Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

3 reviews

juniper_reads_things's review

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dark informative mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

The topics covered in this book make me feel angry. 

Grace was 15.

It makes me angry, and furious that there are thousands of families experiencing what the Horn family and the Takoda tribe experienced.  

In addition to the content, I also struggled to follow the story telling and time-jumping timelines. I couldn’t understand how some of the folklore tied into the story at times.  I also had trouble understanding Anna as a character. 

This book is going to stick with me for a while though. A haunting story. 
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mondovertigo's review

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dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25

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starrysteph's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Sisters of the Lost Nation is a heart-wrenching mystery following an outcast fighting for her identity and the life of her little sister. A haunting, enraging, captivating debut.

Anna is a young Native girl struggling to find a place where she belongs. She’s haunted by childhood campfire stories and teenage girls who have never come home, her vicious peers turn high school into torture, and she has growing suspicions about her boss at the casino.

When her little sister Grace goes missing, Anna has to channel all her strength to bring her home. But between the boundaries of rez police, the sneering & haughty town cops, and the piles of missing person flyers that have never been resolved - it feels like an impossible job.

Medina beautifully incorporates storytelling, memory, and myth. Anna is fascinated by legends and traditions of the past, and fights to keep them alive while using them to make sense of her current reality. This is a mystery/thriller novel with a small splash of horror: Anna believes she is being stalked by a supernatural entity.

I found Anna to be an immensely likable main character – she’s both fierce and forlorn as she matures throughout the pages. Her family dynamics were equally compelling: smoldering parents who can’t quite communicate, her overlooked and invisible disabled Gran, her eager younger siblings, and Anna always there to reliably clean up their messes.

The back-and-forth timeline was very confusing at first to follow, and I didn’t really fall into flow with the book until close to halfway through. I almost wish it had been told entirely chronologically. But once it clicks … it clicks. It was impossible to turn away from the pages.

This is a story about monstrous legends … and the real, all-too-human villains that haunt Native communities. 

It’s an emotional piece - and while the characters and events were fictional, the trauma of missing & murdered indigenous women is incredibly real. It will enrage you and devastate you. 

CW: death, murder, racism, bullying, violence, physical abuse, self harm, sexual assault, suicidal thoughts, trafficking, gore, animal death, addiction, drug use, child abuse, pedophilia, transphobia

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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