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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I know it’s a little controversial but I enjoyed it and finished it faster than any other book.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
I did not enjoy the first 35% of this book. I had a hard time connecting with the characters or knowing where it was going. However, once I realized the direction it was taking and it took on more of the thriller/horror genre, I enjoyed it so much. While it is a mystery and has some horror aspects to it, I don't find them to be overly gory and the message behind this book is so important. I was emotional at the way it was ended and thought it was satisfying but not overly expected.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Trafficking
Definitely sad. If the intention was to call attention to the ongoing abuse/ignorance of missing indigenous women I don’t think this hit the mark for people uneducated on the subject, besides the issues that casinos brought to reservations. I could not connect to the characters and I just didn’t love how the story was written. It was fragmented and maybe my lost interest made it a little difficult to follow. Bringing the strong Native American tales in near the end did not weave in seamlessly.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a terrible novel. Let me rephrase: it’s beautifully written, but I found myself so angry through the bulk of this story… and that’s a good thing. It means I have a shred of empathy left in my bones. It deals with so many issues, including drug abuse, MMIW, bullying, racism, law enforcement indifference to Native plights, the loss of culture and much more.
I thought it was going to be more mythical or supernatural horror, but the horror was almost exclusively human.
I thought it was going to be more mythical or supernatural horror, but the horror was almost exclusively human.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Did a good job bringing light to real life situations some people live through.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly, this wasn’t really hitting like I anticipated, especially in the beginning. There are some really serious and noteworthy topics around reservation life being discussed here, like drugs, politics, and missing Indigenous women. However, the start of this book has a back and forth timeline from before and after Anna’s sister’s disappearance, which did help to kick up some suspense, but I just didn’t feel very engaged with the novel at the start.
I’ll admit, I was pretty tired of the mix between teenage angst and feeling of invincibility crap pretty quickly. There’s some seriously heavy shit that Anna’s investigating (though, I’m not sure if I’d quite call it investigating, more like stumbling in the middle of) and though I get she’s a teenager, misunderstood and out of place in most of her life, it seemed like she was constantly making excuses to not speak with anyone who could actually help. I also get having a complicated relationship with siblings, but lord, is she terrible at communicating with her sister to the point that it felt cliched. She’s been getting seriously creepy vibes from her manager and it’s fairly certain he’s a druggie, but doesn’t think to warn her sister when she notices them hanging out?
That said, I actually really liked Anna as a main character. She’s an outcast, bullied, more responsible than most people around her, and spoken over in all walks of her life. She finds solace in learning about her tribe and their history which I enjoyed learning about by extension. She’s just also a teenager and makes a lot of dumb decisions like an average teenager as well. However, once she became more serious, and we stuck in the single timeline of watching her response to the disappearance of her little sister, I was much more engaged. I also really enjoyed the exploration of her two-spirit identity, especially the importance of such individuals in tribal life.
I was pretty bummed that indigenous mythological stories weren’t more prevalent in the first half of the book, especially the one about the roaming head from the prologue, but it (and a few others) finally made more of an appearance in the latter half of the book. Some were relevant in Anna’s finding herself, the roaming head becoming more and more of a creepy presence. I still would have liked seeing more of them, but I thought it was very cool Medina mixed stories from different tribes for the fictional one of this book.
The mystery itself also was much more interesting to me once we finally started to learn more of what was happening around the girl’s disappearance. The emotional rawness in each of her family members was well presented and really could be felt in the writing. Honestly, part of me wishes this had gone the other way in the end, but I actually quite like how everything wrapped up.
I’m glad I kept reading, the second half of this book pleasantly surprised me.
I’ll admit, I was pretty tired of the mix between teenage angst and feeling of invincibility crap pretty quickly. There’s some seriously heavy shit that Anna’s investigating (though, I’m not sure if I’d quite call it investigating, more like stumbling in the middle of) and though I get she’s a teenager, misunderstood and out of place in most of her life, it seemed like she was constantly making excuses to not speak with anyone who could actually help. I also get having a complicated relationship with siblings, but lord, is she terrible at communicating with her sister to the point that it felt cliched. She’s been getting seriously creepy vibes from her manager and it’s fairly certain he’s a druggie, but doesn’t think to warn her sister when she notices them hanging out?
That said, I actually really liked Anna as a main character. She’s an outcast, bullied, more responsible than most people around her, and spoken over in all walks of her life. She finds solace in learning about her tribe and their history which I enjoyed learning about by extension. She’s just also a teenager and makes a lot of dumb decisions like an average teenager as well. However, once she became more serious, and we stuck in the single timeline of watching her response to the disappearance of her little sister, I was much more engaged. I also really enjoyed the exploration of her two-spirit identity, especially the importance of such individuals in tribal life.
I was pretty bummed that indigenous mythological stories weren’t more prevalent in the first half of the book, especially the one about the roaming head from the prologue, but it (and a few others) finally made more of an appearance in the latter half of the book. Some were relevant in Anna’s finding herself, the roaming head becoming more and more of a creepy presence. I still would have liked seeing more of them, but I thought it was very cool Medina mixed stories from different tribes for the fictional one of this book.
The mystery itself also was much more interesting to me once we finally started to learn more of what was happening around the girl’s disappearance. The emotional rawness in each of her family members was well presented and really could be felt in the writing. Honestly, part of me wishes this had gone the other way in the end, but I actually quite like how everything wrapped up.
I’m glad I kept reading, the second half of this book pleasantly surprised me.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated