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dorynickel's review
dark
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? Yes
3.0
Overall this book was really good, but the plot, despite being suspenseful enough to keep me engaged throughout my read, resolves in a disappointing fizzle.
That being said, the protagonist is an engaging character and the book's respect for native culture is unique and impactful. The storytelling and prose are wonderful and I'd gladly read another book by this author.
That being said, the protagonist is an engaging character and the book's respect for native culture is unique and impactful. The storytelling and prose are wonderful and I'd gladly read another book by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Transphobia, and Death
Moderate: Rape, Drug use, and Pedophilia
katharina90's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Racism, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Animal death, and Rape
Minor: Addiction
deanlockiradall's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
At seventeen years old, Anna Horn wants nothing more than to fly under the radar. Graduate high school, clean casino hotel rooms (her part-time job), and maybe eventually be brave enough to start a cultural preservation society for the Takoda Tribe on the rez. She'd also ideally like to reconnect with her younger sister, Grace. However, change is coming to the rez, and Anna--like it or not--is drawn into the heart of things when Grace goes missing. Stuck in a tangled knot of jurisdictional arguments and complicated race relations, Anna is the only person who can find answers...if the disembodied rolling head of her nightmares doesn't get to her first.
Sisters of the Lost Nation is local author Nick Medina's debut novel, which blends Indigenous folklore with real, ongoing social issues in this mystery/suspense/thriller. Although the Takoda Tribe is fictitious, Medina is a member of the Louisiana Tunica-Biloxi Tribe; much of the rez setting is inspired by his heritage. Medina's writing raises awareness of the "silent crisis" of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, while uplifting Native communities through the richness and revitalization of their cultural heritage. Just as Anna learns how her people's stories can empower her, so, too, can we be reminded how the past can inform and influence the future.
Readers interested in stories about Indigenous heritage, identities, and/or life on the rez may enjoy A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah, Reclaiming Two-Spirits by Gregory D. Smithers, and Rez Metal. Other Indigenous authors of interest may include Stephen Graham Jones and Rebecca Roanhorse. Those interested in history may like Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, while those interested in Indigenous folktales may enjoy American Indian Myths and Legends edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.
Sisters of the Lost Nation is local author Nick Medina's debut novel, which blends Indigenous folklore with real, ongoing social issues in this mystery/suspense/thriller. Although the Takoda Tribe is fictitious, Medina is a member of the Louisiana Tunica-Biloxi Tribe; much of the rez setting is inspired by his heritage. Medina's writing raises awareness of the "silent crisis" of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, while uplifting Native communities through the richness and revitalization of their cultural heritage. Just as Anna learns how her people's stories can empower her, so, too, can we be reminded how the past can inform and influence the future.
Readers interested in stories about Indigenous heritage, identities, and/or life on the rez may enjoy A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah, Reclaiming Two-Spirits by Gregory D. Smithers, and Rez Metal. Other Indigenous authors of interest may include Stephen Graham Jones and Rebecca Roanhorse. Those interested in history may like Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, while those interested in Indigenous folktales may enjoy American Indian Myths and Legends edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Transphobia
pathologicalreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping
Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, Racism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Slavery, Transphobia, Excrement, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Car accident
vicwaltz's review against another edition
dark
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Sexual assault, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Transphobia, and Trafficking
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
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