Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

118 reviews

lilliana_blackstar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Amazing. This story is pretty fast-paced, a crime-mystery combined with a coming of age story and a search for identity and belonging. Main character is half white, half Ojibwe Native, has just graduated high school, about to start college. The small community she is a part of is experiencing a wave of drug addiction among the youth, and now people are dying. Main character gets caught up in an FBI investigation because she wants to help, but ends up in a situation where she is keeping secrets from everyone, and not sure who to trust. At the same time, the book is an exploration of heritage, family, faith, community, and cultural  life of the Ojibwe community of Michigan's upper peninsula.

Content warnings: gun violence, drugs, sexual assault, death, generational trauma

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Gun violence, Sexual content, Car accident, Racism, and Rape

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

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

5.0

I listened to the audio and the narration was excellent. Angeline Boulley does a great job of balancing the informational text about Ojibwe culture and the story and weaving its importance into who the characters are. It felt equal parts new adult, coming of age, family drama, mystery/thriller, and social commentary. I was engaged throughout the whole book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Colonisation, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism

katewithtea's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Gun violence, Sexual content, Grief, Rape, Drug abuse, Car accident, Colonisation, Sexism, Death, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Vomit

squinch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexism, Car accident, Rape, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Drug use, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Stalking, Suicide, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Death

insanebookperson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Drug use, Alcohol, Body shaming, Confinement, Kidnapping, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Murder, Vomit, Addiction, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Classism, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Violence

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Drug use, Dementia, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Rape, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Violence

katiescott's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Racial slurs

alexiconic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

a perfect mixture of real life events and impact with a fictionalized time, place, and community. the echoes of events in our world are omnipresent, but the story never felt like it “had” to match anything, or like it suffered from a need to attach to the present. 

this book had everything. good twists, a wonderful hero with her own demons and dilemmas, intricate and difficult family relations, friendship and community, and an articulation of that time of life where we try to find our purpose on earth. oh, and a thrilling crime-y plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Dementia, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Misogyny, Gun violence, Sexual content, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Deportation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Infidelity

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

Sometimes when I read a book I have a super unpopular opinion on, I have to wonder if either I or everyone else got a bugged copy of some kind (or if I'm just that much of a hater). Because no matter how hard I try, I just really, genuinely cannot understand the average/majority rating of this book?

The writing ranges from dry to pointedly (in other words, unnaturally) quotable, and the dialogue is somehow even more stilted and unrealistically grammatically flawless than the narration. A few spoken lines toward the end literally go on uninterrupted and with no stuttering or backtracking for 100+ words; virtually no one, let alone who's suffered recent repeated physical trauma, is that eloquent. Information is revealed in stilted blocks and repeated ten times over. I don't think any teenager -- or person at all -- in the history of cell phones has ever texted like the teenagers in this book are written as doing.

In terms of substance, there's a lot left to be desired as well. All of the individual narrative threads -- or at least most of them -- would make interesting stories, but here they're all kind of crammed into one unbalanced mess. Is the central plot supposed to be Daunis's complex relationship with her family members and community? Her desire to pursue a career in medicine/science and unite traditional and more modern "scientific" practices? Her recovering from and learning about the factors leading up to her best friend's sudden, tragic death? Her role as an undercover informant in an FBI investigation involving meth and her community (as much suspension of disbelief as that requires)? Her and Jamie's relationship? A general critical overview of the treatment of Indigenous women in American and Canadian society? It's never really decided, and so we jump awkwardly from one to the other without more natural transitions or better multitasking, leading to really overall odd pacing.

The general emotional pacing never quite hits either. A significant medical detail about the protagonist is made explicit for the first time 70% in and never serves any real relevance (and is outright contradicted or ignored at other times). Major traumatic events like the murder of Daunis's best friend and

her being raped by a friend's father

are brushed off like minor hindrances -- there's no "right" way to react to trauma, but it feels so strange for the plot to just trudge on with no in-depth reflection, as though these things (particularly the latter) have been carelessly thrown in just to add to Daunis's hardships.

The characters -- including, perhaps especially Daunis -- lack depth, whittled down to one trait (not even one that is shown, but told... multiple times). The supporting cast especially kind of blends together as a result of that weird pacing and unrealistic, stilted dialogue. I couldn't get a real sense of any of their motivations, so the culprit reveal and relationships all feel more than lackluster. In that regard, the romance is particularly egregious, even putting aside the core issues with

a relationship between a 22-year-old government agent (as much questionable as that is in and of itself) and an 18-year-old college student he's directly supervising in an investigation

.

Overall, quite disappointing execution of multiple interesting premises, and I remain bewildered by the overwhelmingly positive response. Perhaps it was a great book for many others, but nothing about it ended up clicking or sitting well with me.

(Also, urine, even your own, is not actually sterile! Please do not use it as a substitute for hydrogen peroxide. I know this is set in 2004 -- as little as there is to solidly ground it there -- and a lot of people believe that myth even today, but it just feels... irresponsible to include in a book like this, especially framed as an objective valuable fact.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Addiction, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Infidelity, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Car accident, and Child abuse

deepcurvesahead's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, Car accident, Drug abuse, and Rape

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Misogyny, and Sexual content