Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

103 reviews

brianna_moye's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

lzaz87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual violence

ladykatka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This has been on my radar for awhile and I'm glad I finally read it. I understand why it is on the reading list in Canadian schools. This is quite a powerful read and very emotional. I listened to the audiobook and the music between chapters leaves you with a deep feeling of dread. Well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Death, Genocide, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Racism, and Violence

alex_wordweaver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Blood, Cannibalism, and Child death

pcharp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Rape and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death and Death

thebookkeepers's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I heard the author speak about this book at an event, so I went in with a premise, which was actually the big reveal. Knowing this helped me understand the story for it was very ambiguous and not clearly laid out what was happening to the indigenous people of this world right away. I read this with my 15-year-old son and while he loved it, I found it very slow-paced and not entertaining. The ending scenes were the most exciting and set this book up to continue more in the series. I think book 2 will cover more of what I expected book 1 to be about (victorious indigenous magic wielders overthrowing their oppressors). 

LGBTQ+ rep: M/M romance for side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Child death, Animal death, and Sexual assault

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Trafficking, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Medical trauma, and Hate crime

Moderate: Confinement and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug use and Cannibalism

srjennings's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

Great book! The narrator of the audio was very good.  The plot is compelling and ties together history of oppression/ genocide of native peoples and an imagined future where they're hunted for their use to save white people.  The characters are complex. Not all native people are good and not all the whites are bad.  The main character,  Frenchie, does things that are wrong or at least questionable and struggles with huge amounts of trauma, loss,  and violence, as do the others.  The culture and history of indigenous people is interwoven throughout the story.  
Overall a great story and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, and Mental illness

alyssabookrecs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed reading this. I can see how others would not (there were some aspects that had me questioning, such as the romance between the narrator and a supporting character), but overall this was a 4.5 ⭐️ read, if not a 5 ⭐️ read.

I believe that this book is not meant to have a fully closed conclusion. The arc of the book does not operate like the arc of other YA dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. Instead, we are witness to the lives of Indigenous youth, new adults, and Elders on the run, as we learn their coming to stories, who they meet along the way, and the loss not only in the moment but also in the years being on the run.

I questioned French being the narrator, but ultimately he proved that not all of narration needs to be “do do do”: it is also learning, observing, synthesizing, building trust.

I bawled like a baby at the end. It was really lovely, the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Trafficking, War, Genocide, and Racism

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Genocide, Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Colonisation, Addiction, War, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Vomit, Excrement, Gun violence, and Stalking

Residential schools, global warming, pollution, starvation, disease.