Virgil Wounded Horse is desperately trying to escape his past as a hired vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. But when a legendary figure from the reservation is murdered, he’s pulled back into the job. This time with threats coming from a neighboring street gang looking to expand their territory and a shady politician who will stop at nothing to gain power. With a tribal council election looming and new revelations about past injustices at the local Native boarding school, the stakes keep climbing and Virgil has to find justice before it’s too late.
Winter Counts was one of my favorite reads the year it came out and I’ve been waiting for Weiden to release another book. So I went into this one with sky-high expectations and unfortunately it just didn’t deliver for me. First and most importantly: this is a sequel. It’s not labeled as one anywhere obvious without digging, but so much of this book relies on what happened in Winter Counts that you really need to read that one first. There are constant references to the first book and without that context you’d probably be lost. I read Winter Counts back in 2020 and even I was a little fuzzy on some of the connections.
I was excited to be back with Virgil and I didn’t mind his character arc of trying to stay on the straight and narrow. That felt like a natural progression. What I struggled with is that it felt like I was being told everything instead of being shown it. The pacing was off in a way that was hard to pin down. Some parts felt rushed while the book overall felt long, which is a strange combination for something that’s only 320 pages. It was repetitive in places and I never felt entirely invested the way I did with Winter Counts.
What I do love is the exploration of rez life and the inclusion of the boarding school history and the abuse those children faced. I think that’s such an important conversation and I love that these stories are making it into mainstream fiction. I don’t really claim to be Native as it’s too far removed from my generation, but my great great grandparents were Native so I feel a small connection to Indigenous stories and love to explore them. That element of the book was meaningful to me and I wish the rest of the story had matched the weight of those themes.
It hurts me that I didn’t love this one because I wanted to so badly. It reads fine and the subject matter is important, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations. The pacing was too slow, the storytelling leaned too heavily on telling over showing, and I never felt that pull to keep turning pages the way Winter Counts had me completely hooked. Three stars. If you loved Winter Counts, definitely read it, just make sure you reread or refresh yourself on book one first because you’ll need it. And if you haven’t read Winter Counts yet, start there. That one is absolutely worth your time.
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Wisdom Corner is out now! Huge thank you to Ecco Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.
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