little sister, Grace, becomes one of the missing girls, she will stop at nothing to bring Grace home.
At the end of this novel, we get to learn that this book was inspired by real events that are presently happening. I think this novel does a great job at merging fiction and true crime to spread awareness to a problem that a lot of people are unaware of, because this problem does not get the attention it warrants.
This novel is marketed as a horror/mystery, and it definitely is, but I think it is a horror in a different way. The novel relies on some Native lore that might not read "scary" to all, but if it is lore that you believe in, it adds a haunting quality to the story that makes it feel all the more high stakes for Anna and Grace.
Anna was such a smart and brave character to read from. Even though she felt like an outcast, she remained true to who she is. She also had a complicated relationship with her sister, but she still showed compassion and concern when she went missing, which was great to see.
I flew through this novel and did not want to put it down. The writing was approachable and very easy to read.
I will definitely be keeping Nick Medina on my radar and I highly recommend this novel!

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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minimicropup's review

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense 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? No

4.5

The Energy: Sympathetic, compassionate, questioning

The Scene: 🇺🇸 A (fictional) Takoda Reservation in Louisiana, USA

The POV: We dive into the life of a high school senior and housekeeper at the new casino resort whose world starts unraveling over 36 intense days.

🎬 Tale-Telling: Third-person observational style where we are closely following our MC, Anna. I liked the writing style and how it had me feeling connected without intruding on the story to explain everything. We’re shown Indigenous experiences and stories in a way that felt relatable and authentic.

👥 Characters: Not a character driven story, but it has intricate family and sibling dynamics so if you don’t care about the characters or aren’t curious about their futures, it could be a lackluster read. I liked how we saw the little ways decisions snowball out of hand. And how Anna sometimes puts herself in danger but it makes sense as we get to know her, and she's consistent and does get scared sometimes.

🤓 Reader Role: Invited guest. I felt like I was walking around with Anna, sitting at their dining room table or hanging on the couch, trying to figure out the mystery and navigate the scenes.

🗺️ Ambiance: Unsettling, ominous, heavy, even depressing. The family home, the hotel casino, and even the school all felt so real and the interactions and character behaviours, even for peripheral, captured all the little looks and changes in body language.

🔥 Fuel: Who can Anna trust? Who is friend and who is foe? What happened to her sister and who may be involved? What is all the sketchy stuff going on at the hotel suites? At its heart, the story is more of a mystery about the disappearances of young girls wrapped in contemporary fiction about life on the Reservation and the effects of the casino and resort on the community.

🚙 Journey: Steady pace with conclusive endings and character development. I sometimes felt lost, but that was largely me losing track of what happened between non-linear chapters.

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🐕 Howls: The non-linear timeline where the 36 days are presented out of order had me keeping a mental log of events to remember if something happened before or after an incident or reveal. Have a physical book to flip through meant it was minor, but often pulled me out of the story.

🐩 Tail Wags: The atmospheric tension, balancing the mundane with a sense of foreboding, intertwining Indigenous lore and symbolism seamlessly without info-dumping.

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Mood Reading Match-Up:

Contemporary fiction about family struggles, sibling secrets, and growing up too fast
Hints of Indigenous folklore and creature feature spirits
Heavy and symbolic horrors about being ‘different’, Indigenous histories and experiences
Reflective, exploratory themes about connection, belonging, fitting in, growing up, growing apart, being different, storytelling, preservation of the past, grief, loss, corruption, and vulnerability

Content Heads-Up: Missing persons. Physical and domestic abuse (boss to employee, spouses against each other). Bullying (rejection, ostracizing, teasing; on page). Racism (insinuated, brief; on-page). Sexual assault (forced, grooming, trafficking; descriptive, recall). Animal death (wildlife, roadkill, shooting rodents). Self-harm (momentary, brief). Alcohol and cannabis use.

Rep: Indigenous American characters and cultural experiences. Two-Spirit and cisgender. Heterosexual.

👀 Format: Hardcover

“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”

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haley_mil_reads's review

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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katharina90's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

This novel highlights the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2-spirits as well as other issues faced by Native communities and as such I think it's an important contribution to the genre.

Sadly I just couldn't get into the story. It had so much potential but the plot and characters were underdeveloped and the many time jumps in the beginning made it hard to follow. I also listened on audio and didn't like the narration.

Rather than setting this story in his own tribe and culture, the author chose to create a fictional tribe and incorporated stories from various other nations. I have mixed feelings about this. But at least there's an author's note at the end where the origins of certain elements are credited.

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