This was so damn good. Historical fiction and vampires, I had to pick this one up early.
It's devastating, heartbreaking, stressful, horrific, brutal, gruesome, funny... everything you expect from SGJ.

The page count on this says 448? It honestly didn't feel like it, but I would have read 600+ pages. Loved the storytelling, the back and forth timelines made this impossible to put down. This is in my top ten of 2024.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc!

The premise of a Native American vampire was fascinating. I was very invested in that characters perspective. Where it got tricky for me are the other point of views. It was kind of hard to read. There are different timelines as well, so I had a hard time keeping things cohesive in my head. This could be better as an audiobook with specific voices for each perspective and timeline.

This story was a breath of fresh air. A journal from 1912 is uncovered and tells the story of a vampire haunting the mountainous plains of Montana during the American Frontier. I have always seen vampire stories from the point of view of a European. To view a vampire’s world through a Native American perspective was unique and intriguing. It really amplified the monstrosity of vampires to the natural world. There was no forgiveness, just full on rage. Stephen has outdone himself with this one.

Thank you, thank you, thank you netgalley and S&S for this incredible eARC!

Almost Nabokovian in style, the story within a story within a story of Good Stab, the nachzehner (vampire) who takes revenge on those who massacred the buffalo and starved his people defys classification. Graham Jones continues to write epic horror with literary aploumb, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a masterclass. Etsy Beaucarne is altered when a diary purporting to be from her ancestor is found in the walls of an old house. Trying to earn her place in academia, Etsy begins to transcribe the story told by a priest who shares her name, who tells the story of a man who is known by many names and feared by one - Takes No Scalps. If you weren't already drawn in by the idea of a Native vampire bent on revenge, I can't help you, but if you give this a read your mind will be blown.

I'm crying and I don't even know why? This was so good. Not just the vampire part, which was so different and interesting, but just the whole story was tragic and bloody and slow and just reached in and grabbed me. At times humourous ("house of ill repute" cat is my fav) and at times violent and bloody (that church scene though), and I don't know how SGJ can write horror that both haunts you and makes you cry but he's so good at it. I will be thinking about this for a long time and processing for a long time (I need to go sit and stare at a wall until I can function again).

If you picked this up or considering picking this up because you think "ooo vampires, fun!" Stop. This is not what you think. This is wild and some scenes will forever haunt me. If you have read a SGJ book before then you have an idea of what to expect. If not, please look up trigger warnings.

Inititially, I was so conflicted reading this. I just couldn't establish if I liked it or not. There were terms I didn't understand and at times it was a bit repetative. All that aside, I couldn't put it down. This is a very dense slow burn so I did my best to stick with it and boy was I not disappointed. SGJ has completely outdone himself. The writing, characters, twists and turns in this were top notch and while I can't say this was a particularly enjoyable read, it is one of SGJs best.

A solid story and original plot but felt like something was definitely missing. The prose was well written but needed to be more efficient in terms of pacing. 3 stars

If I could give this book six thousand stars, I would. I stand by the fact that Stephen Graham Jones is nothing short of a literary genius. The way he utilizes the horror genre to shine light on dark topics of history and human nature (as well as inhuman nature) is truly a treat to read. I had to take this one a few chapters at a time because of the amount of gore but it paid off in the end and I was hooked on every single word. I cannot wait until this is published so I can get my hands on a physical copy and annotate the hell out of it!

This narrative is an absolute nightmare in the most compelling way. It offers a distinctive and engaging take on a vampire story while encompassing much more. The storytelling is intelligent, deliberate, and decidedly unsettling.

This book was a thoroughly engaging dive into vampire lore. Indigenous history mixed with supernatural horror is not a combination I would have expected, but it made for an amazing story.

I feel like I need more time to digest this one but this was such a good book. It took me a little bit to get into at first, adjusting to the way the characters spoke, but I was hooked once cat man showed up. Very sad at parts but extremely well written and thought provoking. I’ve added all of Stephen Graham Jones books to my TBR!

Holy smokes. This book. I got an ARC of this book through Netgalley and was really excited to start it. Stephen Graham Jones is one of the most impressive horror writers that I've ever read, and a book about vampires? I was already sold. His telling of history through the eyes of a Lutheran pastor along with the confession of a strange indigenous man is like a beautifully written song, with scary stuff scattered throughout. The twists and turns are perfect, and I feel so pleased by all of it. Not only that but that's the narrative within the narrative because this journal is found over a hundred years later and brought to light when it was sent to the pastor's great great-grandaughter. History brought to the present in more ways than one, it's like Dracula with a whole new cast of characters and ones I kind of like better. Read it. It's amazing.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Stephen Graham Jones is an author I keep coming back to, because his books will either be a new favorite or they will be something that might not resonate with me completely, but I still know I'll be getting a memorable experience. I was very grateful to receive an early review copy of this one, even if I was a bit apprehensive going in because I'm typically not a fan of Historical Fiction. But the vampire aspect absolutely interested me!

