All I See Is Violence lives up to its title – this is a heart-wrenching piece of historical fiction that tracks the ripple effects of evil and ongoing cycles of violence that Indigenous Americans have faced.

We follow three connected perspectives 100 years apart, all filled with pain and loss. Two of the narrators are women, and they both are fighters in their own way - they explore their feelings of justice and righteousness, and also motherhood.

Little Wolf is a Cheyenne hunter, and she grapples with the morality of becoming a warrior and taking lives to protect her people. Nancy Swiftfox is her descendant and a history professor, navigating her legacy and bearing the burden of violence on her family.

The third perspective is General Custer, who is ruthlessly leading the charge to wipe out Native Americans and feels certain of his victory. This narration is definitely the most laborious to read – I had to push through my disgust.

Little Wolf and Nancy witness the violence of all the men in their lives, and how folks with the best intentions are forced to attack to protect those they love. Nancy in particular witnesses the ongoing impact of hatred, and her storyline and the attitudes of people she encounters don’t always feel so far from 1876. 

There’s a beautiful throughline of determination to remember all that would be lost and carrying it with you. To know that you are your people and you are in charge of your own legacy.

I did wish for a bit more distinctness within the narrative voices. They all had vastly different wants and needs and thought processes, but their narration felt very similar - to the point where it wouldn’t have been obvious who was speaking without the context.

There was also a bit of an abrupt ending – I felt like there was more to say here, but I drifted away from this read a little shell-shocked by grief.

CW: war, genocide, racism, colonization, death (parent/child), gun violence, suicide, rape, animal death, hate crime, body horror, grief, misogyny, pregnancy, infidelity, infertility, vomit

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!

(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)