A review by beccasllibrary
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

challenging dark tense slow-paced

4.5

A slow but consistently tense story of the struggle to escape generational trauma and move forward. Watching the panic and tension in the character's lives as it becomes evident that they can find an escape from their past is incredibly well done. The gore is intense but by far overshadowed by how well the tension and dread is built up. This tells a story not just featuring indigenous characters but about them, it could not exist effectively without the cultural context in which it takes place. The characters feel incredibly real and force you to understand their interests and perspectives (I never thought I'd read a book that makes basketball and motorcycles interesting) but because the characters' interests, histories, and themes play into the plot every element becomes interesting. The characters are unique and could not be interchanged for one another even in a book with each other. The ending somehow resolved an impossible situation, reflecting the central themes of ending trauma cycles. The only thing holding it back from 5 stars is that I felt not every character was as fleshed out as the rest and the changing POVs was jarring when the first part establishes a single POV