This book wasnt anything like i thought it would be. It was sooo good. I thought it was a historical fiction book and it was sooo much more!

Lone Women is a western historical fiction and horror novel with a splash of WTF. Seriously you'll scratch your head wondering what you've read, but in a good way. I loved it so much! I had no idea that women could land without men around the 1900s. Set on the desolate landscape on the Montana in 1915 where you're miles away from your neighbor, Lone Women focused on women who set out to Montana for their own trace of land alone or ended up alone on their homestead. It's about so much more than that too.

I loved LaValle's writing and found myself transported into the Western landscape through his prose. While this is a very divisive novel on how many feel, I found myself unable to put it down and clamored for a time I could read more. LaValle is a new-to-me author, but I can't wait to dive into his backlist.

Defies description! Best and most original book I’ve read/listened to (audio version—narration was superb) in a very long time. 5 solid stars! I literally can't describe it other than to say that it is was brilliant...and different...and you should absolutely read it (do yourself a favor and get the audio version)! (Note -- I am not an easy grader...I generally give books I really liked 4 stars, because there's always room for improvement, right? Not this time.)

I was really loving the beginning of this story due to my love for historical fiction. And although I knew that something horror-like was coming, I was extremely disappointed once it did.

This is the second novel I've read by Victor LaValle. He is definitely a skilled writer however I felt as though the story could have been more intriguing. Once I got past 100 pages there still wasn't much going on that made me want to continue the novel.

Adelaide Henry burns down her home and flees with a large, heavy truck, heading to the empty land of Montana in 1915. She is there to take advantage of the free land, so long as she can survive long enough to claim a right to it. But in her trunk is her family's secret, one they have kept her whole life, and one Adelaide desperately needs to keep secret in her new home. Adelaide makes friends with the other lone women trying to conquer Montana, but the west is full of dangers beyond the one she is trying to keep secret in her trunk, and Adelaide and her other lone women will be tested in their fight to survive.

LaValle has crafted a great combination of the horror and western genres. He assembled a fantastic collection of outcasts and memorable villians to face off against each other. Presenting a more diverse and progressive version of the West is a lot more fun to read. The tension escalates constantly throughout the three sections of the book. The setting of 1915 Montana is so richly detailed despite the vast nothingness of the character's world. My only complaint is that the ending is a little shorter, but its only because I wanted to spend more time in this world with these characters. I could not put this book down once the twists started coming, and they didn't stop until the grand finale of the book. This book will be great for fans of the horror or western genre who want to explore a little of the other.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this great book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this but it was a disappointment for me - and maybe that’s on me. This book just left me feeling super confused? Like did I miss something in there? Also, despite being just over 250 pages, this was a slow, hard to get into, read and took me longer to finish than some 400+ page books. I enjoyed the main characters and I was definitely along for the ride trying to figure out just what was in the trunk. But there were a lot of side stories that didn’t feel necessary and ultimately the big reveal just left me more confused on what exactly was going on.

Of note, this is horror coupled with mystery coupled with historical/Western fiction. But it didn’t quite coalesce. Points for originality, but overall a let down.

LaValle's story of monsters and the different ways they can manifest was truly engaging. Staging it on the frontier in the time of homesteading was clever and served the setting and plot very well.

The title too played a major role in the structure of the story. Women on the land, by themselves, working and supporting a family or going it alone, forming queer relationships, and coming under scrutiny of acceptance; before overcoming violent persecution to form a community of like minds and experiences.

It was really interesting to see how he used hierarchical control to ensure a kind of sheep like obedience, how this one couple used their riches and overtly influenced the members of the town with promise of prosperity and belonging, closing out anyone who did not meet what their requirements were.

Seeing Adelaide finally come into her own and face this secret that her parents forced her to carry with shame and denial was satisfying. Forming bonds with women who made decisions that went against the grain for themselves and the ones they love was also appreciated. His choice to also include the queer relationship between two women at a time where they could very well be put to death shows that women have been loving for themselves within restricted and bigoted societies for ages.

Lone Women was a really interesting novel with a unique storyline. This book was not quite what I was expecting, but I still found myself intrigued and ended up reading this book in a day to see what was going to happen. It was a bit more supernatural for my taste, but others will likely really enjoy!

