The Unfinished(The Unfinished #1)
Cheryl Isaacs
Heartdrum
Published October 15, 2024
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About The Unfinished
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
Unsettling is the perfect word to describe some moments in this story. Like, how does the author make a simple, undisturbed body of water seem so sinister? It’s wild.
I like a lot of things about this book. It’s set in a small town, and Avery works at a local bookstore after school. She’s a runner, so she’s very aware of her body and thinks about things in terms of her sport. She’s also Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk), though she doesn’t feel particularly connected to her community. That changes through the course of the story, though.
She has two best friends, and gradually begins to accept that she has feelings for her friend Key. Of course she realizes this right about the time he disappears.
I love how the author uses spiritual beliefs throughout the story. At one point, an Elder shares the creation story with Avery and her friends. Avery knows the story already, but it becomes this touchstone for her through the rest of the book. I loved that.
Avery’s story doesn’t end with this book, either. A sequel, The Others, continues where this one leaves off, which I think is a little more unusual for a horror novel. I’m excited to see where it goes.
Give this one to readers who like environmental horror, especially eerie stories set in the woods. There’s not really blood or gore in the book, which is nice. It’s unsettling, for sure, but more in a “make you jump at shadows” way.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
References to attraction between characters.
Spiritual Content
An Elder tribe member shares the creation story with Avery and her friends. Avery references this spiritual story later in the book. A dark force in a lake in the woods has supernatural abilities and appears to be causing people to disappear into it.
Violent Content
Situations of peril. Strong descriptions of fear and panic. The lake appears to be sending sinister humanlike messengers after Avery.
Drug Content
None.
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