The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

Whooo, what a ride! Truly half the book I was... taken to a dark place. Yet, though the world is dark enough and horror is not my usual genre, I didn't consider putting the book down for long. And, I should note, even if the story was historical fiction alone and not of the horror genre, one could make an argument that it would still be horror due to the fallibility of the human species and settler colonial immorality. In that way, making a horror story of it rather fits.

I understand what some folks included in their reviews re: hard to parse prose, but I think you've ultimately just got to flow with some long sentence construction. Similarly, not being a horror buff, I didn't fully understand complaints related to genre; that said, I enjoy experimental forms and new weird types of writing. Lastly, I appreciated Graham Jones' animal descriptors and depictions. I will be sending his story on to my friend who lives in MILES CITY, MONTANA. Dun dun dun.

Since the spoiler feature didn't seem to be working, beware !
Historical horror following Esty Baucarne an academic who, in hopes of being published, reads through the diary of her ancestor Arthur Beaucarne, a Lutheran priest who recounted his encounter with a Blackfeet called Good Stab in the early 20th century and their ties to a historical tragedy.


So this was such a great book. My second read of Stephen Graham Jones's work, this had all the qualities I liked from his previous novel I had read (My Heart is A Chainsaw). I loved his ability to craft a fast paced interesting story, full of cultural references, with compelling and complex characters, written in a unique voice, almost stream of consciousness like, intimate but universal at the same time. I loved how the three main points of view were so distinct to one other, each adopting a particular, narrative style language and vocabulary that perfectly showed the characters' cultural heritage and setting, with no held holding too. There were some truly gory, bizarre and creepy moments, upping the horror atmosphere beyond historical facts, at times mixing it with supernatural elements.  I loved SGJ's portrayal of vampirism as a sort of disease (?) that transforms its bearer to whatever he's drinking from. After Good Stab becomes a vampire, he is portrayed as being traumatised by what he has become, what he has to do to survive, but also by the alienation and marginalisation from his community and people, so these parts were equally horrifying and emotional to read. This allegory of vampirism was framed and reinforced by the historical themes : the horrors of genocide, colonisation, (cultural) imperialism and forced assimilation of the indigenous populations by white colonisers into to the newly formed USA. It was also very informative read for I was ignorant of the main tragedy depicted here (ie The Marias Massacre). Pacing wise, I felt the beginning of the book was a bit too slow and hard to get into but afterwards it was a breeze once I settled into the story. 


Ever since I watched (finally) Sinners the other day at the cinema, I had wanted to consume more Vampire inspired fiction, but personally I found Vampires a bit boring, unless it features PoC and Queer Vampires (Blade, Interview with the Vampire tv show, Castlevania), or mixed in another genre (like Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust has scifi elements to it) because these elements had way more interesting layers to these mythic creatures, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter definitely scratched that itch.  I'll definitely read SGJ's other books, with the next one being possibly The Only Good Indians as I've got it on my physical tbr.

I’m not sure that this book really knew what it wanted to be. While theoretically horror, there was very little suspense or tension. The pacing was off, the prose was hard to handle, and the whole ending was just plain tough to read. It felt like a story that could have been so much better if written by a different author who understood horror better.

I have rarely struggled with a book's syntax the way that I've struggled with this one's–I was regularly reading sentences two and three times to figure out what was going on, but the structure rarely allowed the story to flow as it should. (It's not the Blackfoot terminology, either, though that added some complexity–something about Stephen Graham Jones's writing/phrasing across all three narrators seems opaque and unintentionally ambiguous.) It's a terrible shame, because I really liked what this book was doing narratively and thematically, but it's hard to enjoy reading something when the writing style is so consistently immersion-breaking.

Vague spoilers included: Stephen Graham Jones creates an absorbing new vampire mythology but in the last play misses the basket/TD/goal/run. The final scene was "meh" with vague motivation and reasoning, and includes a discrepancy with something established earlier in the book. Would the ultimate act accomplish the intended result? Prior incidents in the book suggest perhaps not. The author's afterward suggests 'why' this happened, but the rewritten frame story feels like a rush to publication. 95% great and 5% flat. Unfortunately, the 5% was the ending.

Amazing book. Very well written, as usual. I know SGJ's writing style is not for everyone, but it really really works for me. Probably did not need both levels of frame story, but I did end up enjoying the final layer, even if it did not feel entirely necessary.

Horror on every level, from squirming gore to colossal historical injustice, with a good side helping of ambiguity - it would be easy to write this book with Good Stab as an avenging hero, but here he is a brutal monster. It’s just that pretty much everyone else is worse. Not always an easy read, but a very good one.

Great read. It’s an excellent story about a priest who recounts a confession from a vampire named Good Stab. This book is ridiculously satisfying for those who love gory detailed chapters of vampire slaying people and animals to satisfy their appetite for blood 🩸 🩸 🩸. It reads like historical fiction, and can be very slow a times. Also, the language used is from the 1800s and early 1900s. It also contains words used by early Native Americans. Meaning that you may reread sentences, paragraphs, pages, and sometimes entire chapters. I think this book is a masterpiece (especially if you’re used to the author’s writing). Since it was my first book by him, I used the dictionary a lot. For that reason, I’m giving it four and a half stars instead of the five it probably deserves.

I needed some time after finishing this book to collect my thoughts.

I really tried to like it, but it was difficult when the only character I connected with was Good Stab. English is not my first language, so keep that in mind when I say that reading the pastor's journal, filled with his thoughts, was quite a challenge. I understand that the writing style reflects the time period (1912), so I didn't expect modern English. However, I didn't anticipate understanding only about 30% of it.

Overall, The Buffalo Hunter is not an easy or particularly enjoyable read, as its subject matter is dark and often difficult to stomach. I can see that it is well-written, but in my opinion, it tries too hard. That said, I appreciate that it sheds light on a dark chapter of American history—one I might not have encountered otherwise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an advance ebook for review.