My favorite books are those that evoke a unique vibe and setting in my mind, and Lone Women is one of those stories that will be living rent free in my head.

This story follows Adelaide Henry who is fleeing to Montana in the early 1900s with a trunk that carries her secret, her burden. Her goal is to survive this brutal landscape as a homesteader to eventually prove up and gain ownership of a claim of land.

At times isolating, this story created an uneasiness and a feeling of impending doom in me as I read. I was scared for her both from what she lived through and what she will go through as a lone black woman in the wide expanse of land that is Montana. All in all, this was a dark and exciting tale with important discussions of race, family, womanhood, sisterhood, LGBTQ+, and life.

Normally when I write reviews, I try to do it the same day I finish a book, while my opinion is passionate and the information is fresh in my mind. However, this one I had to sit with a bit, and to be honest, I still don’t know how I feel about it. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a great book. I loved the characters and the story line, I loved the various different genres combined together in a way I have never seen before, and I loved how the book made me think. However, I’m still thinking, and I don’t think I’ll stop anytime soon. There’s so much symbolism in this book, and coming from the perspective of a white female, I can see some symbolism from a feminist perspective but of course I can’t relate to the BIPOC characters so I’m letting their experiences linger for a bit so I can learn from them. I think this book has a lot of potential to be a book people will continue to read and talk about for years to come. I’d be very interested in hearing more about the authors thought processes and ideas as he wrote this book. I’m sure I’m not grasping all the messages he put into it but I’d love to expand my horizons and learn more. I’ll be looking out for future interviews he may do to help me have a better grasp, but in the meantime, I’m going to let my mind continue to digest.

I spent a large portion of this book thinking WTH is in the trunk!! I was obsessed with knowing. So it definitely had a hold on me.

Adelaide Henry makes her way from California to Montanya, along with her huge, heavy steamer trunk. She's looking to start over with her new land she got through a government program and will be one of the "lone women" cultivating her own land. Her parents have died (and that's a whole story) and she felt she needed to leave California. She gets set up in her new home, along with that dang steamer trunk. A trunk that has to remain locked at all times, for safety.

I don't even know what genre to classify this one. But whatever, I enjoyed it. I went in blind and I'd suggest that as the way to go.

This book had a good mix of likeable and unlikeable charcters, and each made me feel some kind of way about them.

This author did an amazing job of settting the scene in this dark and creepy story, and you will feel like you are a part of it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, One World and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lone Women. Wildly different than The Changeling, which is one of my favorite novels, but I'm glad LaVelle has the freedom to tell as many different types of stories as he wants. I'll be here for all of them.

Lone Women is a unique read and it falls into a variety of genres: historical fiction and horror meets the Wild West. I think it’s best enjoyed not knowing much about the story, but give it a try if you like strong female characters, tales of perseverance and endurance, paired with a side of spookiness.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, quite unique. We follow Adelaide from California to Montana with a trunk full of secrets. I love how everything was revealed and how all of the plot threads came together. It's about being different and being accepted for who you are. I loved it. Thank you to NetGalley and One World Publishing for the advanced readers copy. The novel was published about two weeks ago. Definitely check it out.

I was sure that I would love this book when I chose it. The blurb made it sound incredible, and the blurb didn't lie. This book was incredible. I loved every minute of it. There was so much history wrapped up in this tale of fantasy. Victor LaValle did his homework and you can really tell it in this novel.

Elizabeth was a wonderful little mystery tied in with the very real happenings on the plains. I adored the strong women in this book, and I was a bit sad when it ended, but only because I wanted more. Luckily, LaValle included some references to his research that will find their way to my hands.

I smiled for days after finishing Lone Women. There is nothing I love more than rich history, strong women, ghosts, and a mystery. Lone Women has all of this and more. I highly recommend picking this one up. It's amazing. A full five out of five stars from me.

Victor LaValle continues to prove he is one of the most exciting and original writers working in genre fiction today. "Lone Wormen" is a western in the tradition of weird fiction, following a woman on the run from her past who settles into a small Montana town. The characters are fascinating, the story itself is fast as a bullet, and it leads to an incredibly satisfying ending. I loved Lone Women so, so much.

