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imstephtacular's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
Moderate: Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Blood, Alcoholism, Animal death, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
starrysteph's review
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.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Self harm, Racism, Child abuse, Transphobia, Death, Murder, Bullying, Violence, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Animal death, Addiction, and Drug use
angelkisses's review
challenging
dark
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? Yes
3.75
I had various issues with the structure of this novel but it was an extremely emotionally satisfying experience. Perhaps it's because I blasted through this novel in less than a day but I'm having a hard time coming up with cohesive thoughts about it. I love Anna as a protagonist and her relationship with her younger sister Grace, which is also the driving force propelling the narrative forward. I appreciate the focus on building community (the idea of "it takes a village to raise a child") as opposed to the individualistic notion of the nuclear family. And I can't lie, the epilogue did make me tear up. In fact I was holding back tears while on my shift because of it.
Still, the alternating timelines are confusing, especially at the beginning when the reader hasn't yet been introduced to many of the relevant characters who are mentioned in these "flashforwards." On top of that a lot of information is repeated from chapter to chapter, which feels like a cheap way to communicate with the reader.
Even with my complaints, it's no lie that this book made me FEEL things. I felt an intense sense of discomfort, anger, frustration and deep, deep sadness knowing that even though this story is fictional, it unfortunately reflects the experiences of many Native women and girls.
Still, the alternating timelines are confusing, especially at the beginning when the reader hasn't yet been introduced to many of the relevant characters who are mentioned in these "flashforwards." On top of that a lot of information is repeated from chapter to chapter, which feels like a cheap way to communicate with the reader.
Even with my complaints, it's no lie that this book made me FEEL things. I felt an intense sense of discomfort, anger, frustration and deep, deep sadness knowing that even though this story is fictional, it unfortunately reflects the experiences of many Native women and girls.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, and Racism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual violence
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