Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

308 reviews

lawbooks600's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Representation: Biracial (half white and half Native American,) Native American and Black side characters
Score: Eight out of ten.

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angelline Boulley circled my recommendations for months till now, and I thought no library would ever get it until a library got it. The book sat there on a display shelf till I picked it up, glanced at the blurb and headed in with high expectations, and when I closed the final page, it was thrilling. Where's Warrior Girl Unearthed?

It starts with Daunis living like she's split between her home and the Ojibwe reservation, where nothing happens in the opening pages save for her recounting her life in 2004, but everything changes after those pages when her best friend dies from a murder. Daunis joins an FBI investigation, but she starts hers as more deaths happen, and that is where the story shines in many ways. The pacing is mostly engaging and suspenseful as I see Daunis trying to discover who is the murderer, unintentionally stumbling upon another mystery on who is smuggling drugs in the Ojibwe community. Still, Boulley could've trimmed filler pages, of which there are around 100, to tighten her creation. There are not one, but two plots, adding to my enjoyment without being overwhelming or disjointed, but the narrative falters with its characters with their lack of relatability and the sheer number of them. Boulley could've removed them. The writing style is mostly okay but sometimes there are information dumps (which I found detracted from the central plot) and Boulley could've held back and instead improved the flow. I liked learning about Native American (is that the right term?) culture and medicines (no appropriation here,) a far cry from Indigenous Australian ones and the climax and conclusion ties everything on a high note.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, Car accident, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Death, Suicide, Grief, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Drug use, Blood, Sexism, and Addiction

Full trigger warnings: Death and murder of a friend, another person by suicide from a gun shot in the past and a grandmother, blood, grief and loss depiction, car crash, gun and axe violence, physical assault and injury, fire, racist and sexist slurs, racism, sexism, cheating, pregnancy, alcohol and drug use, abuse and addiction, hospitalisation

barbarajean's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Murder and Suicide

linneak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

jordansmoot's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Drug abuse, and Violence

kendrasreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious

5.0

Loved this one. I understand others feeling that it was a bit lengthy or had some rushed parts and I can see that. Overall this was such a wonderful dive back into YA contemporary for me.

So glad I listened to it and got to hear pronunciations that I likely would’ve otherwise botched on my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Addiction, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Racial slurs

jennireadsmaybe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

This is the first book in a long time to have me full on sobbing through most of it. Angeline Boulley has a talent unlike anyone else; knowing this was her debut makes me think I'm not at all prepared for the emotions I will have reading the follow up in the series. 

Representation is never a monolith, but the representation in Firekeeper's Daughter is not only lived but also a look at the horrors caused by settler colonialism in America. Daunis's community was at once heartfelt and compassionate and wracked with corruption. 

Y'all when I say this book was chock full with plot twists and surprises. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time reading it. If you're into mysteries, atmospheric writing, and stories that are a gut punch, you should pick up Fire Keeper's Daughter

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Grief, Suicide, Drug use, Death, and Addiction

lauren_r's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

taylormoore's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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, Sexual assault, Rape, Drug abuse, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Addiction, Racism, and Death

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

The book is quite dark, and features themes of betrayal, drugs, and sexual assault. It’s also hopeful with strong community themes! Overall, it was quite complicated and I enjoyed it - the twists were somewhat predictable but the writing was compelling. I also appreciated the strong incorporation of Anishinaabe culture and the Great Lakes region. I could’ve done without the romance plot line, but as another commenter pointed out it’s YA and a younger audience probably likes it more than I do - I thought the themes stood up on their own without it. I did appreciate that

they went their own ways at the end and didn’t end up together just for the heck of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Rape, Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical content and Colonisation

Minor: Toxic relationship and Death of parent

journalsmarts's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this book. Daunis was such a lively character, and I was really interested in her investigation. Boulley expertly balanced the fictional story with the very real statistics and experiences of Native American women. 

I think the book starts off a little bit slow, but it picks up and just snowballs extremely fast. With that said, I think all the "slowness" is necessary, as there's a lot of plot threads to set up and I think they were all well-tied in the end.

Edit: I forgot to add this in the original, but check the content warnings. There's some heavy stuff in here, and I really wish I had known about some of it beforehand. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Drug abuse, Suicide, Medical content, Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, and Sexual assault