A book in post Civil War Kansas with flesh witches and other weird shit? Sign me up! I’m the child of a Kansas historian, and don’t think I’ve ever really read a speculative fiction book set in my home state. I left for a reason and never want to live there again, but it also holds a very special place in my heart. This book didn’t quite scratch that historical itch, though, and now I want to read more stuff set in Kansas.
Read if Looking For: headstrong characters, straightforward writing, shootouts
Avoid if Looking For: Weird West that’s heavy on the Weird, thematically rich texts, diverse protagonists
Elevator Pitch:
Apostle is a Marshall with a rigid sense of morality. He gets shot while trying to protect Almena ‘The Grizzly Queen’ from a pre-judicial killing, only to find himself still alive due to her flesh magic. The two end up crossing paths again in the future as she claims another woman has claimed her name and is committing atrocities in her name. Almena has her own secrets, and she’d like some help clearing her name of the crimes she didn’t commit.
What Worked for Me
There’s a lot of problematic history in the Western genre, and Stone did a good job of preserving some of the core identity of Westerns while embracing a more modern take on the genre. Indigenous communities (specifically the Osage Nation) were acknowledged and incorporated without simply being tools to further either Apostle or Almena’s character arcs or plotlines. Similarly the contributions of Black Americans during the civil war were highlighted. Do I think the writing was laudworthy? I don’t, and it’s worth noting that no major side-characters (ie – relevant in multiple parts of the story) were non-white. It didn’t have the level of intentionality or rigor as something like The Bullet Swallower, but it acknowledged the problems in the genre.
Perhaps the brevity and lukewarm nature of my positive feedback shows how underwhelmed I was in this book. It was a pleasant enough light read, but didn’t ever wow me.
What Didn’t Work for Me
Make me No Grave needed to be more assertive and present as a book. It labels itself as a Weird West story, but there’s surprisingly little supernatural happening. The Grizzly Queen’s flesh magic (mostly moving injuries from one person to another) is one of two times something unnatural comes up, and was the only one to come up multiple times. Stone presents us with two headstrong protagonists, but their clashes feel repetitive and devoid of imagination. Random plot points are introduced (such as Almena’s history with Lincoln and desire to hunt down John Wilkes Booth) but never went anywhere, maybe to set up for a sequel that wasn’t meant to be? Clearly there are thoughts of character arcs, but they aren’t developed or fleshed out enough to feel meaningful.
At the end of the book, I guess I didn’t feel like much had changed, or that much had mattered. That’s a tough theme to build towards, but it can do well. I just don’t think that’s what Stone was aiming for in the novel, which made it feel a bit hollow. It was just good enough that I didn’t DNF, but it rode the line pretty closely.
- Characters: 3
- Setting: 2
- Craft: 3
- Themes: 2
- Enjoyment: 3
Marked for Plot 