THE UNFINISHED by Cheryl Isaacs (2024)

★ ★ ★ - Overall I thought it was a bit long with some pacing problems, but the premise & the deeper philosophy behind the story were excellent—an ideal read for horror newbies…

Mar 08, 2025

∙ Paid

“Even I, clueless Kanyen’kehá:ka that I was, knew that you don’t just ask a traditional Elder questions and expect straight answers. Even before her mind started to crumble, Ihstá Lily had told me stories—lots of them—in response to questions. That was the way: ask a question and get a story with your answer embedded; it was up to you to figure it out.”

title: The Unfinished

series: The Unfinished

author: Cheryl Isaacs

published: 2024

publisher: Heartdrum (HarperCollins)

genre/subgenre: YA contemporary Indigenous horror

setting: Haudenosaunee lands—the town had that small-town New England feel to it

main themes/subjects: divorce, family dynamics, mother-daughter relationship, friendship dynamics, late highschool years, college applications, sports scholarships, track sports(/running), isolation from one’s heritage/culture, MMIW-adjacent themes, fear & courage, dreams

representation: Mohawk MC & author, Haudenosaunee culture, Kanyen’kéha language

tropes: a deep dark sentient forest & a sinister blackwater pond, mysterious banishing ritual

““You only find it if it wants you,” Lily said to the window. The words sent an icy finger skating up my spine.
I had. It did.
“What if it does?” I leaned up close, lowering my voice and speaking into the small space between Lily’s head and the window. “If it wants you, what happens?”
“Oh, it calls to you.” Lily raised a trembling finger, the knuckles swollen like knots on a tree. “It gets in here.” She tapped her temple lightly, nodding. “It calls.””

my thoughts:

premise: Loved the premise! Which was, helpfully, explained in the author’s note at the end because while I suspected that was essentially where she was going with this story by the end I wasn’t entirely sure…

execution: I personally thought this book was 200 pages too long. 😅 & now there’s a sequel that will presumably explain everything that felt left very unexplained in this book but… I feel like maybe it should have all been accomplished in one book…

writing style: kinda mid, in my opinion—I listened to it on audiobook on high speed & it still felt like it dragged quiteee a bit like it almost had a bit of that rambly first-draft feel to it? & I didn’t love the narrative voice, a bit too juvenile? too repetitive? with too much of that “tongue-in-cheek” kind of tone… Also the amount of just straight up “telling” via the MC’s internal processing of everything that was going on was extremely exhausting.

characters: What I had thought was being done with the character of Stella was that she represented someone whose neurodivergency (she was very Autistic-coded) acted as something akin to a protective shield from the kind of fear & extreme anxiety that Avery was dealing with & that made Avery so susceptible to the Ragged Man (or the other thing? bc apparently the Ragged Man *wasn’t* the main villain, i.e. “the scariest thing in the black water”? the ending confused me a bit…) But by the end of the story I don’t think that was actually what was going on with Stella’s character so… Idk. I think I missed that bit. I also didn’t like how the mother character, who seemed to have been such an important foil to Avery’s character, was basically absent throughout the entire middle section of the book…

story/plot: I also thought the plot had some pacing problems & too many unanswered questions for a book of this length. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to power through it without the audiobook which I did relatively enjoy due to the narrator’s performance & I was very glad to hear how all the Kanyen’kéha was pronounced.

worldbuilding: I thought we were in New England but we may also have been in Ottawa—I think the point may have been to make it vague because those specific places are distinct from the concept of Haudenosaunee /Kanien'kehá:ka lands which exist despite those colonially constructed borders.

philosophy: Excellent. & I will say that the majority of readers, most of whom are Indigenous, in the Indigenous Reading Circle bookclub with which I read this book, loved it & thought its representation particularly of Avery’s experience of disconnection from her culture & her relatives & all of her thoughts & feelings about that came across very effectively in the writing.

“My culture wasn’t extra—it was a blanket I could draw around myself, woven by my ancestors and passed down to keep me warm and safe. Was it too late to pick it up and wrap myself in it? Having ignored Lily and Maxine and all my ancestors for so long, would they listen to me now?”

