I've been looking for some good indigenous horror, and Johns' Black Cree scratches that itch perfectly. She weaves indigenous folklore elements into a great horror story.

<b><font face="roboto" size="12pt">TW: Language, PTSD, grieving, cancer, alcoholism, drinking, smoking, toxic relationships</b>

<b><big>*****SPOILERS*****</b></big>
<b>About the book:</b>When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.

Night after night, Mackenzie's dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's untimely death: a weekend at the family's lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too--a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina--Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.

Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams--and make them more dangerous.
<b>Release Date:</b> January 10th, 2023
<b>Genre:</b> Horror
<b>Pages:</b> 259
<b>Rating:</b> ⭐⭐⭐

<b>What I Liked:</b>
1. The writing is so good
2. Atmospheric

<b>What I Didn't Like:</b>
1. Dreams felt repetitive

<b>Overall Thoughts:</b>
When I requested this book from Netgalley last year I was too in love with the cover and the idea of this book to really take in that I hate dream descriptions in books. I kept putting this book off because of that reason. I heard great reviews about this book too so that made me decide to go for it.

The writing style was so good. The author wrote a book that was very descriptive and atmospheric while also giving a lot of character development.

There was a lot of sad conversations that happened in this book that made me emotional. I felt for Mackenzie as she is struggling through some tough dreams that she is also dealing with and still coming to terms with her sister's death.

I don't know why she thought coming home would help with the dreams though. Going back to the scene of crime I wouldn't think would make you forget.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
Honestly this book was written beautifully and the characters were good, but I felt like I lost interest around 150 pages. It started to feel repetitive to me. The book just continues to repeat over that she is going to find her sister through her dreams. It's almost beaten over your head over and over about her sister. It all just felt one directional.

Never felt like I got to ever really know who Mackenzie was because it was so centered around The disappearance of her sister. Sure every so often you would get a little sprinkle of who Mackenzie is but it was very rare.

I dnfed around page 200 because I found myself not caring if I picked this book up ever again.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My copy of this only provides the cover material -- I'm sorry that it wasn't the full version. I plan to read it at some point via an alternate means.

--

Coming back to add that this was an excellent book with beautiful writing, a compelling story, and just a great read overall!

Mackenzie is plagued by dreams of a severed crow's heads and battles against masses of birds. She returns over and over to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's death. Now when awake, Mackenzie is being followed by a murder of crows that follow her all over the city. Her dreams also start to get far too real when she wakes up throwing up water.  Once she starts getting threatening text messages from someone who swears they are her deceased sister, Mackenzie packs in up and returns back to her hometown in Alberta to be with her family. Her family is still drowning in the grief Mackenzie once fled from, and her dreams are now even more dangerous.  There's a big chance that the evil Mackenzie is running from is already taking control of her.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns is part-thriller, part-horror. It explores themes of colonization and a sense of ancestral grief. This book isn't your typical type of horror novel.  As another reader mentioned, the book is unapologetically Native.  It moves as a slow burn, with one heck of an ending.

Bad Cree is now available from Doubleday

Highly addicting and creepy, this book is a horror story featuring an icy monster that also comments on white colonizers and the loss of culture and society. Reading this book was like listening to a good ghost story told around a smoky fire. I loved the pace of the story and how each chapter, while sometimes short, add in layers and layers of creepiness. You will love this one and ending will get you!!

This is written in first person which might throw some people off but to me its worth sticking with. It did not end in a way I loved but everything else about it was great. This is a slow burn so you have to be patient with it but this is a horror worth taking your time with. I loved that all the women in this supported the hell out of each other.

This is a gripping debut tinged with supernatural horror. A young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.

This is such a solid debut. It is a very well-written thought-out, slow-burn Supernatural novel, full of inspired imagery and thought-provoking themes. I was pulled into this story from the beginning. The protagonist Mackenzie's dreams are at the forefront at the start of this novel and I loved the tone it set.

The writing is to the point and perfectly descriptive without being overly descriptive. I appreciated how incredible the imagery was without being so flowery that the plot got buried. I also really enjoyed the mystery at the heart of the story. Trying to find out how the current situation was related to the past was so engaging.

