In Sisters of the Lost Nation, Anna Horn is desperately trying to survive her senior year in one piece. Relentlessly bullied, she was recently and unanimously voted for homecoming king, a stunt meant to shame her. Meanwhile, at home, Anna feels distant from her two younger siblings and her feuding parents. She was once best friends with her sister, Grace, but there's been a new distance between them now that Grace has joined her at the high school. The three siblings personify their birth order pretty plainly. Anna looks out for everyone and fills in for various emotional needs as they come up. Grace feels overlooked and forced to deal with the fallout from what she perceives as her older sister's bullheaded commitment to unpopularity. Meanwhile, little brother Robbie is babied and favored by all.

When she's not dodging bullies at school or keeping the peace at home, Anna works in housekeeping at the reservation's hotel and casino. Her job is a way to bring in a (small) amount of cash until she turns eighteen and starts getting her per-capita checks from the tribe. With more cash flow to be distributed for various tribal projects, Anna's father is encouraging her to present a proposal for a tribal preservation society. Anna has been interested in tribal lore since childhood, but the woman who once kept their stories alive was murdered ten years ago. Anna's uncle, who worked at the cemetery, told her at the time that the disinterred, dismembered head of the tribe's last chief was responsible for the death, and that story has stuck with her. She still hears a skull rustling through the underbrush after her on lonely walks, and her continued fear is another source of ridicule.

It's 1996 in Louisiana, and our story takes place jumping around during a 30-day period that ends with Anna finding a girl's dead body in a field. We can't be sure who she's found because, in fact, several girls from the tribe are missing. And one of them is Grace. The story engages with the rampant violence against Indigenous women and girls in our country, the many that still haven't been found. The story also features the rise of meth during this period. Through Anna's hotel job, she sees all kinds of dangers and disasters lurking behind closed doors.

This book hits hard. There are several heavy, important topics at play, and they're brought to life here through the vivacious characters and their complicated experiences. It makes sure the reader is caring on two fronts-- the big picture is worth everyone's notice and passion, and the personal story here draws you in for that up-close-and-personal view. Make sure you check out the provided content warnings if you need to since the book doesn't flinch away from several relevant and serious topics. As a queer reader, I want to mention one thing in particular. Anna's experience with bullying relates to her compounded identities, something the book addresses clearly. I want to assure potential readers that what starts as hints at Anna's queerness are eventually addressed head-on. This mirrors Anna's journey to understanding herself when few resources are available to help her on her way, when sources of wisdom have been removed beyond her reach. Like any other of the difficult stories this book has to tell, we get the parts that are painful and real, but we get hope and meaning, as well. In this case, Anna comes to the beginning of a cathartic realization that will carry her into a future where she can be more at ease with herself and show up as her whole self for her community.

Beyond the messaging, which I found so impactful and so masterfully woven into the plot, there is much to recommend this book. For one, Anna is an easy protagonist to support. Even when she makes mistakes, she does so with such earnestness and care for others. You can't help but want to see her succeed. And that's before you take into account the obvious moral high ground she occupies in her many fights. The thriller aspects of the book are engrossing and heart-stopping. I was fully committed to Anna's race against the clock to find her sister and the other missing girls. The villains are believable and skin-crawling. And finally, the horror elements are light with a kind of magical realism feel. By that, I mean that they are part of Anna's experiences seamlessly without taking you out of the very real and scary stakes at play. It's all interconnected.

I can't recommend this book enough. It covers all of the emotional bases and has something meaningful to say. It has the urgency of a strong thriller with a rare-for-the-genre likable protagonist. It gives readers much to think about and hopefully, a better future to fight for. Thanks to Berkley for my copy to read and review!

A highly disturbing and unsettling novel examining small-town bigotry's consequences on Native Americans dwelling on a reservation in rural Louisiana, where a recently established Native-owned Casino/Resort provides a welcome monthly per capita stipend to tribal members, while simultaneously proving a fertile feeding ground for human trafficking.

This is a core of the novel; another is the protagonist's unfolding as a Two-Spirits, recognized and acknowledged early in her childhood by the last History Keeper of the tribe, yet the constant brunt of sadistically cruel taunts by her peers and by Caucasian townsfolk. So coming-of-age is a strong factor here also, exemplified in the protagonist and both of her siblings, also main characters, as other characters devolve and psychologically collapse and decompensate.

