This book really grew on me. The tribe mythology threw me off a bit when it seemed like it was causing the story to take a supernatural turn. A. Mysterious room in a hotel attached to a casino and missing women from the reservation make for a steady pace. Anna is in high school, a misfit, and she drives the story and the characters. A good folk lore filled mystery.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

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.

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina was incorrectly classified as horror and it’s much more a Native American thriller. Please don’t advertise this as horror. Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book before the publication date. It is a well written and much needed novel but it’s just not suited for my taste. It’s not you, it’s me. Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina is much more than a crime thriller. It's also a poignant portrayal of the current life of Indigenous Americans in the US, particularly the women. In the author's notes, Medina states that over 5000 Indigenous girls and women were reported missing in 2021. The murder rate in some counties is up to 10 times that of the national average. The story exemplifies the conditions that make this a reality and the personal challenges faced by female members of the Indigenous community. It's a story that touched me deep down to my very soul with the sheer abundance of harsh realities that the characters in this story faced.

My Reading Experience:
The mystery of the missing girls is riveting as Anna races to figure out what's happening in Suite 808 and the connection to her missing sister and other presumed runaways. The local police department won't help the reservation law enforcement, whose resources are limited, so Anna takes it upon herself to aid them at her own risk. The way the story is told, jumping from the beginning of events to a month later when a body is found, keeps the pace up from beginning to end. This doesn't sound very clear, but it is.

I loved the Indigenous lore and mythology included in the story. I've never heard these tales and found them so imaginative and compelling. I'd love to learn more as I'm sure there's a lot as the different groups must each have their own stories based on the part of the US they lived in and their unique experiences.

I also found exploring Anna's world very harsh, particularly eye-opening towards the challenges faced by people of two spirits, and also heartwarming learning about how this particular tribe felt about such people. Unfortunately, her non-indigenous classmates did not share the reverence. They looked at it as a reason to bully and sexually harass.

The writing is so vivid and immersive, instantly pulling me into a world that is very new to me. The detailed descriptions, though slowing down the pace at times, also helped set the atmosphere that I needed to feel the story's full impact.

Characters:
Anna is of two spirits – both a female spirit and a male spirit. She is kind and worries over friends, family, and her tribe's rapidly disappearing stories and lore. Anna cares deeply for life, whether it be animals or people. She has been bullied and harassed daily in school, which the administration will do nothing about. Still, she keeps looking forward to the day she is done with high school and done with that daily reminder that she is looked at as being different.

Narration & Pacing:
The narration is in the third person but focuses tightly on Anna throughout the story. And the pacing runs at varying speeds, going fast as the danger picks up and slowing down during background information and world-building. I was so invested in the story that the varying speeds didn't bother me.

Setting:
The setting is a fictional reservation with a hotel and casino in Louisiana. The world-building is detailed, immersive, and enhanced by different stories from mythology and lore.

Read if you like:
Riveting mysteries
Thrillers that offer more than thrills
Indigenous mythology and lore

Overall Rating: 4.33

An emotional and unsettling impressive debut.

Sisters of the Lost Nation centers around a Native American community plagued with young girls going missing. Numerous teens and young adults have gone missing. Anna, a 17 year old girl, has been haunted by her missing teacher 10 years prior. It really hits home when her younger sister Grace goes missing.

The book comes with a lot of trigger warnings, but the one that hit home and really bother me was the school bullying. Anna was constantly picked on at school because she wasn't the prettiest and didn't conform to femine norms. I really felt for Anna, my heart broke for her.

This was an eye opening book about what is really happen in Native American societies, and the author note is a must read.

Sisters of the Lost Nation, a debut novel, is a mystery with elements of native folklore. The prologue provides the narrative for the tribal myth that plays into the story. The story alternates between the present, and the days since Anna's sister has gone missing. Her sister is one of many young girls who have gone missing on the reservation over the past few years. It's Anna determination to find her sister that she slowly uncovers the chilling details of what has been happening at the Indian casino and the betrayal by members of her tribal family.

While a fictional story, it draw on the real life issues in Native American culture. This is an emotional and powerful story, and the authors notes should not be skipped over.

Thank you Berkley publishing for the complimentary copy.

Nick Medina has crafted a debut novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation , that is filled with native folklore interwoven with a coming-of-age story and a riveting and all-too-real mystery. Set on a fictional reservation in Louisiana, it features seventeen-year-old Anna Horn. Tormented at school and terrorized by an ancient myth, readers feel the terror and torment that Anna experiences. However, as girls go missing on the reservation, including Anna’s younger sister, Grace, Anna is determined to find answers. Where are they going? Is there a culprit, a mythological horror, or something else?

Anna is an outcast and bullied. She’s faced years of isolation and alienation for being different. She’s also kind, helps at home, is interested in the history, storytelling, and culture of her people, and terrified by a story her uncle told her when she was a small child. It was exciting to see her transformation as the story progressed. The other characters were a mix of stereotype, static, and dynamic characters.

