Sisters of the Lost Nation
Nick Medina
352 pages
Berkley Books
published April 18, 2023
This is not a new issue to me. I’m a volunteer at ourregional theater and one of the theaters in the building has a lot of premiere plays. One of those plays not long before the pandemic brought recognition to the missing native american women. There was even an installation around the grounds of red dresses to draw even further attention.
So I jumped on the chance to read this. It took me many pages to connect with the story. I’m not really sure what the cause was, but I do wish it happened sooner. Had I not received an advanced copy for review, I might have set it aside. I’m glad I didn’t because it is a really good and powerful story. In addition to the young girls that go missing in this book, it also addresses how native americans address two spirited people. While not exactly the equivalent of transgender, the native americans’ two spirits are able to do both traditional male and female jobs of the tribe. And while they are admired for this, they are less accepted when it becomes about sexual preference instead of abilities. I always love to read through a character’s eyes that allows me to see another side of the world. Anna is both native american and two spirited. I was able to walk a little while in her shoes.
By the end of this one I was gripped by the story and even had a tear in my eye at the end of the author’s note. An observation that this one is listed as horror and while I do believe it shows the horrors of the world we live in, it is not what most would consider a horror story.
This is one of the more unique books I’ve read this year and definitely think it is worth the read if you are looking for something a little bit different.
Thanks to PRHAudio and Berkley Books for the advanced reading and listening copies.
About the book
A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step—an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.
With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.
When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation—both ancient and new—are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.
Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
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