The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

Review of “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones

I NEVER read horror!  I was "forced" to read this novel, because it won the Nebula Award for this year.  I have read every single novel that has won either a Hugo or a Nebula Award - about 110 novels.  This is the very first time that either a Hugo or a Nebula Award was given to a horror novel.

I had to drag myself through all the endless blood and guts -and even skip paragraphs, then whole pages, then multiple pages.  It was either that, or give up on the book entirely - and I very nearly did give up many times.  You can't read all Hugo/Nebula novels, however, if you skip even one.  It is entirely my own problem that I felt compelled to read this novel - despite it being obviously horror.

So - I cannot really objectively review this novel - or any horror novel.  These are my unobjective comments.

Rating - I am very tempted rate this book 1/2 star - but I reserve 1/2 star for books that I view as poor/failed/not-worth-reading.  Therefore, I am stuck with giving the book 1 star.

I am glad that I was "forced" to read this novel, because there is much food for thought here (on those pages when we are not confronted with endless gore).  I really should read more historical material on the issue at hand, that of the assault by settlers from Europe on the aboriginal inhabitants of these lands.

There are portions of the book that are supposed to be humorous - and long passages, even whole chapters / multiple chapters - that I did not find humorous.  Once again, my problem, not the author's (nor that of other readers) - sense of humor is very individual.  Some of my favourite authors - all science fiction authors - including Lois McMaster Bujold and Connie Willis - occasionally write novels or stories where I do not appreciate the humour.  For example, LMB wrote “A Civil Campaign” (featuring butter bugs – which I did not find funny at all) – but overall, the 17 novels of the Miles Vorkosigan series are fantastic – and 4 of them were awarded either a Hugo or Nebula Award (she also won one for a novel in the “Five Gods” series).  Likewise, CW wrote “To Say Nothing of the Dog”, which won a Hugo Award, but I did not enjoy it all – one of the worst novels to have won either a Hugo or a Nebula, in my opinion.  I will likely add “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” to my list of worst novels to have Hugo or Nebula Award – because of its horror content.

To be clear, I am not saying that horror novels should not win awards – there are a number of horror awards – (Bram Stoker, Locus – Horror, Bram Stoker, August Derleth, etc.).  BUT my preference would be that horror novels not win Nebula or Hugo awards.  Are horror novels now going to win Nobel prizes? Pulitzer prizes?  Booker Prize?  Prizes reserved for romance novels?

To summarize – please stay in your lane!

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My rating system:

Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless.  I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D).  Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+).  As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.