Sisters of the Lost Nation
By: Nick Medina
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads):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.
First Impression
This cover honestly isn’t my favorite, and I don’t think I would’ve picked this book up if it hadn’t been sent to me to review based on the cover alone. The thing that did make an impression was that it was about Native women, written by a Native author, and had a bit of mystery.
What I thought
I’ve heard a lot about the high numbers of Native women that go missing each year, so it was interesting and timely to read a book about that subject.
Anna is the eldest of 3 living on the rez in Louisiana. A few years ago, a casino was built on the rez and Anna and her younger sister Grace both work there. They also both go to high school in town. When Grace doesn’t come home, Anna is immediately worried. A few other young women have recently gone missing and Anna knows that there is something shady happening on the eighth floor of the casino hotel.
While I did overall enjoy this book, I do think it could’ve been a little shorter. In the middle it started to feel a little drawn out and I got anxious waiting for the resolution. Because of that, I started to skim more in the final 25% of the book. To me, that shows that there was a lot of unnecessary plot just to drag the mystery out a little further. I also felt like there were story points that were purposely left vague that would’ve benefited from being more specific. For example, Anna is being bullied at school. At the very beginning of the story, you find out that her graduating class nominated her as Homecoming King. But the exact reason she’s being bullied, which is a part of who she is as a person, are just left up to the reader to interpret.
Another part that bugged me was not knowing when exactly this story took place. I think it took place in the late 90s/early 00s? It’s not something key to the story, but just felt weird that it was never specified.
The unfortunate fact about this story is that it is so closely related to the truth. There is a disproportionate number of young Native women who go missing each year and no attention is brought to it. I appreciate what this book has done in bringing this story into the forefront. This book is full of bad men and strong women and I very much appreciated that.
As far as the mystery element, I don’t think it’s one in which you aren’t supposed to know who did it but more so how and whether or not her sister will be found. I won’t ding this story just because I knew what had happened. It kept me intrigued and invested the entire time, even with its weak points.
If you’re looking for a unique mystery, I recommend checking this one out. I haven’t read a story like it, and I think the perspective it brings is much needed. I enjoyed all of the characters, but do think they could’ve been more fleshed out. There are some plot points that felt unnecessary or maybe they felt unnecessary because they weren’t followed through. I think this book could be good for book clubs that enjoy mysteries and I’m curious to see what Medina writes in the future and whether or not his writing matures.