Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Only Good Indians

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

298 reviews

legocoffeecup's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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thefoxyreader's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Holy shit.

This book was good.

SYNOPSIS: Four Native American men learn the meaning of “f*** around and find out” with the spirit of an angry elk.

There are several reasons that I really enjoyed this book, but I think the main reason is that it works as both a very serious horror film with a creepy creature and a lot of suspense AND it also packs in a lot of cultural commentary about Native Americans and their beliefs and feelings.

It just works on several different levels without having to sacrifice any horror or suspense. It was an entertaining read cover to cover.

The characters are all really well-written as well. It’s a fairly short book, but Stephen Graham Jones manages to make them well-rounded characters with hopes and dreams. I also appreciated that the four main characters are deeply flawed. It really had me contemplating who the protagonist of the book actually was.

And there is a clear protagonist and I lovethis character

Spoiler

even if she doesn’t show up until halfway through the book. But damn, she’s a teenage badass.

The designated antagonist is interesting as well. I like that SGJ took the antagonist beyond just being a menacing presence and gave her a lot of agency in the story as well as having understandable motivations.

If I’m going to nitpick, I would say that the middle part of the book drags a bit. The first third is FANTASTIC and paced so well. The last third is also FANTASTIC and has that same ingenious pacing.

It’s just the middle where SGJ has to reset the story and start building up these secondary characters where it drags before picking back up again.

But seriously, that is just a nitpick because I still enjoyed what I was reading.

The Only Good Indians is a modern horror classic and I’m ready to read more Stephen Graham Jones’ books after this one.

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chelsaat's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS accomplishes what all the best horror novels should - providing scares and spooks while ruminating on a deeper message.

Here SJG tackles generational trauma in a specific Native American community through the eyes of four friends and one very scary Elk Head Woman. What does it mean when we ignore the warnings and stories of our ancestors? Where's the line between hunting for sustenance and hunting for sport? And most importantly: How can you stop a seemingly never-ending loop of violence?

This was my first Stephen Graham Jones but it certainly won't be my last. I will say his writing style takes a minute to get used to, but once I did I couldn't put the book down.

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snwalsh's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

I liked the voice and found the switch between perspectives interesting (except for when the Elk woman's perspective would pop up in second person randomly within a paragraph). There was way too much basketball, in a way that needed to be heavily edited down and distracted from the storyline.

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lillieslibraryy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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koldglaze's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

This book comes off as an author who really wanted to write about motorcycles and basketball, but was paid to write horror. The monster was good, but unfortunately, we learned more about technical terms for motor cycles and basketball than the lore of the monster. Seriously, there were CHAPTERS dedicated to these things, that overall, didn't play into the story of monster out for vengeance. If you don't have experience with these hobbies be prepared to skim through these large sections or the book or stop every other sentence to look up jargon to understand what the author is talking about.

I'm just very disappointed with how much praise this book has received. I enjoyed learning about the Blackfeet's culture, but would have preferred more lore building.

Spoiler

Why was only this elk back for vengeance? Surely, other pregnant elk have been killed before?

Spoiler

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