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allikay14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
alice52's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Cannibalism
heresyourletter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
But from the get-go, I was transfixed by Bad Cree. The fast-paced, unceasing tension; the creepy, unsettling dreams; the bonds between the main character and important women and non-binary people in her life — it was all an utter delight (which isn’t normally something I’d say about a horror book!)
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer
Not as gory as many horror books, since the focus is more on dreams and the supernatural.caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
prairieraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
e_asw_97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence and Vomit
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Author: Jessica Johns
Genre: Magical Realism
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: January 10, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Beautiful • Haunting • Layered
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away in the far reaches of Treaty 8.
Mackenzie continues to accidentally bring back items from her dreams, dreams that are eerily similar to real memories of her older sister and Kokum before their untimely deaths. As Mackenzie’s life spirals into a living nightmare—crows are following her around and she’s getting texts from her dead sister on the other side—it becomes clear that these dreams have terrifying, real-life consequences. Desperate for help, Mackenzie returns to her mother, sister, cousin, and aunties in her small Alberta hometown. Together, they try to uncover what is haunting Mackenzie before something irrevocable happens to anyone else around her.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Bad Cree was already on my TBR, yet it definitely got bumped up the list after landing on the 2024 Canada Reads shortlist. Marketed as a horror, I really wasn't quite sure what to expect, but a few bookish friends told me it wasn't 'horror' in the typical sense of the genre.
With poetic writing, I was instantly hooked by the opening scene of this deeply atmospheric and urgent story. Advancing at a slow meander, it was absolutely disturbing and unsettling at times, yet each of the characters were so real, leaping off the page. There is so much beyond the brutality - an underlying thread focusing on familial (particularly female) bonds, grief and generational trauma. Delving into the very real horrors POC continue to face as a result of systemic oppression, the social commentary never takes over.
I really appreciated getting to know more about Cree traditions and customs, the connections to the spiritual and natural worlds, and the role of dreams. Jessica Johns does a fabulous job portraying the isolating nature of grief - not only from death, but from the impacts of industrialization and colonization as well. Everything was just very well done to not detract from the plot.
Bad Cree is an exceptional and gripping debut from a rising Indigenous voice. It took me by surprise, and I will be keeping an eye out for what Jessica Johns is working on next. I suspect this one will fair quite well in the upcoming Canada Reads debates happening March 4th-7th. If I had to pick a winner, this would likely be it. Regardless of how it does, I definitely think this is one book all Canadians should read.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for something different
• realistic horror enthusiasts
• anyone looking for a new author
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"One thing they don’t tell you about when someone you love dies because of a sickness is that death happens in a million different ways in the lead up to the actual moment."
"That might be the worst thing about death: it doesn't stop anything. The world keeps moving, even though the pain is just as real as the day it settled in."
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Colonisation
Minor: Cancer, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
sibling deathakevaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Terminal illness
mollymisek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident
plxtoprojector's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Gore