Scan barcode
A review by mnboyer
The Hatak Witches by Devon A. Mihesuah
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
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? No
5.0
Alright, the easiest way to describe my feelings about this are: I absolutely loved it.
Set in Norman, Oklahoma, Detective Monique Blue Hawk and her partner Chris Pierson are investigating a heist/murder at a local museum. What makes this story great is that Monique is, of course, a strong Indigenous female detective who doesn't take shit from anyone -- and that's a good lead to have in a story like this. Chris, well, he's a bit of a mess but don't worry, he's not incompetent (which is nice). There has been a murder at the museum (one guard), with one guard injured in the hospital, and it appears that some old bones have been stolen.
Old bones? [Insert a lot of commentary about NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, for those not in an American Indian Studies department) and the ethics of keeping ancestral bones locked away in museums]. No, on a serious note, Mihesuah is able to weave in a lot of deep commentary about this issue (and many others). She just slips zingers in there, hides information about Indigenous politics and personhood, etc. Yeah, it is a great book.
We eventually seem to discover that the bones belong to a Hatak haksi -- a Choctaw shapeshifting witch. And that's where the story gets a lot of its horror elements, but in many ways it just further delves into Choctaw belief systems.
I loved it. Get it, just get it.
Set in Norman, Oklahoma, Detective Monique Blue Hawk and her partner Chris Pierson are investigating a heist/murder at a local museum. What makes this story great is that Monique is, of course, a strong Indigenous female detective who doesn't take shit from anyone -- and that's a good lead to have in a story like this. Chris, well, he's a bit of a mess but don't worry, he's not incompetent (which is nice). There has been a murder at the museum (one guard), with one guard injured in the hospital, and it appears that some old bones have been stolen.
Old bones? [Insert a lot of commentary about NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, for those not in an American Indian Studies department) and the ethics of keeping ancestral bones locked away in museums]. No, on a serious note, Mihesuah is able to weave in a lot of deep commentary about this issue (and many others). She just slips zingers in there, hides information about Indigenous politics and personhood, etc. Yeah, it is a great book.
We eventually seem to discover that the bones belong to a Hatak haksi -- a Choctaw shapeshifting witch. And that's where the story gets a lot of its horror elements, but in many ways it just further delves into Choctaw belief systems.
I loved it. Get it, just get it.