I can't wait to see what the author writes next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one just wasn't for me. I really liked the concept and was so excited to get into this book. But it just... didn't really feel like horror? I wanted it to be creepier, I guess, and all of the reviews I was seeing all were saying that, but it just didn't hit for me. I had a bit of trouble with the writing, I couldn't get into it and it felt a bit too slow most of the time. I know a lot of people have loved it so far, so this may just be me though.

Mackenzie has tried her best to run away from the tragedy of her sisters death, but a force begins pulling her back in. Her nightmares become more and more vivid, even waking up to find that she's pulled items from her dreams into real life. When she finally decides to share her nightmares with her family, she realizes that these dreams could have deadly consequences.
This book was not what I expected, however, the characters and atmosphere are so well written that it pulled me right in. It is a medium paced story rich in Native culture. While there are horror elements to this book, there is so much more about family and grief. The author does an excellent job combining a haunting atmosphere with that of the love and never-ending bond of family.
This is an excellent debut novel, I look forward to what Jessica Johns does next.

Thank you to @netgalley @doubledaybooks and @PRHAudio for the gifted copy of this book.

A tender and inventive horror with the creepiest atmosphere and the loveliest representation of family! I loved the ways that Bad Cree explored grief and trauma. The supernatural horror elements were so well integrated into Mackenzie's experience of her sister's loss, and the imagery was haunting. The story is a slow burn but the payoff is so worth it!

What happens when you get a semi coming-of-age horror story full of grief, guilt, and add on layers of family tradition and some folklore? BAD CREE! It's a slow burn novel full of all the atmospheric goodies but also has this element of coziness to it (something about the way the family interacts and all their conversations, etc just reminded me of own growing up). There's a ton of eerie imagery and some pretty shocking scenes, and I will never look at crows the same way. Jessica Johns has major writing chops because the prose and story were just lush with details in a way that I did not even know how much time was passing in real life while reading. I had to know more, but I also couldn't stop myself from continuing the journey. It's haunting and engaging, supernatural and spellbinding. Definitely going to be reading more from Jessica Johns!

ARC was given by NetGalley & Doubleday Books in exchange for an honest review.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Blood, gore, scene of a graphic death of an animal, loneliness, talk of a dead sibling, grief brief mentions hospitalization (in the past), brief mentions difficult child birth (in the past), loss of loved ones, brief mentions of heart attck (in the past), brief mentions of cancer (in the past), mentions alcohol addiction, mentions of gambling, brief mentions of underage drinking (in the past), emesis, brief mentions of Residential Schools, brief mentions of MMIWG2S

"A swarm of warnings. If I didn't know any better, I would swear it was the reckoning."


This book was immaculate. Truly, this was perfection. For me, as reader, and as Mescalero Apache Native. The way this book unapologetically Native (with culture, language, and beliefs), it has my heart in a choke hold and I never missed my Aunties more than I do after reading this book. After I finished this book, I cried to my spouse because this book as a whole has so many important themes that just touched my heart and maybe it's because I saw pieces of myself in our main character, Mackenzie. There's themes of the way Native families come together, no matter how much distance is between you or how much time has passed, that there's so much love there, and how we take care of one another no matter how bad things get. Grief and healing is also laced heavily throughout this book. There's a lot of talk about death, loss of loved ones, and how grief stays with you no matter how much time has passed. So please use caution and make sure you're in a good headspace when reading this book. Also, how as Native/Indigenous people, we believe our ancestors and loved are always with us, they walk alongside us, and are never truly gone. It was just everything and truly, my whole heart and soul are so full from this whole book.

“I have so much love I'm sick with it. But there will always be bad living alongside it, etched under my skin. Living with bad doesn't make me bad, though, it's just there like everything else.”


I don't think this book will be for everyone. As I mentioned, this is very unapologetically Native and I think there will be a lot of things not every reader will fully understand. There's a lot of Cree words used throughout this book and though some of the words are clarified, not all words are addressed. So if you're not familiar with a word, you may end up having to look it up. There's also a lot of cultural things laced throughout this book. One of the biggest things in this book are the crows. Among a lot of First Nations, many tribes believe crows are messengers, they represent both good or bad omens, or in some tribes, they are know as tricksters. And you really see that explored in this book especially once you see hit that 75% mark, you really see the crows in action. This may not be obvious or some readers may be confused about the crow representation. Things like this that may cause reading struggles. For me, however, it didn't hinder my reading experience. It just made my heart so happy and full. What I will say, the beginning was a bit of a slower start than I had expected, but it does pick up after a couple of chapters.

