Category Archives: Native American

books, Horror, Native American, Reviews

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina

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3.5 out of 5 stars

I liked this book less than Indian Burial Ground. From what I understand, Sisters of the Lost Nation was actually published first. I can say that the writing quality improved a lot between the two books.

This book shines a light on a very hard issue of addiction, exploitation, and lack of resources that Native Americans face in this country. People can get hurt or killed on the rez, and the law enforcement in the next town over would just shrug and do the bare minimum. Women and girls go missing, and nobody even pretends to make an effort to find them. It’s hard to read about, especially considering that even though the Indigenous tribe in this book is fictional, the issues are very much real.

The story itself, though… well, let’s just say that it took me a very long time to get into it. I think the author’s choice to jumble the timeline was a mistake. We are just getting to know Anna and her sister, as well as the other characters, and we jump from Day 30 to Day 4, back to Day 15, etc., in the first few chapters. This creates confusion.

More importantly, it makes Anna feel neurotic, because the Anna on Day 4 behaves completely differently than the Anna on the day Grace goes missing. Yet they are literally in back-to-back chapters. I couldn’t paint a clear image of who Anna actually is and what makes her tick until the timeline finally streamlined. And I admit that I didn’t like Anna very much until then either. And most of it was due to the time jumps back and forth and all over the timeline.

I also wasn’t particularly impressed with the ending. I felt like the author very much wanted to have a happy ending to this rather bleak story, but it felt forced rather than earned. In my opinion, a more realistic ending would have given this story an even bigger impact.

PS: My thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

books, Horror, Native American, Reviews

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina

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Stars: 5 out of 5

This was a hard book to read, not only because it is a horror novel, but also because of the dark themes it covers. But it is also a darn good book.

As a first-generation immigrant, I don’t know a lot about the different Native American nations and their cultures, so this book was a fascinating window into that world. And I would have loved it for that little glimpse of a different culture alone, but it accomplishes so much more.

Yes, it’s a horror story, but strangely enough, even though there is a supernatural element behind all the deaths and horrifying things happening on the reservation, it’s not the main focus of this book.

The main horror is the bleakness of the lives of everyone on the reservation. The author manages to paint an oppressive picture with just a few words – the oppressive heat and humidity, the rundown trailer homes parked on overgrown lots, dirt roads with no street signs on them, and the lack of hope in everyone who lives there. The children are the only ones who are still smiling; everyone else has been beaten down by life into resigned apathy, fueled by drugs and alcohol. No prospects, no way out, no future… My skin is crawling just remembering this.

As far as the story itself goes, it’s broken into two narratives – the present-day story where Noemi is trying to understand why her boyfriend seemingly jumped in front of a car and died, and the past story when her uncle Louie faced something horrifying and won.

I admit that I was a lot more involved in Louie’s story than Noemi’s. The reason for that is that there is a progression and resolution to his story. He witnesses some horrible events, but he discovers what caused it and he defeats the evil spirit (at least within himself). Yes, it leaves him scared both physically and mentally, and he decides to run away from those memories, but at least his story has a conclusion. With Noemi, we still don’t know whether it was an accident or if her boyfriend had killed himself. Plus, I wasn’t as invested in her story, to tell the truth.

All in all, this was a wonderfully creepy story about human desperation and the darkness that lurks within all of us. About balance and what happens when we disrupt it. And about hard choices. I will definitely read other books by this author.