Stolen Tongues

What an incredibly gripping book, I was far too engrossed in the story and what the outcome would be and how things were going to play out that I literally couldn't put it down. It was something I've personally never seen done before and enjoyed that there was genuine research done to convey the Native's stories appropriately.

I also loved Faye and Felix's relationship, the devotion he had for her, and how he stayed by her side no matter how crazy the situation got and was trying his best to help her, it was very sweet.

This can be looked at as either an impressively good creepypasta or an OK novel. I think the author has a lot of talent, but this book does show the importance of a good editor.

I highly recommend reading the prologue regardless - it's a little capsule creepy tale of its own, that I found incredibly effective.

The rest of the story has some truly scary, well-written horror as well, but it gets bogged down in repetition and some nonsensical character motivations. Also, I found it doubly wearing to read the cycle of Faye's nighttime woes and Felix's reactions, because it made the female character seem less and less capable and three-dimensional as it repeated.

I do appreciate the author's note about his decision to include indigenous American people as characters. Some might criticize it as the same old “mystical native understands magic,” but I think he succeeded in his effort to depict these characters as normal, multidimensional, modern humans who don't have mystical answers, and along with that he gives a good reminder that native peoples are many and varied - not a monolith by any stretch of the imagination.

All in all, this is well worth checking out. I just won't blame you if you wind up skimming some of the mid-to-late chapters.