Thank you to Stephen Graham Jones, Titan Books, and NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5 Rounded down

I've not read a SGJ book, so I was unfamiliar with the impressive yet laborious prose that he writes. Combine that with the length of the book and you have...a slog.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy all of the book. Blending this real life massacre of Blackfeet natives and nearly an entire population of buffalo with a fictional vampire revenge story is such an interesting concept and a bold project to undertake. It's such a good story in fact, that it's completely overshadowed by the diary entry format and slow pacing. The good, gripping parts of the story kept being halted by Arthur's character writing at length about something so incredibly boring that I found myself literally nodding off. This is of course probably intentional. Arthur is a pompous Lutheran pastor in 1912 after all. When it's so imbedded in the majority of the story though, it gets difficult to want to keep reading.

In fact, I can look back on the portion of the book that was Good Stab's story and enjoy so much of it. I loved the original vampire lore, I loved the super gnarly gore, I loved Weasel Plum- his buffalo companion. I felt the injustice and frustration of it all, and I think that will be what sticks with me for many winters.

DNF at 58%

I really struggled understanding the writing (style). It felt like not much is happening, even though I'm that far in. I kept having to go back like 10 pages and reread constantly.

I'm new to Stephen Graham Jones' work but have only ever heard amazing things, so paired with the incredibly intriguing premise of this book I was very very excited to read his new release, "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter". And it is, objectively, a very good book. It's well-written, it packs its emotional punches and it deals creatively with a horrible event in human history, one I wasn't aware of but read up on afterwards. it's real history mixed with horror, and the horror is incredibly raw and atmospheric.
It is rather slowly paced and while it makes sense with how the story unfolds, it did lose me here and there and I do think it could have been edited more sharply. But that can also simply be blamed on the fact that I never really warmed up to the author's writing style. It's objectively good and I loved the way it used authentic language, but sometimes you can recognise good writing yet have to admit it's just not your cup of tea. That's what happened here. I also, personally, didn't enjoy the way the story develops later on.
So take this review with a grain of salt, because while I, in the end, wasn't blown away by "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" due to the writing style and pacing, I absolutely recommend it. The subject matter and themes alone turn this into an important and still relevant for today read and the vampire in this is just fantastic.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is not an easy read, nor should it be. Some books exist to comfort, to provide escape. This one exists to confront the carnage that history books so often obscure.

The type of horror that hits you deep in the soul. I thought this was written well and I would definitely read more from the author.

Fantastic. A wild ride of a read. Beautifully concocted to spook and unnerve while constantly drawing the reader further into the web of the story. The ending was unexpected and worked really well.

Historical fiction, well good historical fiction is a difficult art, the subjects are often sensitive. This book achieved that fine balance, it worked as a fine fiction/horror piece, yet was still sensitive to the historical subject of the treatment of indigenous North Americans, the mind set of colonialists in justifying their actions, is also engaged with.

As the best horror often points out who are the monsters? The horrors of colonialism in the racial prejudice, mass extermination of people, along with the decimation of entire species and destruction on the environment, are more vile than any supernatural beast.

Ok, that is my preachy part, the book has a good pace and the found manuscript device works well in this instance, the characters even the supporting cast are strongly pictured and combined with history ground this book well,

I expect to see awards for this one.

This was by no means an easy read, and at times not a pleasurable one either; however, the author's unique style and writing is worth the effort. Not my favourite of his novels, but a worthy addition to the shelf.

I love the cover and I really really thought the description sounded incredible!

This was not incredible for me.

It’s an overwhelming amount of information to describe scenes that for me by the time I finish reading them I have forgot even what we are describing.

The names, he uses names that are very similar or up to four words for one person’s name, which is very hard to follow. I went back-and-forth on pages, trying to make sure I was keeping characters straight.