Something I particularly liked was the way that theme of broken systems of communication was explored in the book, especially in relation to Avery’s apparent stubbornness in refusing to ask literally anyone (but especially her mother) for help, because when a young person is in a situation where they feel disconnected from their elders, their parents, their culture, their heritage etc., then they kind of are literally on their own & have to figure things out & make decisions on their own & that kind of precludes a) their ability to think too critically about their own perspective because they simply don’t have enough experience yet to know to do that & b) they can be afraid to share that vulnerability with other people too out of a fear of being a burden or of being confronted with that fear of a reality of them being truly alone which can also stop them from reaching out for help.

notable elements: Two additional observations from bookclub readers that I loved were:

Dani’s observation about the line “Sky Woman had fallen, but what if I jumped?” & how well it emphasizes that element of Avery changing the way the story is told or how the story ends & her taking agency & responsibility for the way her own story turns out as a way of reclaiming the agency of her people, by extension, & their ability to make & tell their own stories.

I also loved Bee’s observation about how all the adults are doing is to constantly tell the kids to stay out of the forest, stay away from those who will do them harm, rather than mobilizing to actually do something about the people/things who are causing that harm which is what Avery ends up having to do, initially by herself, & then eventually with the help of her friends, & then later the elders once things get beyond desperate.

“The forest is dangerous. You stay on the trails,” Mom said to me firmly over her shoulder.
It’s nothing, Avery, just your imagination. Stay away, though. From the nothing. That you’re imagining.

i would recommend this book to readers who are maybe new to the horror genre & want to be eased (veryyy slowlyyy) into it & who enjoy the typical YA pacing, tropes, & (particularly) writing style. The majority (I actually seemed to be the only one who didn’t) of our bookclub really liked this book but especially those who said they aren’t usually fans of horror & prefer cozier, more comfortable reads so if that’s your thing then this book may work quite well for you. this book is best read on audiobook, imo, especially if you’re struggling with the pacing like I was, but also hearing the Kanyen’kéha pronunciations was super helpful for a non-speaker like me.

“At powwows with Lily, I’d always felt the music, felt it pull at my chest. I would have liked to lose myself in it, to dance, but I’d never been taught how, a skill my mom deemed unnecessary and dangerous to have but was actually essential to part of me. Maybe it wasn’t too late to learn.
…Avoiding discomfort in the moment led to long-term regret, like never telling Key exactly how I felt. If I’d been more honest, we could have had more time together. Like, together-together. And if I’d let the powwow music pull me to my feet, I could have learned to dance.
I could have been dancing this whole time.”

final note: I probably won’t read the sequel, unless I hear something about it that makes me change my mind.

final final note: oh & I lowkey actually loved the fact that Key, a hardcore comicbook & avid superhero fan, hated Superman. 😂

CW // abduction of women & children, divorce, drowning

season: summer

music pairing: deciduous, swampy forest soundscape…

Quotes, Notes, & Annotations…

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THE UNFINISHED by Cheryl Isaacs (2024)

★ ★ ★ - Overall I thought it was a bit long with some pacing problems, but the premise & the deeper philosophy behind the story were excellent—an ideal read for horror newbies…

title: The Unfinished

genre/subgenre: YA contemporary Indigenous horror

““You only find it if it wants you,” Lily said to the window. The words sent an icy finger skating up my spine.

I had. It did.

“What if it does?” I leaned up close, lowering my voice and speaking into the small space between Lily’s head and the window. “If it wants you, what happens?”

“Oh, it calls to you.” Lily raised a trembling finger, the knuckles swollen like knots on a tree. “It gets in here.” She tapped her temple lightly, nodding. “It calls.””

my thoughts:

“My culture wasn’t extra—it was a blanket I could draw around myself, woven by my ancestors and passed down to keep me warm and safe. Was it too late to pick it up and wrap myself in it? Having ignored Lily and Maxine and all my ancestors for so long, would they listen to me now?”

“At powwows with Lily, I’d always felt the music, felt it pull at my chest. I would have liked to lose myself in it, to dance, but I’d never been taught how, a skill my mom deemed unnecessary and dangerous to have but was actually essential to part of me. Maybe it wasn’t too late to learn.

…Avoiding discomfort in the moment led to long-term regret, like never telling Key exactly how I felt. If I’d been more honest, we could have had more time together. Like, together-together. And if I’d let the powwow music pull me to my feet, I could have learned to dance.

I could have been dancing this whole time.”

further reading:

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