chicks50's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
js_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
melpomenestears's review
5.0
I could NOT put this book down. Visually, it is a gorgeous book with beautiful illustrations by the ever-so-amazing Jeff Edwards (the way he incorporated Tsalagi within the illustrations is BEAUTIFUL.) Andrea L. Rogers is a brilliant storyteller and elements of Cherokee folklore are presented within these short stories. This is easily one of my favorite books of this year, and I just loved the horror within this book. An easy 5 stars from me.
supremejanis's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
xhekap30's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
helterskelliter's review against another edition
5.0
“Greed and avarice have no mercy. I became merciless, too.” (18)
In this bone-chilling and cutting debut novel, readers navigate a cosmology of monsters, transcending space and time.
Drawing from Cherokee beliefs and stories, this collection explores not only traditional monsters but also the very real, very terrifying human monsters that so often haunt and threaten indigenous lives.
But, beyond that, this collection also introduces many readers to Cherokee and indigenous understandings of time, space, relationships, storytelling, and nature. Cherokee language appears throughout these stories and their illustrations and the non-linearity of Cherokee language is a central feature of this collection, each story occurring almost as if just in another room of a larger house in which all these characters live.
And, these stories are quite horrifying.
Whether the monster within is a creature, a force, or another human, this is truly scary collection of tales.
Personally, I found “Snow Day” to be the most wholly horrific of the collection. This story perfectly articulated the very real horror of “almost”. What almost happens in this story is something so real it’s almost too scary to just be a scary story. The pacing up to the “big scare” is so well executed. This story both chilled me to the bone and somehow warmed my heart. It’s the most peculiarly perfect scare I’ve had in a while—a thought I had often while navigating this collection.
Overall, I can’t highly recommend this collection enough! I think it’s both a well-conceived collection of horror stories and a critical exploration of storytelling about the indigenous experience as told by indigenous creators.
Before this collection, I only knew the bare minimum of Cherokee culture as taught in my white-centric history classes—which, is to say, I knew nothing.
In this bone-chilling and cutting debut novel, readers navigate a cosmology of monsters, transcending space and time.
Drawing from Cherokee beliefs and stories, this collection explores not only traditional monsters but also the very real, very terrifying human monsters that so often haunt and threaten indigenous lives.
But, beyond that, this collection also introduces many readers to Cherokee and indigenous understandings of time, space, relationships, storytelling, and nature. Cherokee language appears throughout these stories and their illustrations and the non-linearity of Cherokee language is a central feature of this collection, each story occurring almost as if just in another room of a larger house in which all these characters live.
And, these stories are quite horrifying.
Whether the monster within is a creature, a force, or another human, this is truly scary collection of tales.
Personally, I found “Snow Day” to be the most wholly horrific of the collection. This story perfectly articulated the very real horror of “almost”. What almost happens in this story is something so real it’s almost too scary to just be a scary story. The pacing up to the “big scare” is so well executed. This story both chilled me to the bone and somehow warmed my heart. It’s the most peculiarly perfect scare I’ve had in a while—a thought I had often while navigating this collection.
Overall, I can’t highly recommend this collection enough! I think it’s both a well-conceived collection of horror stories and a critical exploration of storytelling about the indigenous experience as told by indigenous creators.
Before this collection, I only knew the bare minimum of Cherokee culture as taught in my white-centric history classes—which, is to say, I knew nothing.
_toristorytime's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
magicallisa's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
kaloughl's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating and interesting read. Fascinating and interesting read.
rmnedder's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
A fantastic anthology. All the stories are well-crafted and well-conceptualized, and the idea of following one family across generations is brilliant. I only wish that some of the stories had a better payoff. Some were astounding, but others just left me wanting more!! Overall, entirely worth the read. I can’t wait to see what comes next from the author.