Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

80 reviews

leannanecdote's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Gore, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Vomit

lawbooks600's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Representation: Native American characters
Score: Six out of ten.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns is what happens when a novel tries to have two moods, horrifying and introspective. It achieved the first one, but the second, not so much. I wanted to read a story outside my comfort zone, and Bad Cree looked promising, but when I closed the final page, I enjoyed some parts, but not others.

It starts with Mackenzie, a Cree woman, defending herself against a crow attack, where she kills one of the crows but it was only a nightmare and didn't happen. After that, the pacing slows, and for a book lasting under 300 pages, it can turn into a slow burn at times, but it does pick up steam toward the end.

For a piece of horror fiction, Bad Cree executes that aspect well because it was terrifying as I read it (no paranormal nonsense, ghosts or vampires here.) What should I call this, realistic horror? Somehow it's more petrifying than any typical supernatural horror. I was in Mackenzie's mind for the entire time and every few pages she experiences nightmares about animal attacks, seeing someone die or a near-death experience, or sometimes, dreams about her sisters, Kassidy, Tracey and Sabrina. Perhaps the most intriguing is the dream about Mackenzie trying to swim to be like her sisters, but after one uncomfortable experience she never learned how, so instead she wet her hair to convince her mother she swam. It's dreamlike in a way.

Bad Cree isn't only about horror, it's also about more contemplative subjects like the grief of losing a relative, first Mackenzie's grandfather, and then her sister, Sabrina, to a brain aneurysm. Since they died in the past I never knew them as well as I wanted to, adding a layer of disconnect. There's also a thriller part where someone pretends to be Sabrina on the phone, even though she died, which doesn't make sense, and I only got a glimpse into the harm of residential schools. The conclusion continues the unnerving mood as Mackenzie sees Sabrina, but it was only a vision. Suddenly, she could swim after years of being unable to. Why is that? Mackenzie says it was her fault she has these nightmares and needs some time to heal, a memorable finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Full trigger warnings: Death of a sister and grandfather, blood, grief and loss depiction, animal attack and death

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

When MacKenzie starts having terrifying dreams, she decides to return home to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.

I enjoyed this story. It was spooky and layered. I did find that the book got a bit repetitive with the secret keeping and lying. It kind of felt like MacKenzie and her family had to learn that lesson more than once. Apart from that, the characters were interesting and had a lot of dimensions. I was very intrigued in where the story would go. Nice one for a spooky afternoon read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Vomit, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, and Cancer

dragongirl271's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Cannibalism

hward's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

alice52's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Death, and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism

heresyourletter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As someone who’s struggled to transition from YA to adult fiction, I often struggle to find adult-oriented books I enjoy. 

But from the get-go, I was transfixed by Bad Cree. The fast-paced, unceasing tension; the creepy, unsettling dreams; the bonds between the main character and important women and non-binary people in her life — it was all an utter delight (which isn’t normally something I’d say about a horror book!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Grief, Vomit, Gore, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism and Cancer

Not as gory as many horror books, since the focus is more on dreams and the supernatural.

However, there are some intense scenes, including one where a character severs a crow’s head in a dream, one where a beating heart is exposed in a dream, and one where a supernatural creature autocannibalizes itself in real life. One character almost dies after rotting mushrooms begin to cover her

Death of the main character’s sister is the main focus of the story, and to a lesser extent, the death of the main character’s grandmother. Lots of mentions of cigarette smoking and brief mention of former alcohol addition. Brief mention of residential schools.

prairieraven's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A book about the powerful elders and Aunties and community connection and the bonds between family and community. This is a beautiful and cryptically dark story about a Grief stricken young Créé Woman haunted by her dead sister, plagued by nightmares and followed by crows. She starts bringing objects from her dreams back to reality with her and she realizes she's in more trouble that she thought. The book is gripping, haunting and layered with connectivity with profound character growth.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

mikki_9's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Addiction, and Alcohol

prologues_epilogues's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was such a lovely (and relatable) exploration of grief and the way it affects family relationships and daily life. Especially depending on how people grieve differently and how it causes strengths and weaknesses in personal relationships 🥲. I loved it. The supernatural and magical realism elements made the story so interesting and fun to read, and the different types of connection with reality through dreams was so enthralling. I liked how concise and consistent the writing style was while still being able to portray imagery and symbolism well. It was very fast paced. And it made me emotional in a way I haven't been while reading for a long few months.

The horror elements weren't too 'scary', but they did creep me out quite a bit reading this at night. The Wh*etigo spying on Tracy through the bloody rag freaked me out a bit, as well as the "decomposition(?)" of her body while she was alive and the quick regeneration of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Blood and Body horror

Minor: Animal death and Alcoholism