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A review by novelinsights
Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
challenging
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? Yes
3.5
This was a difficult story to rate, and my main problem with it lay in its execution. I usually enjoy stories with non-linear timelines, but in this case, I don't think it was done well. The first few times it jumps forward in time, it provides absolutely no context for what we're seeing. Then, a chapter or so later, the characters or concepts we saw in the future timeline are introduced, and we have to make sense of what we'd already read. This didn't work for me, and if I were better about letting myself DNF books, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the fourth or fifth chapter. That said, once all the main characters and concepts had been introduced, it stopped being confusing, and I was able to follow the timelines normally. However, by the end of the book, I didn't feel there's been any benefit to giving us the story out of order in the first place. If anything, I think giving us the story in normal, chronological order may have allowed the tension to build more naturally. Given the complete lack of context, I have to wonder if the author wrote the story chronologically and was pressed to rearrange it by an editor in order the get more tense scenes out in the beginning. If so, this was a major mistake, especially without rewriting the scenes to make more sense when read in that order.
Despite this huge issue and the fact I'd toyed with the idea of DNG-ing, once I got past the first 50 pages or so, I started to really get into the story, to the point where I read 200 pages in one sitting and had a really hard time putting this book down to go to bed. Therefore, it was still a great read and I'd recommend it; you just have to have patience with the opening.
Additionally, there were a few things that I think could have been used to better effect. The image of a disembodied head, which comes from a real Native legend, was mentioned several times; I was hoping for a more solid resolution to that element of the story than what I was given, though this may just be because I wasn't already familiar with the legend. Since it comes from a culture other than my own, I'm not deluded into thinking my opinion of this element of the story really matters much, but it just felt like something was missing here.
Anna also goes through a journey of self-discovery throughout the course of the novel, though it felt strangely disconnected from the narration and pushed to the background, as if Anna wasn't really thinking about it all that much at any point in the story, which seemed hard to believe. In the acknowledgements, the author does say that he didn't want anything to overshadow the importance of the main subject of the novel (i.e. missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls), and I can totally respect that, but I still think a little more emotional weight could have been given to such an important realization about oneself,especially since this is the first time I've seen two-spirit representation in a novel, and it would have been nice for it to have been given a little more space and significance.
Overall, while not perfect, this was a really good thriller, and I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for more of Nick Medina's work in the future.
Despite this huge issue and the fact I'd toyed with the idea of DNG-ing, once I got past the first 50 pages or so, I started to really get into the story, to the point where I read 200 pages in one sitting and had a really hard time putting this book down to go to bed. Therefore, it was still a great read and I'd recommend it; you just have to have patience with the opening.
Additionally, there were a few things that I think could have been used to better effect. The image of a disembodied head, which comes from a real Native legend, was mentioned several times; I was hoping for a more solid resolution to that element of the story than what I was given, though this may just be because I wasn't already familiar with the legend. Since it comes from a culture other than my own, I'm not deluded into thinking my opinion of this element of the story really matters much, but it just felt like something was missing here.
Anna also goes through a journey of self-discovery throughout the course of the novel, though it felt strangely disconnected from the narration and pushed to the background, as if Anna wasn't really thinking about it all that much at any point in the story, which seemed hard to believe. In the acknowledgements, the author does say that he didn't want anything to overshadow the importance of the main subject of the novel (i.e. missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls), and I can totally respect that, but I still think a little more emotional weight could have been given to such an important realization about oneself,
Overall, while not perfect, this was a really good thriller, and I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for more of Nick Medina's work in the future.