The cat man, again I cannot really explain to you how something that involves pages of description is still not truly visible for me in my head. It did not scare me. It was not creepy. I just don’t feel that. This book was a good fit for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

SJG is the man. I've been reading him since the early 2000s and he just keeps getting better and better. I honestly do not know how he can put out this much consistantly good work. Do yourself a favor and read this. His style might not be for everyone, but it's easy to get lost in his words

Whilst Stephen Graham Jones seems to be a very talented author, my first experience with him in Buffalo Hunter Hunter isn't what I would call a fun one. He has a unique literary style, at least in this book, that is very difficult to immerse yourself in. Choosing the framing narrative of a person reading the secondary account via a journal of a third account of events 100 years ago can be tough to get into for some. This one was a miss for me but due to my own reading preference, nothing necessarily that the author did wrong.

Horror hits differently when it’s built on the bones of real, genocidal history. The blood, viscera, and supernatural vampire horror is plentiful in The Buffalo Hunter Hunter but it pales in comparison to the real horror story: the brutality of colonisation, the events of the Marias Massacre, and the hunting of the buffalo to near extinction.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter dredges up the historical truth of the massacre, reminding us of the ways history is often written by the victors/colonisers, and consequently sanitised, whitewashed or buried. We get the story through three different perspectives: the eyes of a Blackfeet named Good Stab, a Lutheran pastor and a professor seeking tenure at the University of Wyoming.

The book is a reckoning, an excavation of memory and trauma wrapped in the intimacy of Good Stab’s confessional-style recordings. The epistolary format makes it feel almost voyeuristic, like I’ve stumbled onto something not meant for outside eyes.

Initially, the language of Good Stab took time for me to settle into, because it wasn’t diluted for convenience. There’s no glossary, no hand-holding, no neat little footnotes.

Instead, I had to work for my understanding. It’s a deliberate artistic choice by SGJ, and one I respect and revere. My interpretation is that the language is something to be felt, experienced, understood through context and immersion. The effort you put in to adapt to the flow makes the emotional payoff all the richer.

Additionally, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is not an easy read, nor should it be. Some books exist to comfort, to provide escape. This one exists to confront the carnage that history books so often obscure. The sheer amount of blood, brutality, both against people and animals, is staggering, so be mindful of the content warnings. This book doesn’t just shock, it opens up a wound that never really healed. And that's a history we can’t afford to forget, no matter how ugly it gets.

I’m going to have to add SGJ officially to my favourite list of horror writers. Obviously I recommend this one highly. But that recommendation comes with a warning for a gut-wrenching, painful, but necessary read for understanding the true weight of history.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This one is going to stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5

"You can't stop a country from happening!"
"Yes, but we were already a nation."

THIS WAS SO GOOD !!
Wow. I love that I can still be surprised by horror.
SGJ does amazing things while tackling vampire lore in the formation of Montana in the early 1900's in this story-within-a-story!
This was enthralling, horrific, and so heartbreaking. I bought a physical copy as soon as it was released and I will be RE-READING soon to fully annotate and experience all over again. I think this is SGJ's best written work, his storytelling shines, his character's felt so real, the AMAZING prose throughout. I will say, for me there was a dip in pacing around the 60-75% mark but before and after that I was flyinnnnggg through this book.
highly, highly recommend.

Weasel Plume !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read If You Like:
- Horror
- Westerns
- Psychological tension
- Native American folklore
- Revenge stories
- Unreliable narrators

Set against the vast, unforgiving landscape of the American West, this novel follows a man obsessed with avenging his family, who were slaughtered by a notorious buffalo hunter. What begins as a straightforward revenge tale quickly spirals into something much stranger and darker, as the lines between man, beast, and spirit blur. The protagonist’s relentless pursuit of his target drags him deeper into a world of hallucinations, curses, and blood-soaked violence, where nothing is as it seems or is it?!

The novel masterfully blends horror with Western tropes, turning the traditional frontier mythos on its head. The prose is sharp and unrelenting, mirroring the brutality of both the setting and the story. The psychological unraveling of the main character is as gripping as the external horrors he faces, making the novel feel like a descent into madness.

