I like how the book describes how loneliness feels when you’re alone, and how loneliness feels when you’re surrounded by people. The horror aspects were unpleasant but it’s the theme of grief that pulls you under. And as always I love how treatment of the land is reflected in the characters. 

Johns creates a modern Gothic story full of characters that don't just pop off the pages, they shiver. I've never read a main character like Mackenzie. She feels like she's both a friend, and also maybe your younger sister. Her point of view will speak to anyone who's ever run from their problems or left their hometown simply to hurt their own feelings.  It's hard to talk about this book without giving away exactly what made it such a suprising, and deeply moving read, so I won't talk very much about the plot.

Instead I want to talk about the place. Johns paints a picture of High Prairie so vivid that you can feel the land under your feet. This story is about grief. It's profoundly tied to oil culture in Alberta, and the places and people that we leave behind once we've drained every ounce of their economic potential. It's a story that takes place in the smoke of bush parties, in the smell of lake water, and the deep snow of northern Alberta winters. Johns takes readers from the impersonal bustle of a big city, to the warm, crowded, vibrant and loud reality of a family kitchen.

I wouldn't say that this book was scary. More spooky. The cast of characters are truly what make it, especially the relationships between the women in Mackenzie's family. Johns shares her, and Mackenzie's, Cree culture largely through the actions and stories told by Mackenzie's endlessly bad ass aunties and older relations. Bad Cree is, in the end, an ode to Indigenous women, their strength,  the things they lose, and the people they love. 

Readers who look like me (white people)  should be careful to read responsibly and respectfully. This book tells the truth about hard topics like generational trauma, missing and murdered Indigenous women, disenfranchisment, and grief. It does this while keeping the story rooted firmly in the experience of a complex family, while developing it's own IndigiGothic flavor. Mandatory reading for anyone living on Turtle Island, and especially on Treaty 6, 7, and 8 lands (known as Alberta.) 

I can't recommend Bad Cree enough. 

Gorgeous and spooky. I fell in love with every single character. 

A tense read with twists. The way it's written I felt I was standing there with Mack and her sister, cousin and all the aunties. Few passages gave me actual shivers, gasps and shock. Felt so many connections to the characters, esp Mack. Saw a lot of my family in hers. 

The bit about her Kokum reminded me of a dream I had once where my grandma kept telling me I had to leave and I tried to bring her with me but she said no YOU need to leave. I was having my first low blood sugar since being diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic and it was severe low...a sugar of 1.2 and my grandma had passed 4 years prior. Hair on my arm just stood up reading that part. 

Like Mr Hector said "it's like a hand comes out and touches yours" when you read something you thought unique to you and here it written down by someone you've never met and don't know.

This was a beautifully told story. I always enjoy stories that include takes on the mythological creatures from Native American lore. This time the focus is on the creature called the Wheetigo. At least, that’s what the outward focus is on, but really the story dives deep into the processing of the main character’s grief and that tangled up web of the same grief affecting her family. 

There’s a lot of mystery involved with what will end up happening with all the haunting and threatening things happening to the main character in her dreams and seeping into real life. But it all faces her to confront her buried grief and those she left behind and brings some sense of closure and togetherness she desperately needed. 

I liked this book but the ending felt a bit rushed/anticlimactic - maybe that’s partially because I read it super fast? Feel like it could’ve used more editing but overall a good mystery about grief and loss and family connections and Indigenous North American culture. Loved the aunties so much.

I loved this so much. I related so much to the main character, being a native person who used to be around their family all the time, and now only sees them a few times a year. Whenever Mackenzie would talk about her childhood, I just felt so nostalgic. I also love books about grief, because I've experienced a lot of grief. The ending made me cry.