E-galley Review: The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs
Published by Heartdrum on September 3, 2024
Genres: YA Horror
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

In this debut YA horror novel by Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk), small-town athlete Avery is haunted by the black water and Unfinished beings of Kanyen’kehá:ka stories and must turn to the culture she hasn’t felt connected to in order to save her town.

The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive.

When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.

Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she’s losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.

Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she’s never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.

When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanyen’kehá:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever…or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.

In her stunning debut, Cheryl Isaacs pulls the reader down into an unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged.

My Review

This one sounded really good when the publisher reached out to me about reviewing it. I always like to read about different cultures, so this had that going for it as well. There was a lot of creepiness to it, between the ghosts or raggedy man, black water, whatever it was called throughout the book. The characters were great as well. I even liked the bits that were related to the Mohawk legends/customs.

However it wasn’t perfect for me, as you can see by my lower rating. The book dragged all the way through for me. Even with the creepy bits throughout, at times it just felt slow and didn’t keep my attention. It’s possible that was done on purpose, to show hos the black water was dragging out slowly the things that were happening. It just wasn’t enough to keep my attention. I almost put it down a few times, but did finally get through it, and I was definitely satisfied for the most part with how things were wrapped up. I don’t feel all questions were answered, or maybe I was just glad to be finished and didn’t read the ending as closely as maybe I should have.

The publisher was nice enough to send me a finished copy of the book as well as the e-galley I read, so I will still be adding it to my school library collection, and maybe one of my students will not have the same issues I had with it.