Lone Women by Victor LaValle was one of those books where you just aren’t sure what is happening and every time you think you have it figured out you are surprised again. I don’t quite know to label this book- horror, mystery, thriller, fiction- it has it all.
I have to admit I struggled at first with this one but then I found I just couldn’t figure it out and had to keep reading.
A different story that hasn’t been heard before that I think many will enjoy!

I remember when and where I fell in love with Victor LaValle. It was Thursday, October 26, 2017, I was standing in the massive Waterstones off Piccadilly Circus in London, and I was reading the introduction he’d written for the then new Penguin Classics collection of stories by Richard Matheson. He described a particularly uncanny event he’d encountered in the home of a friend when they were both in middle school, and had done it in such an easy and open style, while never once letting up on the relentless darkness, the relentless weirdness of it, that I was captured.

It wasn’t long after (in fact, it may have been before, I don’t remember this part quite so well) that I read his brilliant novella The Ballad of Black Tom, which reframed HP Lovecraft’s hysterically racist “The Horror at Red Hook” as a story of empowerment and vengeance without masking or making amends for the fact that its protagonist had made himself into a monster in order to accomplish those things. Then came his dark but ultimately humane novel of official and systemic malfeasance The Devil in Silver, the deeply, deliriously weird Big Machine, and then his greatest work to date, the brilliant The Changeling. Along the way, he wrote the introduction to the second volume of Leslie Klinger’s The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (Alan Moore did the honors for the first volume), too.

So imagine my surprise and joy when I found out he had a new novel, Lone Women, set for release this year, and my even greater joy to be chosen to receive an advance reader copy of it. I got the eARC back in December of 2022 and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. You’ll be able to get your copy, published by One World/Random House, today, March 28, 2023.

Lone Women takes us to the wide open spaces of Montana in 1915, where Adelaide Henry, a lone Black woman, flees after the deaths of her parents on their farm in Altadena, near Los Angeles. She makes her departure quickly and quietly, or as quickly as she can with a huge steamer trunk with a giant padlock on it in tow. She encounters hardships, violence, racist aggressions micro and macro, makes some friends, makes some enemies, makes some mistakes, and that trunk gets opened to no one’s benefit (well, maybe someone’s, maybe everyone’s eventually).

As usual for a Victor LaValle work, it’s the characters who make this one. Adelaide is a great protagonist, but the supporting cast is filled out with individuated human beings, each with recognizably human motivations and fears, desires and hatreds (except for two folks who show up late in the book who either had a bigger role in an earlier draft or were cameos I didn’t recognize; it wasn’t enough to undo the goodwill I felt but I do wonder if there’s a better version of their story somewhere).

We also get one of those set pieces LaValle does so well (think of the outing to the pizzeria in The Devil in Silver, or the encounter with the Swamp Angel in the tunnels beneath Oakland in Big Machine) that’s so good, so genuinely creepy, and told so beautifully in the novel itself (two characters encounter something, and a chapter later, we find out what it actually is when two different characters talk about it) that I went back and reread it as a standalone story.

It’s a jangly sort of story, it sometimes zigs where you think it’s going to zig, but a few times it does what LaValle’s works do and zigs where you think it’s going to zag. And as can be expected, LaValle obviously loves his characters and writes them with a warmth that sets off his works, suffused as they are with bloodshed and horror, as something more than just chillers. There is a love at the heart of LaValle’s universe, and while not everyone taps into it, it’s there for those who do. This isn’t to say this world isn’t a harsh and terrifying place; there are enough dismemberments in this book to please the most hardened gorehounds. But it is to say that when someone in this world gets a happy ending, they deserve it and it doesn’t feel like a cheat.

I really don’t want to get into any of the plot points of this book; I went into it cold, months before the PR machine kicked off, and am happy for it. I will say that the end feels like it could have used a few more chapters because there’s a lot to wrap up, and that there’s a few details that could have either been dropped or expanded upon, as their state in the novel feel incomplete. Overall a good book, if not LaValle’s best. It certainly doesn’t pack the punch of The Changeling or the wonderful sense of deep weirdness of Big Machine, but it’s a damn sight better than most of what’s out there today, and being able to spend a few hours with LaValle’s creations is a nice treat.

Incredibly captivating, indescribably powerful. Victor LaValle cannot write a bad book, or a book that does anything less than linger for a very very long time!