Reviews with content warning for Murder - Jedyni dobrzy Indianie

For a horror book, it took me an awfully long time to finish it. The thing is, I was about 35% into de book when I was first hooked. And then there were whole-ass chapters about stuff I didn’t care about up until 70% and the last bit was just too long.

I cannot say it enough times, the pacing wasn’t right for me; or maybe it was the writing style, which made me go back and check what the fuck I was reading because some sentences didn’t make all the sense in the world and digressing just distracted me; or maybe it was the fact that I didn’t care about the characters because their whole personalities seemed to be based off on being “Indian”; or maybe it was the non-structured switch in povs because the Elk’s version was awesome but it just changed too quickly to tell what was happening.

I didn’t have any expectations going in, so I’m not suuuuper disappointed. But I certainly need another horror book to clean out the bad aftertaste this one left.

Gorey descriptions were really cool tho, and the way characters turned on one another actually managed to creep me out, so kudos for that.

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clrouse's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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ashcrash's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

sooooo fucked up in such a good way. the writing style is AMAZING and works so well in showing you who the characters are and where their heads are at, including and especially when those aren’t good places to be. i do think the last half dragged a bit which broke the tension a bit. overall really good at bottling that dread and helplessness and despair and rage that the characters are feeling and force feeding it to you. the thread of storytelling throughout is vvv reflective and chefs kiss

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beebug1991's review against another edition

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It got too scary/graphic for me and what I was going through at the time

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ttben10's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book got me out of my reading slump! I was pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed it because of my extreme dislike for “My Heart is a Chainsaw”, i assumed i just did not care for Stephen’s writing style but “The Only Good Indians” did not have the same flaws. Pacing is a bit slow in the beginning and once the first part is over, the switch is a little poorly done and makes you do a puzzle to try to understand where exactly you stand and what’s going on. There are some truly disturbing scenes, SGJ does a great job at painting the picture and it makes for a cinematic read.

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jully_bean's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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taratearex's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was so great, it had me staying up late wanting to just keep reading and also scared I was going to have nightmares and wishing I hadn't read it at night. It's legit very scary, so creepy and chilling, and the way he drags out a scene that you know is just going to explode is such torture (complimentary). There are many threads being woven through this story and many POV's, I doubled back a few times to make sure I was grasping things, he's dropping hints and references throughout, it's worth it to stop and try to get your bearings, slow down and sink into the story. I can see how people could get lost if you're sort of passively engaging with this or aren't into trying to weave together all the pieces. I honestly can't wait for a reread. I will say the gore is hard to stomach at times and if you're at all sensitive to pet death this may not be the one for you, the descriptions can be brutal! (I know, I know I'm reading horror, but I block gore with my hands when I'm watching TV lol)

CW: racism, violence/murder/death of humans and animals (dogs, elk), very descriptive gore, hunting, alcoholism, parent death, child death, hate crime

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