Steeped in Native American storytelling traditions and the eerie loneliness of the frontier, this is a chilling, atmospheric read that lingers long after the final page. Fans of genre-bending horror will find themselves enthralled—and unnerved—by its haunting vision of vengeance and survival.

Thanks so much to the publisher for my eARC and audiobook!

Thought provoking and emotional. Stephen Graham Jones takes you on a journey through young America. A historian fiction retelling with a fantasy twist. Vampires.
Veed I say more: The writing is very reminiscent of Anne Rices Interview with the Vampire, the details, the exploration the unapologetic subject matters. LOVED

Stephen Graham Jones has done it again. Another horror novel that will stay with me for a long time, and has educated me and changed my perspective on the history of Native American culture. It’s an incredible book, but not exactly enjoyable. It was difficult to read only because of its content and the truth behind it. It’s dark but incredibly well written.

Let me say, I usually hate Vampires. Unless they are proper monsters. Make of that and the 5 star rating what you will.
This book ripped my heart out in ways I never anticipated from a horror book, and such a gory one, too. So much blood! I loved Good Stab, his story was just heartbreaking. I liked Arthur (until we got to know him better) but not to the point where I wanted him to get out of this unscathed. The style Good Stab speaks in is a bit harder to get into but absolutely worth it. SGJ made it fun to learn something new here! The setting was fantastic and I love the epistolary style as well as the side characters that were only as fleshed out as they needed to be to add just the right amount of background and colour.
The themes of loss of identity, loss of one’s people and homeland hit hard and felt very modern, true, and current in light of what is happening around the world right now. Good Stab being infected by a white man, becoming what he is, committing the same atrocities out of pure necessity while fighting to feel like himself again, keeping what is left of his identity and having it ripped from him over and over in so many ways… Could have been a bit heavy handed but wasn’t. It made sense, it was sad. It hurt, everytime.
I was super tense half the time, I did not experience that in a long time. And then, at around 75%, I realised I am at the climax but there is so much book left? I literally yelled at things when I remembered the framing story and I was afraid! And was right to be. The end was great, that’s all I can say. I hope the cat made it out alive. Both times.
A very strong contender for my book of the year and I ordered a signed special edition because this book deserves a spot on my bookshelf.

The Blackfeet Tribe has a dark history in America. Let's face it, there's a lot of dark history in America and we might be creating more, even as I write this. What this book does is enlighten readers about some of that history, and it entertains as it does so. Because this tale is told by a Native American vampire to a priest. Yep. A vampire and a priest.


The narrative is framed by a woman receiving a diary written by one of her ancestors. As she begins, the point of views switches to that of the priest that originally wrote the diary. From there we learn about the Lutheran priest of a small flock in Montana near the late 1800's, who has a Native American,(named Good Stab), dressed in robes and sunglasses, show up at a Sunday service. He keeps coming and before long requests the rite of confession. His confession goes on for weeks and is recorded in the diary. And that's all I'm going to say about the plot.

Regarding the story itself: I'll be upfront, it's long and sometimes it is difficult to read. The language the priest uses while he is writing in the diary is typical of the time period. The language where the narrator is Good Stab, (as transcribed by the priest), is a bit difficult to get used to. As he is Native American, he has words for people/animals/plants/everything in his language and he isn't proficient enough in English to do otherwise. For this reason, one must read for a while and naturally throughout the story, you figure out what a Blackhorn is and what dirty-faces are.

As Good Stab's "confession" goes on the reader becomes more and more horrified. We can't forget that Good Stab is a vampire with all that that entails. Make no mistake, while this is historical fiction, it is also horror. There are plenty of guts and entrails to go around. That said, this reader thought the vampire was pretty tame to what the white man did. Because this book piqued my curiosity, I went looking for the historical event on which this book pivots. I discovered that it was far more horrific than what any vampire could do, mostly because it's REAL and it happened.