The prologue sets the tone for the novel with Uncle Ray telling Anna a tribal myth that stays with her throughout the story. But part one starts with a chilling scene that lets readers know this will be a thriller with a mystery to be solved. Readers should be aware that the story goes back and forth in time; covering 36 days. Each section is labeled with the day and time. While this let me understand the timing, going back and forth in time disrupted the flow and affected the pacing.

Medina does a great job of world building and characterization. The plot and premise pulled me into the story. The author has provided a content warning list at the beginning of the novel which includes issues as varied as addiction, child abuse, assault, identity, disappearances, racism, bullying, and much more. Some have been omitted here to avoid spoilers.

The author is a wonderful storyteller and I found myself progressing effortlessly through the narrative. He did an excellent job of showing the crisis faced by the families in this novel, which is an all-too-common occurrence in native communities. The number of missing women and girls as well as those who experience multiple types of assaults is much higher than the national average. The author’s note also talks about native myths and folklore.

Overall, this amazing, memorable, and emotional debut novel is a powerful and vivid page-turner with great world-building details and tension. This is a book that I am going to remember. I am looking forward to reading the author’s next book.

Berkley Publishing Group and Nick Medina provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for April 18, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley, and Nick Medina for the advanced copy of Sisters of the Lost Nation in exchange for my honest review.

This story is an unfortunately undertold but incredibly important one. Though this is a work of fiction I know it's a sad reality for many Native American families (I sincerely appreciated the author's note on this at the end).

I had a really hard time with Part 1 of this book because of how much the timeline jumped around. I found Part 2 a lot easier to navigate and found for that reason I did enjoy it just a bit more. (Part 2 starts approximately 65% into the book)

Again, I think the stories of missing and endangered indigenous women are criminally undertold and swept under the rug. I am glad Berkley gave this story a seat at the table.

Sisters of the Lost Nation is out April 18.

Sisters of the Lost Nation is a riveting novel with an important central issue surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women.

Anna is quiet, an outcast. Bullied and broken down, she glides through life like a ghost. Her life consists of battling school, picking up after her boss at work, and trying to navigate her troubled family, all while trying to avoid the monster that has haunted her for years. Anna is concerned with the young woman, gone missing from the reservation, but that concern turns to terror when her younger sister falls victim to the odd disappearances. Anna finds herself and her voice as she fights to find her sister and stop the corruption and horrors that her reservation and her home have also fallen victim to.

It was interesting to read, the chapters jumping back and forth between times. We see everything that led up to the moment Grace, Anna's sister, went missing and everything that happened after her disappearance. We are able to see how this one, incredibly devastating event can rock a family and change someone, bringing out strength they never knew they possessed. I adore this novel.

The only "critical" thing I would say, is that there wasn't as much horror as I expected there to be. There were moments, but it sits more on the side of a thriller. Which is fine! The horror aspect is based more on folklore and mythology which brings the story together beautifully.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC in return for my honest review of this novel.

I don’t normally read books like this but this one was great! I felt like I was learning about a group of people I didn’t know a lot about while being entertained. Thank you for the advanced copy!

I had so much anticipation for this book, but it was not at all what I was expecting. That isn't a bad thing necessarily, it's just interesting. When I jumped into Sisters of the Lost Nation I was prepared for a mythological horror, what I got was a slow burn thriller with metaphorical use of tribal myths to create a multilayered sense of fear. The story centers our protagonist Anna, who is tough as nails and hardworking, and spends most of her time poring over the tales of her tribe's history. Throughout the story we learn of a number of women who have gone missing from Anna's tribe, the fictional Takoda, all of these disappearances are connected, and Anna gets sucked into the mystery after her little sister Grace becomes implicated.

I wasn't really sure how I felt about this one early on, I was expecting more horror elements, but found the start to be slow, I enjoyed learning about Anna's life, and her dynamic with her family. I was especially interested in Anna's explorations of the Takoda tribe legends, and her work to preserve the culture and history of her tribe. Medina covers a lot of issues that indigenous communities face, most prominently the MMIW crisis. I think that Medina did a really good job of intertwining myth with real life instances of violence that indigenous communities are facing. I'm not sure why this book is advertised as a horror novel though, in my view it is not. Sisters of the Lost Nation is definitely is a mystery, and it really heats up in the last half of the book. The beginning was a slog for me, but I enjoyed it overall. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I haven't read a lot about Native American tribes, but I'm always interested in them. I liked the Takonda reservation setting in Louisiana.

This book addresses an issue of white police not taking Native concerns seriously. A couple of girls go missing from the reservation, and local police aren't interested in helping, while tribal police don't have resources to do much on their own.

And now we meet Anna Horn. Anna is approaching 18, is a high school student, and works at the Casino on the reservation. She was close with the tribe's storyteller, who is now deceased, and continues to read her books and research the stories and keep them alive. She is upset about the missing girls.

When Anna's younger sister goes missing, she starts to investigate. She has been recruited to assist with housekeeping on the elusive 8th floor of the hotel, and has suspicion that something about what's going on in Suite 808 isn't right.

