zsabella's reviews
135 reviews

writing
this was my first introduction to SGJ’s work and the horror genre. in my opinion, this is one of those stories that may actually benefit from a miniseries adaptation or being heard as an audiobook mainly because sometimes the tone seemed to “wander” and didn’t leave enough detail to fuel my imagination. I didn’t mind the lack of descriptive writing of the characters, but I had trouble settling into SGJ’s voice since at some points he writes quite plainly and at others it’s breezy and very stream of consciousness. my biggest complaint with this is that I found it hard to envision exactly how some key scenes and actions were staged which led me to multiple paragraph rereadings, but I can appreciate the uniqueness of his style.

there were multiple POV shifts too that required adjusting to, but made me feel just as on-my-toes as the characters were, which worked for me. I thought the writing shined best whenever the Elk Head Woman’s voice came through in the middle of scenes otherwise focused on the protagonists and when we spent time with Lewis and the sweat lodge. I *loved* how tense and how much tighter the writing became just before a character was offed as well.

characterization
simply because of how much time is spent inside each character’s head, my favorite character (and demise) has to be Lewis. it’s interesting how little time we spend with Ricky, Gabe, and Cass to find less about their thoughts on the Thanksgiving Classic and dive into Lewis’ psyche and follow his unraveling from paranoia into total madness. it’s painfully clear that Lewis felt the most deeply about the events of that day, so after reading everything onwards I was left wanting to know more about the other 3 men's experiences grappling with those same or potentially dissimilar feelings.

I’m not an avid basketball fan, but I didn’t mind the focus on the sport and how it shaped Denorah’s identity and how she sees herself of two different worlds. according to what I’ve read from ownvoices reviewers and readers, basketball is a sport that carries its own cultural significance in native communities, so having an emphasis on game lingo and making it a centerpiece in the last act wasn’t as distracting for me. it’s just unfortunate that the story wasn’t long enough to allow for Denorah to be introduced sooner, because it did feel like Denorah’s arc and resolution as a “final girl” was a bit rushed. if we had gotten a more detailed chapter from her perspective of hearing her father recount that fateful day, I feel her arc would have felt more effective.

plot & themes
I’ve seen better execution of vengeful haunting spirit stories in movies/TV, but TOGI as a novel is far from the worst to do it. despite the finale being mostly predictable by genre standards, I have to applaud the author for just how dense it is with sharp commentary that touches on native identities that live on and/or off reservation, interracial couple dynamics, intergenerational guilt, and nature itself all in under 400 pages. I *love* that rather than having a character deliver a mini history lesson to the reader via internal monologuing these sentiments are naturally reflected in how all the characters talk and behave with one another. and despite the gore and disturbing imagery, it’s not all serious either as there are some humorous exchanges and a sense of brotherhood that add a bit of lightness to what is a really grisly tale.

this is one of the most effective sequels I’ve read and does an amazing job of expanding on the ideas introduced in TBP. like many have said before, the first 200 pages are an uphill battle to get through which is a shame because if TDF were ~400 pages it would have been the easiest 5 stars I’ve ever given. but the payoff we experience after the wallfacer project is established and they wake from hibernation? equally satisfying, chilling, and action-packed! my only nitpick: I haven’t read much hard sci-fi, but it seems to me that despite being a genre bursting with progressive ideas and characters even brilliant trilogies like this continue to suffer from underwritten, one-dimensional female characters. nevertheless, I will never think about the Fermi paradox and space exploration in the same way ever again.