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graciffer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Animal death and Pregnancy
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
4.0
Content warnings: genocide, violence, blood, gore, eye injury, rape, kidnapping, residential schools, colonial trauma, racism, nonconsensual medical experimentation, torture, pedophilia, death, murder, death of parent, death of loved one, death of child, grief
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
justinethereadingqueen's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Death, Genocide, and Colonisation
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Pros:
- the writing is gorgeous! if i highlighted books, it would be filled with highlighter. Some sentences and metaphors were just stunning, it's really poetic whilst still being grounded, brutal without being gratuitous, and really poignant too. The plot was perfect too, enough happening to keep it moving without it being rushed, the final twist totally surprising me.
- the characters were perfect too, especially Miigwans, Rose and the narrator, Francis/Frenchie himself. The trauma they've been through is obvious though not leaned heavily on, and Frenchie's crush is a reminder that he's still so young.
- the worldbuilding is original and brilliant, hugely awful but with hope through the Native Americans' survival.
- i loved the inclusion of Story, the language, the reverence the younger ones show their elders and the learning and how the community pulled together. I've never read a book by a Native American but this was a brilliant reason for why I should find more of them.
(- the worldbuilding and beautiful language reminded me loosely of Station Eleven, and that can only be a very good thing!)
Cons:
-
- sometimes the worldbuilding verged on a bit too tell-y for me and a little unoriginally presented maybe? but it was a minor detail
(not a pro or con, but I was suprised by how often the narrator/author used 'Indians' to describe themselves. I really thought that was considered a slur and Native American the "proper" term? something to look into i guess)
Overall, a wonderful book, i think maybe my first 5 star of the year, definitely want to read more by this author!
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Torture and Pregnancy
overall tone is hopeful, but some brief but very heavy bits, particularly with the sexual assaultshieldbearer's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
booksthatburn's review
- 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
5.0
The term "found family" is both accurate and inadequate for the character relationships. They're the remnants of a much larger and more complex community which was hunted, shattered, and even now is pursued. They were part of a community generally even before they found each other specifically, and now they're all they have left. Frenchie lost his parents before the novel opens, and loses his brother in the opening chapter. He finds a group of traveling Indigenous people, on the move in order to stay alive. I like Miig as a leader, he's doing his best and focusing on teaching the younger ones what they'll need to know. He and Minerva are working to pass on their culture, balancing the need to understand with the maturity of the individual children.
A lot of the worldbuilding is conveyed though stories, either “Story” told nightly by Miig, or the characters’ “creation stories”, each person’s own history of how they came to be with the group. It lends a ponderous air to these details, where the reader’s desire to know more synchronizes with Frenchie’s hunger for any scrap of connection he can get. From the premise, I anticipated a scene in the factories, detailing the dystopia through voyeuristic gaze into the mechanisms used to cause their suffering. It doesn’t do that, thankfully, it stays focused on the characters, their journey, and their community. The physical bits of worldbuilding are in the places they pass through, the abandoned structures, and the garbage on the ground, the detritus that marks the wreckage of the world that was and the dangerous other people who also inhabit it.
I love the way the plot is unhurried. The endless travel is devoid of meaningful landmarks except for detritus. The pivotal scenes mostly hinge either on encounters with others or from stories. This changes toward the end after an encounter irrevocably changes the status quo and prompts them to change how they're running. I love the ending, it would be the best part if not for how great the rest of the book is.
Graphic: Genocide and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol
dearbloveme's review against another edition
- 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
Cherie Dimaline pens a beautiful prose, in which she fuses the stories of genocides past with the mysticism of Indigenous spirituality to present the story of a survival of a group of Indigenous people.
The hardest part of this book is my knowledge of the plight of people of Indigenous decent. Seeing all those horrors reanimated in this book and mixed with the familiarity of the enemy made this a difficult one for me, and I usually love a good traumatic read.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Cannibalism
jourdanicus's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault
_savannahreads_'s review
- 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
4.75
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Colonisation