Backgrounding all these essential life issues is an ever-present thread of Supernatural events and mythology.

A fictional story about a real problem that has surfaced in the Native American culture. The mystery revolves around some young women who go missing at the reservation. Anna's search for her younger sister, Grace, leads to all kinds of important discoveries of a sinister game happening at the tribes Casino. The story that unfolds is realistic and important to bring awareness to another problem that is being swept under the carpet among our Native people.

I have mixed feelings here. The characters were rich, complex and well-written, and the story is an incredibly important one. But I feel like the format of the book didn’t do it many favors, unfortunately, and left me confused at times. The abrupt twist at the end also happened very quickly without the reader having time to process. I’d also say this is more in the thriller category than horror. That said, I enjoyed reading it.

Some books you read and enjoy, but don't remember later. This is definitely not one of those. I read, enjoyed, and it has stuck with me, even weeks after finishing.

I felt this was a strong debut by Medina, and appreciated his work through this novel to bring more attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis we are seeing across all of North America to those who may not yet be aware of it due to the shameful lack of coverage by mainstream news outlets. Anna Horn was such an enjoyable and believable character to follow through this story, her actions making perfect sense for a young person trying to make their way in two communities that seem to remain disconnected, even as the casino opening on the rez leads to more of the town's influence leaking in. The dichotomy between Anna (traditionalism, maintaining focus on the tribe's culture and history) vs Grace (modernism and embracing the "new" over the "old") was a clever way to explore the theme of change and the movement away from traditional native practices and beliefs as the continued march of capitalism requires adaptation within the reservation for survival. I also really enjoyed the weaving in of indigenous myths and folklore, and this novel has piqued my interest to explore more of these histories and stories on my own.

I do feel as though this book reads more at the YA or New Adult level, especially since I felt the "horror" aspect leaning more to just "thriller" for me. Anna's fear of the rolling head felt was believable as being terrifying to her, but it did not have impact on me as a reader, nor did the overall mystery of the story (besides how horrifying it is to know these things are happening every day around us). Overall, I will be recommending this book to my patrons, especially those interested in fast-paced thrillers and diverse character casts.

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina is a novel that seemed to try to delve into as many genres as possible with a bit of mystery, thriller, horror, folklore, mythology, family drama, coming of age and probably a few elements I’m missing off the top of my head. The story in Sisters of the Lost Nation is also one that is told by alternating back and forth between two timelines and while it is set on a fictional reservation in Louisiana it does deal with real indigenous legends and folklore.

Seventeen year old Anna Horn is a member of the Lakota Tribe and like many members of the tribe Anna works at the casino run by the tribe. Bullied at school for her culture Anna has always wanted to learn more and more of their traditions and legends but has also felt she is haunted by one herself. When other young tribe members begin to go missing, including Anna’s own little sister, Anna thinks somehow those legends of the past may help figure out what is going on.

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina really seemed to be on paper a book that I should have absolutely fell in love with. Unfortunately I really had a hard time getting too engaged with this one while I was reading. The pacing did seem rather slow at times which is sometimes a huge turn off to me but it also had a weird back and forth between times with it only covering a little over a month that sometimes threw me off. Others have absolutely loved this one so while it wasn’t my cup of tea I encourage to give it a try for yourself if interested.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was fantastic and deals with the very serious and relevant topic of missing Indigenous women and girls. I flew through this book and was kept at the edge of my seat the whole time. Nick Medina has won me over as an auto-buy author!

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Wow! What a powerful and moving book. Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina follows Anna as she searched for her sister Grace. This is already a mystery thriller but Medina also includes Native American mythology in the story to add a touch of science fiction horror to the all to real horror story. Anna also tries to preserve her tribe's history and heritage as it disintegrates in modern times. Such an important and timely story told incredibly well.

Wow. This book was absolutely beautiful. The level of detail and competence in the writing is absolutely staggering, and I feel like I came away from this story with more compassion, more knowledge, and more understanding of Native American communities.

This is fiction at its finest.

Excellent book. Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina. A lot of history and research went into this one, as well as stories from the author’s life and family. There is a trigger warning at the front but the subject matter is handled delicately and respectfully. Loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

This was such a timely and poignant read, and I can't describe how much it made me think, how much it really delves into the lives of people who have been silenced for so long. This is a story about women who have been told by the world that they deserve what is happening to them, and I'm so glad that people are coming out into the world to allow them to finally tell their stories.

