Reviews with content warning for Death - The Only Good Indians

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

396 reviews

nialystic's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

emmajewish's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I couldn't really form an attachment to the characters, and the audiobook got me all sorts of turned around with who's who! The ending was drawn out but also maintained tension...which I admire in a confused way.

On the surface, it's a lesson in why family annihilation is ALWAYS a bad idea - regardless of species. But there's deep folklore and Native American heritage that is worthwhile in this book. If I pick it up again, it will be a physical copy, though! I think some of the POV is lost in narration.

Content Warnings

karthnemesis's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

klabardee's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

danielles_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Wow, this was wild. This was my first book by Stephen Graham Jones, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Ultimately, it was mysterious and intriguing enough to keep me engaged, and I loved the ending, but the style and extreme amount of violence and gore was not for me.

I'm a character-driven reader, and all four of the main characters seemed interchangeable to me. I kept getting them confused and forgetting who was who. Ricky and Lewis in the beginning of the book even start out in very similar situations: moving out of the rez, being called "Chief" in a group of white coworkers, and imagining fake newspaper headlines. Then I couldn't keep Cass and Gabe straight. But I think that's more due to this book being a splatterpunk kind of horror rather than the social / atmospheric horror I prefer. The emphasis was more on the themes of Indian life in the US, the cycle of violence, and respect for nature, plus the shock factor, rather than real character development.

I thought Lewis' part was super interesting, as his descent into delusion (or not?) was so engaging. I was so convinced by what he was seeing but was still so surprised how far he took the situation into his own hands

by killing Shaney and his wife, wtf!!

Plus all the little details like the fantasy novels he likes to read, and dynamics with his coworkers.

Gabe and Cassidy's section felt a little more aimless (which was a big reason I kept confusing them). Plus there was a LOT more talk of basketball, and while I was clueless most of the time (I know nothing about basketball), it didn't seem to really add much to the story. It mostly felt like stalling to get to the big gory scene.

And man, it was so gory...! The string of deaths felt so over-the-top, especially since there was so much collateral damage (with too many innocent women affected). Plus Cassidy was so stupid for putting his money in a nondescript thermos under his truck (??), which led to so much disaster independent of the elk woman. I also didn't like how Nathan and his dad somehow survived their death scenes that seemed extremely final just to move the plot along. None of the women got dramatic "they're alive!" scenes either... was that intentional?

It was all just too much for me--not necessarily because I'm sensitive to violence, but because the sheer amount of it felt so cartoonish.

I really did like Denorah's section, even though she also focused a bit too much on basketball for my taste (

and how did Elk Woman get so good at basketball anyway? lol

). Her fear felt so palpable and tense, as did her emotions after

realizing her dad had died.

Her and

Elk Woman

had an interesting dynamic. I also liked the second person sections about the elk, which made the whole thing seem so much spookier as well as totally justified from her point of view. So eerie!

I was going to give this a flat 3 stars since I recognize it's good but not really my style, but I did really love the ending. I love how poetic it is,

ending in the same location as where the whole story started, at the lake. I love that one of the MC's daughters is the one who stops the cycle of violence from continuing, as another Indian (I think? her stepdad's race was never confirmed) man with a gun tries to kill more elk. And I love the weird supernatural birth of yet another calf that the Elk Woman could protect, as the human "calf" she was going to kill protecting her.

I couldn't think of a better way to end this wild and violent book. What a mind Jones has.

Content Warnings

spinebreakr's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was enthralled with this right up until

elk head woman transformed into a human.

which unfortunately is pretty early on in the book.
The writing was tense and emotional. You could really feel the weight of generational trauma resting on the shoulders of the main characters. The way it informs all their actions is raw and drawn from a very real place. The character work is super well done. But ultimately, the monster in the story is not nearly so scary as what the men do to the ones they love.

Once we started getting chapters from the perspective of the monster, I had such a hard time being scared of her. I came to this book expecting horror and I just wasn't gripped at any point. The gore was pretty visceral at times. Very graphic, and overdone in some spots. For example

Scalping Shaney with a motorcycle??

Yeah it was horrific, but also so wildly over the top, it immediately pulled me out of the story.

Overall, I feel like it started off strong but lost direction a little as it went.
I still recommend. But only If when you read this book you treat it like a Halloween-esque slasher film. Do that and you'll have a great time.

Content Warnings

pipettesandpages's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

punkrockingnerd's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This one will probably require a re-read. The switching between 2nd and 3rd person narration was really jarring for me, but I really enjoyed the story! I think it could've been written more cohesively, but maybe I'll enjoy it on a second go?

Content Warnings

insideunder's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

jadeyfish's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really liked the pacing of this book. I haven’t read much horror, but this book definitely had me scared and on edge for the majority. The only thing I had trouble with was keeping track of where we are in the timeline of events. There are a few times where the past is being recalled while there is a present conversation and it was had to distinguish and I got a bit confused. Overall, a really unique book and definitely worth the read!

Content Warnings

More...