NWil > Recent Status Updates

DNF at 68%. Might come back in the future.

Began with a bang, middled around in from the 60% mark and fizzled out with a wimp. For how it started, this ended up being quite disappointing. For how difficult this was to read, most of the metaphors existed in the first half and after that, it all became a meaningless acid trip. 3 stars for a wonderful first 2/3.

Began with a bang, middled around in from the 60% mark and fizzled out with a wimp. For how it started, this ended up being quite disappointing. For how difficult this was to read, most of the metaphors existed in the first half and after that, it all became a meaningless acid trip. 3 stars for a wonderful first 2/3.

This bookend section is irrelevant.

So the point of the whole story is the vampire is unkillable? What is this a metaphor for?

This book suffers from being a long read that is difficult to trudge through. 3 star read at best.

I'm dreading Good Stab's final account because I'm tired of his story.

Attempting to finish this today. I'm torn on rating. Giving middling pacing in the midway point, should be a 3 star but maybe might be a 3.5 star for good horror and critique.

Still a pleasant read.

This new Good Stab recollection is also meandering.

Bedtime reread audiobook version. This book feels so good.

The lingering question at the back of my mind as I enter the second half of this book is this - Why is Good Stab relaying this confession to Reverend Beaucarne?
1 - What is the reason behind him making this confession?
2 - Why has he chosen Beaucarne as his confessor?

This last Good Stab recollection was meandering. Took me a while to get through. When the shock and gore of the violence is already baked in, where do we draw horror from? In this case, it is from how the narrator's myths and beliefs drives him to do what his enemies are doing - killing his own kind. What are the boundaries of morality as a vampire? What is a good kill vs. a bad kill if your only sustenance is blood?

I feel like I'm feeling my way around this story better. The Indian vampire is killing the white settlers who are killing the buffalo because of the significance of the buffalo to his culture and mythos. I need to hold this thought while we parse through the gore and dread. Also, 1/3 of the way in, maybe through regularity and clarity, the horror isn't so stark anymore. it just feels violent.

This side plot about a detective investigating the murders is quite tense and interesting.

Back to this.

Good Stab's detailing of his feeding habits post change is somewhat repetitive and meandering. This may also be a function of me having just read another vampire who detailed their eating habits post change.

“I’ve heard our elders and many-faces men and even chiefs say that it’s the napikwans who are ruining the world, but napikwans are just what happens when we forget we’re Pikuni. When we think a many-shots gun is more important than beaver medicine.”

This is the thesis of the White settler and likely every colonial settler. It is the historical disconnect from the land that breeds the wanton violence.

General thoughts -

3. This leads me to ponder - what is the nature of the person that would leave their history, family, community and livelihood to sail faraway to the Americas and journey farther inland to the plains of the midwest to make a life? And when they have made that journey, what are the stakes for life?