Honestly, it took a long time to get used to the prose since I never read this genre, and the narration is written in a very specific dialect and tone. Both the POV of the Native American character, Good Stab, and the Lutheran preacher Arthur are written out in their very specific vocal patterns. This is certainly an achievement, but for a while I had a tough time understanding some of what was being said and even some of the plot itself. I've seen some reviewers note that they struggled specifically with figuring out what Good Stab meant when he used words like "Pointy Ears" to mean "horse," for example, but the context clues would help with this. It's the sort of writing that requires your full attention, and I did have to go back and read passages more than once to make sure I didn't misinterpret things. Luckily, it got easier. And once I learned the rhythm of things, I became much more invested. The sections narrated by Good Stab were more interesting to me than the ones told by Arthur, for the most part. (At least until closer to the end, when all sorts of Hell broke loose!)

Several different people are credited with saying various iterations of the phrase: “A story is only as good as its villain.” If that's the case, this story is strong as steel. It has more than one cruel and easy to hate bad guy, the kind of intimidating force that feels unstoppable. Good Stab is up against a lot of adversity, as well as having to deal with the monster within himself.

I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how the rules of these vampires worked. It was my favorite part of this book. There were some unique aspects I hadn’t seen before, which is no small feat. And the way Good Stab discovers his vampiritic traits happens organically within the story. Every time I discovered something new about Jones' unique version of this iconic monster, I was impressed by the creativity. Jones made vampires his own, and he even addresses this in the Afterword (which also includes many interesting bits of info about his writing process for this novel.) It's probably one of the more interesting Afterwords I've read in a while. 

The plot of this book went to WILD places I did not expect. I won't spoil anything, but there was what I can only vaguely describe as “Tusk” coded body horror, and that was what pushed my rating so high. The story is NOT for the faint of heart. I would maybe even go so far as to say that this is the most horrific of SGJ's books that I've read. It's incredibly violent and painfully bleak. There were moments that were truthfully difficult to read. But that was the point. Everyone suffers here, from the humans to the animals. Physically, mentally, spiritually. You as the reader must sit with it, feeling like a dying thing is writhing in your lap but there's nothing you can do about it but watch. There’s beauty, too. And horror fans will be handsomely rewarded. I did feel like I had to put the work in, due to how everything was written, but it also felt above my personal skill level as a reader even after all this time, so others may not have the same experience.

Why did I give it a 4.5, then? Well, mostly because I struggled so much in the beginning to get into it, and because of the density of the prose. Also: while Etsy’s part in the story made sense and served a purpose, her “quirky GORL” persona wore thin quickly. Her appearances in the plot served as bookends, in a way, and by the time she popped back up I had admittedly forgotten all about her. But Jones absolutely nailed the ending, leaving me with something unexpected and meaningful that will stay in my mind for a long time.

SGJ poured his heart and soul into this, and it shows. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it a masterpiece. It feels deeply personal. I do admit that there were moments in the “Third Act” when for me the dialogue bordered on melodrama, but I can forgive that easily based on the subject matter. (As a sidenote: I'm not sure if Jones will be reading this himself for the audiobook, but if not it would be an excellent opportunity for vocal talent to perform these roles.) I highly recommend this book to any horror fans who don't mind a "complicated" read and can handle the subject matter.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

<3 <3 <3 Weasel Plume <3 <3 <3

Biggest TW: Animal harm/death, Rape, Racism

4.25/5⭐️
I really enjoyed this book, I think it’s one of my favorites by SGJ that I’ve read so far. The way SGJ can take a classic horror character like a vampire and twist and turn and make it so unique and fit in with the Blackfeet was fabulous, one of the best things SGJ has worked up. I must say the core of this novel, the alternating chapters of The Absolution of Three-Persons and The Nachzerher’s Dark Gospel was perfect, no notes there; the tone, the alternating voices and plot lines, the dread and slow burn, the history and current (to Arthur Beaucarne) events, the mood and scene setting really pulled you in, all of it well done. The subtle, and not subtle, commentary on the genocide and colonization of Indians by white settlers was eye-opening and great as always.