Many people probably remember the film Dances with Wolves and the despair which the Native Americans experienced when the buffalo started being slaughtered. Entire tribes depended on the buffalo for everything, and without them they could not survive. Imagine how they felt when they saw their land covered in dead buffalo and the bodies left to rot. It's one thing to see it, as in the film, but it was another thing entirely to hear the story from a man who was there. It becomes more immediate and more painful when you do.

In spite of all this darkness,, there were a few hopeful spots...or at least they were hopeful for a little while. There were a few poignant spots as well, and I know I was not the only one to cry over Weasel Plume.

I initially rated this 4 stars, but on thinking it over I'm going with a 4.5, rounded up for places like Goodreads where half stars aren't allowed. I absolutely loved this AND I learned a lot, but I do think it was a smidge too long in the middle. A time or two, I found myself reluctant to return to it, but that could be just a "me" thing. The news these days is rather dark and sometimes I couldn't abide reading such a dark tale at the same time these things were happening.

Overall, I think this book is a FORCE. It's a voice out of Native American history, one that many of us didn't learn a lot about in our youth. It was sort of glossed over, like Christopher Columbus' story was, and I believe that was a disservice. Not learning about your country's mistakes, things your country should be ashamed about, does nothing for anyone. We are doomed to repeat history if we do not learn from it, and how can one learn when the teacher's are not teaching? This lesson apparently is one we still have not learned, as books are being removed from libraries all over the country RIGHT NOW.

These are my takeaways from this tale, another reader may have a completely different takeaway. All I know is that I was moved in many ways by this brutal tale, and for that I think Stephen Graham Jones is an American treasure and I highly recommend The Buffalo Hunter Hunter!

*ARC from publisher

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is, at it's core, a vampire story - but it's not like any I've ever read before. This is the American West meets Indigenous folklore, and there's no 'Dracula style' blood-suckers here. This is a Blackfoot man turned undead who seeks the Buffalo hunters and agressors to his people in a brutal, blood-thirsty act of vengeance, and it was fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

The story wasn't scary in a traditional sense, but it was unsettling and gory and full of horrors on a human level. It explored the true evils of man, inflicted on Indigenous people, and it didn't pull any punches whilst doing it. I admit I don't have much knowledge of American/Indigenous history (UK doesn't really teach it in school so any knowledge I have is what I've learnt and read on my own), and this story really opened my eyes to parts of history that get swept under the carpet or re-written by those in power.

I enjoyed this one, but something didn't quite click enough for me to love it. The story was very slow moving, which gave me time to absorb the story and history being told, but it was a little too slow for me at times. I can appreciate this book though and the skill of Stephen Graham Jones' writing and storytelling - it was given such space to shine throughout, and I just know so many people are going to really really love this one.

It's worth highlighting that there's brutal violence within these pages, in general and towards the Blackfeet. It's gory, it's bleak and it's bloody, but it's worthwhile and it holds a torch to violence that often gets overlooked and written out of American history.

I have been meaning to read a Stephen Graham Jones book for a long time now and I am so glad I was able to read this one. As someone who doesn’t know a lot about the specifics of American history, I found this a fascinating way to discuss such a horrific event.

This book is not for the feint of heart, it is brutal and bloody and will make you uncomfortable. The story is told not just through three different perspectives, but through three different avenues which was a stylistic choice by the author that I really admire. You start the novel with Etsy who is in her early 40s and needs something that will help her bid for tenure, so when she is presented with a lost journal from her late great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran Priest named Arthur, she sees this as an opportunity. In the journal entries we not only get the perspective of Arthur, but we also get our third and final perspective, Good Stab, who is a Blackfeet man who has had his ‘confession’ transcribed by Arthur back in 1912. One of my favorite parts of this novel was that the language of Good Stab’s perspective was not tempered in any way. This meant that as a reader, you had to not only focus on what is being said to you but also the context and work to understand what you’re being told which felt authentic and enriching to the story.

This book holds a spotlight on an awful moment in American history while blending supernatural elements throughout the story to make it compelling, disturbing and brutal.
I would recommend treading cautiously with this read and also taking some time to research the events of the Marias Massacre to gain the full perspective of the events that took place.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.