Reviews with content warning for Rape - Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

On the technical end, the writing was great, lots of highly skilled authors showing their chops. On the satisfaction end... well, some stories were great, again, and then some stories reminded me of why I didn't gel with the Shirley Jackson short story collection: you can't scare a crazy person with stories of unaddressed craziness. There were some great monster stories, though, so over all I'd still recommend this to anyone who's in the mood for a wide-ranging horror anthology or looking to sample a lot of Native American authors in a short time frame.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

So creepy and some stories really have stuck with me (like I need them to leave me alone lmao), but this is a great dark fictional book to read during October/Halloweenie/autumn in general. I loved finding new indigenous authors to read from. I always appreciate commentary on how the real horrors are colonization, settler violence, and white supremacy.

My favorites were:

"Kushtuka" by Mathilda Zeller
“The Scientist’s Horror Story” by Darcie Little Badger
“White Hills” by Rebecca Roanhorse
"Dead Owls" by Mona Susan Power
"Capgras" by Tommy Orange
"Heart-Shaped Clock" by Kelli Jo Ford

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brittknee52's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I always have a mixed experience with short story collections, but I encountered a lot of new authors that I will definitely read from again in this one!

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daturaa's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

A very chilling, insightful collection of stories. Not all the stories landed for me, as is the way of anthologies, but I'm sure they found places in others still. There's some talented authors in here that I'm keen on following their success.

The book teetered on 3.5 - 4 stars for me for a bit, until "Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected", which I thought was so hauntingly beautiful I had no choice to bump up the rating.

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ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

2.25

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xiggy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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qnlizbeth's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

A few of these stories were really good, but most I did not like. I did expect more folklore, so that may have been my bad. And maybe I’m not a short story person?

Favorites:
Kushtuka
Navajos don’t wear elk teeth
Dead owls
Collections
Limbs

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