My issue is with the rest of the novel, is that I did not care for Etsy and that storyline. In the acknowledgments SGJ’s states that some friends told him “Etsy’s frame story as it used to be wasn’t working, which made [him] have to look into that opening and closing, set at last that she wasn’t just a story-delivered, she was the story.” Unfortunately, as written the she still reads as the story-teller not the story. Which I think would have been fine if it was flushed out more, maybe if there was a break sooner from her reading the journal and showing us how that felt at the moment versus writing her thoughts on it down after. Or if SGJ did use her in more of a traditional storyteller sense, I think it would’ve been perfect. As is though Etsy and that storyline seem like an afterthought, that the publishers told him he couldn’t just write the story of Good Stab and Arthur.

With that being said though, this book was still phenomenal. The story of Good Stab and Arthur was so phenomenal that it didn’t matter that the rest fell flat. Take a bow Stephen, this novel is special.

Such a good and unique take on a "vampire story." But also so much more than that. Not really sure what to say about this book that doesn't give away the best parts. I struggled a little bit at the beginning of the book with the Blackfeet names for different places/animals, but once I got the hang of those terms/phrases it wasn't an issue. This book was a "slow burn" type of read in all of the good ways to interpret that phrase. It was sunk its' fangs into me and never let go until the end. At times it was sad, scary, gruesome and "peek through your fingers" tense, but always engaging and interesting. The bottom line is Stephen Graham Jones is one of those authors that no matter what he writes next, I will definitely be reading it.

I'm a little torn on this book. I appreciate it, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it. Having a story told from the POV of a Native American from the 1800s was not something that I have experienced in the past. Unfortunately, I found the book to be repetitive at times, and parts of it were a slog to get through. But I can appreciate a novel take on a vampire story, and this was definitely not a story I had read before. Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

DNF @ 25%
I gave this a fair shot, but unfortunately this book confirmed that Stephen Graham Jones' writing is just not for me. I find it to be confusing and obtuse, and although his books have interesting plots and important social commentary, I just cannot get past the writing to enjoy them.

If you are a fan of Stephen Graham Jones, I think you will still like this. If you are interested by the premise, pick it up.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

For me, this was perfection. I have read a lot of great books, but it has been a while since a book entirely engrossed me and touched me the way this one did. Not since Due’s the Reformatory have I been literally devastated that a book is over and immediately want to start it again, despite the fact that it broke my heart into a million pieces.

While I’m usually a fast reader, I took some time with this one for a few reasons. First, Stephen Graham Jones is my favorite author, and historical social horror and vampires are my favorite, so I have been very impatiently waiting for this book. I wanted to soak up every bit of it and I didn’t want to miss a thing, Secondly, most of the book is in the form of a journal from early 1900’s and it includes many historically accurate terms and language, including Indigenous words. That made the book all the more rich and incredible, but harder to read. Especially if you don’t want to miss anything.

As a vampire enthusiast, I am so excited about and impressed with Jones’ ability to create a wholly unique and terrifying version of the age old “monster.” I loved every single bit of it. And for those readers that enjoy body horror, gore, and intense violence, there is some of that as well.

The most incredible aspect of this book, to me, is the social historical aspect. Jones’ dedication to detail and historical accuracy in his depiction of the absolute evil and horrors of the genocide committed during early colonization (and beyond). The descriptions of the dead buffalo fields were gut wrenching and incredibly emotional. The depictions of the violence committed against Indigenous groups is horrific. But the most beautiful part is the portrayal of Indigenous groups and families, traditions and language, homes and lands. Just incredible.

This book is a masterpiece and it’s too bad it was my first read of 2025, because I don’t think anything is going to be able to top it.

Many many countless thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC to review.

_The Buffalo Hunter Hunter_ by Stephen Graham Jones is a disturbing and unputdownable historical fiction horror read with well-developed characters. In 2012, the diary of a Lutheran pastor is found in the wall of a construction site in Montana. The 1912 journal is transcribed by his relative Etsy and describes the life of a Blackfeet named Good Stab, as told by him to the pastor. A story of revenge and horror, this incredible novel will appeal to readers of multiple genres.

While slow at times, this is one of the most engaging and interesting takes on vampire lore I have read in a long time. This book was an amazing mix of emotional and horrific with a great twist of storytelling. I had to look up if 'vampire' was a spoiler but this is the blurb:

A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

So I think I am ok.

My complaints are minor and don't match how great this ended up being. The central characters and perspectives are so fascinating and such an interesting way to tell the story. The horrors, both real and fictional, were chilling.

Overall, this was a great read and Jones is becoming a must-buy horror author for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.