Reviews tagging 'Death'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

677 reviews

avalon_green's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I love this book. It's enticing and fun, while being inspiring and informative. The storyline is so well done, the layers of teh story and characters is great. I cannot recommend this book enough, it's a new classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Addiction, Suicide, and Sexual assault

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Going into this book, I had no idea this was a thriller, so that was definitely a surprise. But despite my aversion to mysteries, this book sucked me in.
Each chapter left me hungrily wanting more and there were deep scenes that evoked strong emotions from me. The representation of grief I thought was done really well as well as the PTSD the character was experiencing; though it wasn’t named that, the symptoms were visceral and evocative, and it felt believable, not a laundry list from WebMD. I’m not indigenous, so I can’t speak to the representation of a native tribe, though I think I learned more about tribe systems and laws. And with the ending, that wasn’t quite happy or sad, we got just a taste of the injustices indigenous tribal members face to this day.
Though I felt empathy for the main character, there were times I didn’t like her. I felt like she slipped into the “not like other girls” category like a lot of YA protagonists have a tendency to do. She acted like she wanted to speak up for women, but she called other girls dating her brother’s friends “angler fish” and judged them way too harshly. 
I also think the pacing was slightly off. The first two thirds of the book was slow to medium paced, but still enjoyable. In the last third, lots of action came seemingly out of nowhere and it felt like we were racing to keep up until the end. If the pacing could’ve been evened out a little more, I think it would’ve made for an even more enjoyable read.

However, I did love this, and I do recommend it! It kept me on my toes and taught me a few lessons, while being mostly believable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, Death, Classism, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Murder, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment

gummybearlife's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Death, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Racism

Moderate: Rape and Murder

brittanymorgan52's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I am obsessed with this book. It’s so so good. The storytelling. The learning of Ojibwe culture. The fast paced last parts of the book. So good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Minor: Rape

jessapplecrisp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I loved this book. So different than what I expected. Boulley does such a great job of balancing dark and challenging topics with hopeful moments and lovable characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Addiction

carolinemwatson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death

yvanngo's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

It starts a little slow, but once it picks up it's good. The last 3 hours was a plot twist after another, so that was a little aggravating. I also listened to it at 1.25 speed because I don't think I would've been able to finish it if I kept on listening at its original pace.

• We never find out Jamie's real identity.
• Grant never got punished for sexual assault and it makes my blood boil.

TS: Epiphany

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

cass_ward's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death

foresturken's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Grief, Addiction, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Racial slurs, Drug use, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Addiction, and Blood

banned_book's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

If sentences such as, "Secret Squirrel Lesson #4: All's fair in love, hockey, and meth" give you the ick, this book will make you wince repeatedly and often. Boulley relies entirely too much on inserting clunky politics into tragic backstories, as well as Daunis realizing that she's referring to someone in past tense to evoke emotion. It becomes tiresome after the third or fourth time. Either I'm too old to be reading books marketed for this age group, or the author is too old to be depicting this age group accurately. Recent high school graduates don't giggle like that. They don't label or categorize certain aspects of their lives into boxes like Hockey World. And they certainly don't say things like, "After a while, Crocodylus niloticus." Native representation in literature is good, and I wanted to like this very much. I just couldn't when I could predict the YA tropes/cringe beat for beat.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse