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bellahtrix's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Self harm
minimicropup's review
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: šŗšø 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.
š¬ 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. Weāre shown Indigenous experiences and stories in a way that felt relatable and authentic.
š„ Characters: Not a character driven story, but it has intricate family and sibling dynamics so if you donāt care about the characters or arenāt 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.
š¤ 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.
šŗļø 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.
š„ 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.
š 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.
----
š 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.
š© Tail Wags: The atmospheric tension, balancing the mundane with a sense of foreboding, intertwining Indigenous lore and symbolism seamlessly without info-dumping.
----
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 ādifferentā, 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.
š Format: Hardcover
āReviews are my musings š powered by puppy snuggles š¶ refined by my AI bookworm bestie āØā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Racism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm and Animal death
juniper_reads_things's review
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 couldnāt 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.
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 couldnāt 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Trafficking, Vomit, Gore, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Sexual content, and Self harm
bookshelf_al's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Bullying
Moderate: Murder
a_crow_in_the_sky's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.75
This book was absolutely wonderful with its commentary on a lot of issues. The only thing I felt It lacked was closure. We never get to see if justice is given to the victims and perpetrators which is historically a huge issue in native American crime and violence, but the story that was actually put on the page was absolutely fantastic, thrilling, and complex.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Addiction, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Sexual content
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The ideas in the book are much better then the execution which is boggled down by clunky clumsy writing at times and ironically misogyny for a book inspired by the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis in the Americas.
A lot of this is microcosm of the two sisters story Medina depicts where the younger sister being harmed and cursed by a man she didnāt know is framed to have been actually caused bc she didnāt explicitly āobeyā her moral older sister who told her not to come with her with no real reasoning given etc. that even clearly not intentional sexist framing of violence to women as failing of the girl to womanās approach to life or not heeding other women is deeply harmful. Itās just a book that would benefit a lot for vastly more feminist thoughts which is disappointing.
Also while children have done worse things to each other and have deep social thoughts I thought how they were written fighting or the protagonist didnāt seem how kids would express that violence or commentary which a parts just felt like the author pausing the story to tell us his perspective on various Native American issues instead of something better Integrated into the theme or narrative. The book simply suffers from too much telling vs showing. And also have the protagonist almost never be wrong and making her seem better than other women for not being like them or rejecting anything seem as feminine including just friendships between girls ending for studs to other things that felt catty. Or how the mother passivity felt less taken seriously as a character or depicted less sympathetically then the father who was damaging himself and property in arguments ? Like it seemed like a book about women that only held maybe two in any real esteem.
But I did like how he wrote the favoritism to the son/brother.
A lot of this is microcosm of the two sisters story Medina depicts where the younger sister being harmed and cursed by a man she didnāt know is framed to have been actually caused bc she didnāt explicitly āobeyā her moral older sister who told her not to come with her with no real reasoning given etc. that even clearly not intentional sexist framing of violence to women as failing of the girl to womanās approach to life or not heeding other women is deeply harmful. Itās just a book that would benefit a lot for vastly more feminist thoughts which is disappointing.
Also while children have done worse things to each other and have deep social thoughts I thought how they were written fighting or the protagonist didnāt seem how kids would express that violence or commentary which a parts just felt like the author pausing the story to tell us his perspective on various Native American issues instead of something better Integrated into the theme or narrative. The book simply suffers from too much telling vs showing. And also have the protagonist almost never be wrong and making her seem better than other women for not being like them or rejecting anything seem as feminine including just friendships between girls ending for studs to other things that felt catty. Or how the mother passivity felt less taken seriously as a character or depicted less sympathetically then the father who was damaging himself and property in arguments ? Like it seemed like a book about women that only held maybe two in any real esteem.
But I did like how he wrote the favoritism to the son/brother.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment
emelynreads's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.25
Finishing this book was like a gut punch. Because even though this novel is fiction, it is pulled from the headlines of reality-that there are thousands of missing indigenous women and children across North America.
I recently read the nonfiction book "Highway of Tears" so I am familiar with the bureaucratic red tape between native and non-native police and I'm glad that was written into this novel to demonstrate the real life carelessness investigators show indigenous families.
The native stories and myths were beautifully woven in and though I'm not native, I felt so much appreciation for that to be represented here along with a Two Spirit main character.
If you enjoyed this book, please take the time to read "Highway of Tears" to learn more about the missing indigenous women and girls crisis.
I recently read the nonfiction book "Highway of Tears" so I am familiar with the bureaucratic red tape between native and non-native police and I'm glad that was written into this novel to demonstrate the real life carelessness investigators show indigenous families.
The native stories and myths were beautifully woven in and though I'm not native, I felt so much appreciation for that to be represented here along with a Two Spirit main character.
If you enjoyed this book, please take the time to read "Highway of Tears" to learn more about the missing indigenous women and girls crisis.
Content Warnings
Minor: Self harm, Violence, and Animal death
mmccombs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
You ever recommend a book for your bookclubās pick of the month and then youā¦ donāt like it much at all? I was very excited by the premise of this story, and I didnāt necessarily dislike it, but I just donāt think everything came together. In my opinion, the writing was not great, the sheer amount of stilted similes drove me up the wall and it felt very juvenile. I donāt think the structure totally worked, I understand why he did the time jumps but it mostly caused confusion and interrupted the tension of the plot for me. I also didnāt really believe in Annaās character, there was something both too old and too young about her, she was weirdly good at everything. I did love her Two Spirit self discovery, though I think that could have been explored more. The story telling aspect was really interesting, I think more could have been done with the supernatural horror (because this was marketed as a horror I expected a bit more). The ending also just didnāt feel quite right, it was rushed and felt slightly unresolved. I think there is something great here, but I think Iād recommend Firekeeperās Daughter for a rez mystery about missing and murdered Indigenous women before this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use and Self harm
ec_tyche's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The only part about this book I didnāt like was the way it jumps around in the timeline. Other than that, I really enjoyed how this book was meaningful while still remaining a thriller novel. I loved that Two Spirits was included in this as well, it made it feel inclusive in a new way for me. I also loved reading about other Native pieces such as the folklore and beliefs that were included in this book. The ending was really great, I thought as was the authors note.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Death, Murder, Addiction, and Racism
Minor: Drug use, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
whenimreading's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
4.5 āļø Great story that made me sad, angry and in the end hopeful. The opening chapter sets the mood for the rest of the book. Annaās uncle is telling a story of a rolling head devouring people in the reservation, itās a constant plot throughout as sheās very influenced and freighted by it.
I felt so bad for Anna most of the time, she is a people pleaser and misses her carefree friendship with her younger sister Grace, her parents constantly fighting, on top of the bullies at school, itās a lot for the teen. When her sister goes missing, it seems like Anna is the only one that can find her.
Nonlinear timeline so the chapters were a tad confusing but once I oriented myself it was easier to follow. Slow burn at least over halfway through but Iām glad I stuck with it because I enjoyed the ending in its odd glory. I thought Anna was very strong and level headed.
My favorite parts were the history and native stories Anna wanted to preserve, the main story of the rolling head that keeps coming back was really well done in relation to the events of missing girls. I was so angry at the racism from the sheriff and donāt even get me started on Fox. The book paints a glossier picture for missing Native girls and women with a small supernatural angle, but real life is much more tragic. The story of Ashley and her missing sister Kimberly Loring inspired the author to write this book and ultimately the messaging is very important.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Murder