I really love the way this book was so innocuous. It shows just how people are sucked into situations that the world thinks "I would never get caught up in that." It shows the desperation of fitting into a world that has tried to erase your identity. It shows the way that communities and families come together even when they don't always see eye-to-eye.

I don't want to give away the book, but this is a wonderful story full of hope and community, a story that needs to be told for all the missing and endangered Native women across the country.

This was a haunting historical horror novel following a Native girl’s search for answers on the disappearance of other women from her tribe on the reservation. The atmosphere is built by a nonlinear timeline and the suspense builds throughout the novel. At times, it was quite hard to read because of how masterfully Nick Medina writes. The Native folklore intertwines eerily with the plot to create a perfect storm of a novel.

Read my interview with Nick Medina here:

https://fanfiaddict.com/author-interview-nick-medina-sisters-of-the-lost-nation/#:~:text=ABOUT%20SISTERS%20OF%20THE%20LOST,atmospheric%20and%20stunningly%20poignant%

This is a mystery novel with some horror elements. Anna Horn is an indigenous girl living on a reservation and whose family owns a casino. Strange things being happening on the reservation and girls start going missing without a trace. When her own younger sister disappears, Anna vows to solve the mystery and find her sister, as well as figure out what the strange entity is that seems to follow her everywhere. I liked the mythology tied into this novel and the mysteriousness, however I don't think this is a true horror novel. There are some scenes that are definitely horror, but they are scarce.

A haunting, enlightening, and infuriating story. This was rich with character, and while the nonlinear plot made the audiobook version a little challenging, the story was excellent.

Publishing companies have to stop buying books like this. As far as I can tell, Medina isn’t an indigenous person but has taken it upon himself to tell a story that really should be told by one. He read an article and was moved to write this story. I’m sure he had good intentions, and he does give his inspiration and several resources where readers can help. Unfortunately, indigenous people of this country are severely underrepresented in publishing.

From Goodreads: 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.

This book was clearly the writer’s first, and he needs a great editor. Too many things are happening in the plot. Anna is a good character, but she is also struggling with her identity… is she gay? is she transgender? That subplot was wholly unnecessary. As told in the third person, Anna’s parents are referred to by their first names, but the author switches to Mom and Dad on occasion. I loved the mythology behind the story but was bummed to discover that the tribe mentioned is fake. Again, why not have an actual indigenous person write a story about real myths within his/her own tribe? This book was just a major letdown.

This book gave me The Removed vibes (in a good way) with the inclusion of Native mythology and related mystical elements.

I enjoyed Anna’s character - her commitment to her community, her heritage and most importantly to her sister - despite being persecuted and bullied on multiple levels was so endearing. How exhausted she must have been to carry so many levels of trauma.

It’s incredibly heartbreaking to know that so much of this story is a daily reality for Indigenous peoples in our country and the lack of accountability by law enforcement and the lack of exposure/publicity sharing these facts with the greater population. To know that we’re all so close in proximity but so removed in acceptance, understanding and support at this point in our history is disturbing.

The vigilante investigation on Anna’s part required some open-mindedness, and I found the overall story more sad than scary - but I was invested in Anna’s story. I can definitely see the horror-esque elements in the creature stalking Anna.

A riveting thriller with a fantastic protagonist and some really affecting mythological horror. Deftly balances supernatural horror with the more kind of everyday horror of colonialism and social marginalization.

This book was phenomenal. It grabbed me right from the first page and hurtled me until the very last word. Anna lives on a reservation and works at a hotel that is part of a casino on that reservation. Her sister has been acting different, keeping secrets, and then she goes missing. But she's not the only Indigenous girl or women missing. There are many. Anna sets out to find out the secrets her sister keeps, the secrets the hotel and its night manager keep, and just how she may be able to help heal her people. So much Indigenous culture and folklore, beautifully written, and definitely one of my favorite books of the year.

The mixture of past and present amid the mystery and folklore is an intricate balance, one that Medina is careful to not tip one way or the other. The descriptions are also fantastic, quickly immersing readers into this story, easily able to envision themselves as additional players in the mystery.