Overall, take my review with a grain of salt because obviously I really loved this book as a Native. This is a book I felt with every fiber of my soul and you better believe I immediately messaged my Aunties after reading this book. And there's so much I want to be able to talk about, to share with all of you, but the best way to experience this book is to not know too much going into it. This is a mystery intertwined with our main character and their family, and it's the kind of story the book just needs to tell you.

It was bitter cold on this night. Snow blanketed the ground and her bare feet sunk down into it, instantly turning to ice. She continued to trudge forward toward the clearing up ahead. The closer she got, the colder the air turned. Crows cawed above her as they hid within the branches of the trees. She reached the clearing and in the middle was a body. A dead body.

Bad Cree follows Mackenzie, who has been experiencing some vivid and very odd dreams. When she wakes up one night with a crow’s head in her hands… she knows something is very wrong.

First, I can’t believe this was a debut novel. This book gave me Moon Knight (Marvel TV series) vibes and I was here for it! The writing was beautiful and I was completely drawn into the story from page one. I loved the exploration of dreams and the horror of things unfolding as Mackenzie learned more about what her nightmares were portraying. This was such a gripping horror and an eye opening exploration into the true devastation to indigenous communities.

If you’re fascinated by dreams and want an own voices haunting eerie horror to read, then pick this book up!

I struggled mightily to read this book. The opening was gripping, and caught my attention. But I found my attention wandering at different times (perhaps too wordy?) and I was reluctant to keep reading. I like the premise, and the mix of real and other worlds, and I enjoy reading about indigenous cultures... but something just didn't gel with me on this one.

A lot of the influencers I follow didn't really like this so I was kind of expecting to be disappointed myself, but I thought it was incredible. Great story of family and indigenous folklore that genuinely scared me and had a complicated world with an interesting premise. I think it went on a beat or two too long, and it was hard to get through in the middle, but I really enjoyed it and would recommend to other horror fans.

It took me a bit long to finish this one due to confusion during the first few pages. When I got the hang of it, I loved eerie vibe it gave off. I don't read a lot of horror but this one had some elements in the plot that made it worthwhile.

A heartwarming horror story about generational trauma. Don’t expect
straightforward horror, expect family healing through a scary situation. Really incredible writing.

This is a horror based novel about an Indigenous woman. I truly did enjoy this story. It was mysterious and intriguing while being really scary! I enjoyed getting a chance to learn more about Indigenous people and their family life. It's something I don't think I have come across very often in literature and so while this was an excellent read, it also was a chance to learn more about another culture.

This is an amazing, truly horrifying novel, and I couldn't put it down. I'll read anything Jessica Johns writes, at this point.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns is one of those books I really wanted to like, but ended up feeling “meh.” The synopsis of this new release sounded promising, intriguing, and an interesting addition to the horror genre. Additionally, I was excited to get some additional indigenous representation. Continue reading my review to see why Bad Cree did not quite hit the mark for me.

Characters
The characters in Bad Cree present to the audience a brief look into some of the experiences of different people, mostly women, in the indigenous communities. Additionally, Johns included a brief representation of other gender identities. While we do get this increased representation, unfortunately, the characters seemed undeveloped. Their motivations were not always clear, making their choices seem in no way understandable to explain. In a way, the characters themselves seemed like recycled versions of themselves, lending to a circular and repetitive feel. One could argue that combining the existing characters to have fewer characters could have helped to give more depth to the characters.

Plot and Pacing
The plot was certainly very intriguing. I have always enjoyed the use of dreams as avenues for storytelling in film and print. The dreams in Bad Cree add an interesting element but also contributed to the circular repetitive feel I had about the characters. It was not the best usage of this plot device. This led the pacing to being slowed down as well. Beyond that, once the pacing did pick up, it was almost like the plot seemed to change and go down a different road. Twists and new developments are fine, but the way it happened in Bad Cree seemed superimposed and unnatural. A final note on the plot, it did not really feel horror-like at all, which was an unfortunate pitfall.

Overall
I do not feel strongly one way or the other about Bad Cree. While I enjoyed the aspects of indigenous folklore, it was not quite a horror book. I support incorporating dreams as a plot device, but the pacing was not spot-on for me.