I enjoyed the mystery and the intrigue. Anna's sleuthing and her interest in the tribe's history were fascinating to me.

The only issue is the ending felt a bit rushed and wrapped up a little too nicely. But overall a great read and would enjoy reading this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing and Let's Talk Books Promo for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and allowing me to be a part of this Berkley Buddy Read!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review! Native women have been disappearing from the Takoda reservation, but law enforcement doesn't seem to care. When Anna's sister goes missing, Anna is determined to find her and uncover the secrets the new casino is hiding.

I think this was a great story. Anna is a great protagonist. I appreciate that this story brings awareness to Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women. I didn't think the alternating timelines were necessary; a linear storyline would have made the story stronger. The epilogue also felt rushed.

I went into this expecting more supernatural horror elements, but this is more thriller than horror. I still enjoyed this story and can't wait to read more from the author.

A young native girl tries to solve the mysterious disappearances of women in her tribe while also dealing with bullying at school.

Hope is hard. There are times is seems impossible. But as long as there are people willing to tell stories there will always be a spark.

This is a difficult book. It delves into topics people would rather not talk about. History many would rather forget. That’s why it’s an important book. A great book. A book everyone should read.

I welcome more and more fiction contributions about modern Native Americans, but found the pacing of this book confusing to the point where I wonder if the ARC I received was missing chapters. I was unable to finish this book, but will buy it for the library because it is on many popular book lists.

I received a gifted galley of SISTERS OF THE LOST NATION by Nick Medina for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and PRH Audio for the opportunity!

SISTERS OF THE LOST NATION follows Anna Horn, a young Native girl dealing with the disappearance of her sister. Women disappearing from her tribe’s reservation is sadly nothing new, but when it is her sister who is gone and the police cannot be trusted to find her, Anna must step up. The tribe is plagued by demons, both those from mythology and those from the real world.

I went into this book not knowing much about it, but I was very intrigued by the promised mix of horror and mystery. Anna is a very compelling character to read about and she goes through a lot. She has had to live her life always a bit on edge from being bullied and dealing with visitors to the reservation’s casino who come in with high demands. Seeing creatures that don’t seem like they could be real are just one step to far for her and she really needs answers.

I think the author does a good job of talking about a real life issue, the high numbers of indigenous women who go missing and the lack of resources that tribes have to find these missing women. This is all done through the very real feeling disappearance of Anna’s sister Grace. He talks in his author’s note about this process which I really enjoyed hearing. He also addresses the fact that this isn’t focused on one real tribe, but a fictitious one that combines many common lores and practices since this very real horror of missing girls is common across different tribes.

I would personally classify this more as mystery with some horror elements than outright horror, but I really enjoyed how those elements were woven into the story.

Nick Medina, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe in Louisiana, grew up listening to stories of ancient tribal folklore and myth passed on by his paternal grandmother, an elder of the tribe. These stories birthed in him an appreciation and fascination of indigenous folklore that he carried with him into his adulthood. All of this manifested in his debut novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation, published by Berkeley Hardcover in April 2023.

Sisters of the Lost Nation is the story of Anna Horn, a young member of the fictional Takoda tribe living on the reservation in Louisiana. She is haunted by the disappearance of the last of the tribe’s Legend Keepers, Miss Shelby, and by the disappearance of younger girls on the reservation. When her own sister goes missing, Anna has no choice but to face the very real demons plaguing the reservation to bring her sister home.

Medina skillfully melds myth and reality to create a compelling tale. At a time when the epidemic of missing indigenous women continues to ravage communities, this book could not be more timely. LIkewise, Medina’s creation of the Takoda tribe has produced a people that can speak for all indigenous histories and traditions. Reading through the folklore and legends, it is easy to recognize the bits and pieces borrowed from the shared indigenous history that speak for everyone.

Anna is a compelling hero whose struggle to find a place for herself within her tribe and family life is easy to relate to. The compassion that she shows for everyone, and her slow acceptance of herself are sure to be a mirror to many young readers who pick up this book. Ultimately, this is a tale of the need for understanding and compassion to be utilized in order to defeat the tendencies towards othering that pervades the world.

Medina understands the strength of folklore and tradition, and how a better understanding of our shared history can help us move into the future. Sisters of the Lost Nation, while dealing with difficult subject matter, is an exceptionally important read that will resonate with readers everywhere. Medina is an author to watch, as he continues fastidiously preserving historical belief and shedding light on current issues affecting indigenous communities.

Rating: 2.5

This was an ok story, but there just wasn't anything about it that was holding my attention.

This was much more of a thriller than I anticipated it to be, but I can't say that I'm disappointed. I think where the story lost me a teeny bit was that I really had to put effort in to keep the storylines straight.. But, I still really enjoyed this--this was a solid who-dunnit thriller (even though for some reason I went into this really thinking it was going to be more horror). I love this cover, too. Really cool. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future!