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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
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.msbarnesela's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Disclaimer: I’m not the target audience for this book. It’s YA, and it reads like YA, and I am not a teenager. I read this to determine whether I could use it with my students.
The plot moves quickly, and the chapters are short. The premise is compelling. The characters make sense, given the situation and setting. I wanted good things for them. They weren’t always likable, but they’re trying to survive while people are hunting them, and most of them are also dealing with puberty, so some prickliness is to be expected.
I’m not a huge fan of the style of the prose. The book is from the perspective of the main character, who is a teen boy. The way his emotions and observations are narrated feels a little too exaggerated while also being weirdly self-aware. I would have enjoyed a bit more emotional subtlety and maybe just more writing craft? But again, I’m not the target audience. And I wonder if some of the storytelling techniques are echoing oral narrative techniques that I’m just not culturally connected to.
This is a book that I will use with my students. It has references to some really terrible things (see content warnings), but none of it is graphic. Violence and sex are acknowledged but not narrated, so it’s appropriate for younger high school (and maybe mature 8th graders, with adult support to contextualize and process the traumatic parts). Stylistically and structurally, it’s probably an easy enough read for middle grades.
The plot moves quickly, and the chapters are short. The premise is compelling. The characters make sense, given the situation and setting. I wanted good things for them. They weren’t always likable, but they’re trying to survive while people are hunting them, and most of them are also dealing with puberty, so some prickliness is to be expected.
I’m not a huge fan of the style of the prose. The book is from the perspective of the main character, who is a teen boy. The way his emotions and observations are narrated feels a little too exaggerated while also being weirdly self-aware. I would have enjoyed a bit more emotional subtlety and maybe just more writing craft? But again, I’m not the target audience. And I wonder if some of the storytelling techniques are echoing oral narrative techniques that I’m just not culturally connected to.
This is a book that I will use with my students. It has references to some really terrible things (see content warnings), but none of it is graphic. Violence and sex are acknowledged but not narrated, so it’s appropriate for younger high school (and maybe mature 8th graders, with adult support to contextualize and process the traumatic parts). Stylistically and structurally, it’s probably an easy enough read for middle grades.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Child death, Cultural appropriation, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical content, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Rape, and Trafficking
One character alludes to being gang-raped (the lead-up and aftermath are briefly detailed, but not the rape itself). Another character is said to have been raped (no detail). Kidnapping, trafficking, medical experimentation, and murder of indigenous people are the premise of the book, so it’s to be expected that it’s referenced. Residential schools are referenced frequently, but there’s very little description of the experience of institutionalization since only one character in the book had spent any time in the schools. There is one reference to sexual arousal between two teens, but nothing happens beyond kissing, and it’s awkwardly and abruptly interrupted. Two young adult characters couple up, and the woman is mentioned to be pregnant, but it’s a passing reference. Some characters shoot people (mostly justifiable self-defense) and feel bad about it afterwards.hyggeandtea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gore, and Torture
cepbreed's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-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
4.5
“It began as a rumor, that they had found a way to siphon the dreams right out of our bones, a rumor whispered every time one of us went missing, a rumor denounced every time their doctors sent us to hospitals and treatments centers never to return.”
So much about this book is traumatizing, it’s so hard to read. I say that, but no matter how evil the atrocities translated onto the paper I couldn't stop reading because of how beautifully Cherie Dimaline writes. Each coming-to story makes my heart physically ache, I feel like I know these characters and each of their lives is so personal to me. Thank you Dimaline for bringing them to life on these pages. I also loved having chapter titles. I feel like so many books forego them these days in favor of just the name of the POV character or nothing at all. Another element essential to the story and my enjoyment of it was all the foreshadowing. While in the dilapidated Four Winds the women of their group tell their stories, all of which are a dark premonition of the events of the following days. Those moments were harrowing. I love how Dimalinen made sure to highlight the voices of those women, and bring awareness to the mistreatment many like them suffer because of their presenting gender. The class on indigenous fiction that I read this book for has opened my eyes entirely to a whole new genre of books. I am unsure if I would've enjoyed this book as much as I did if I read it outside of a classroom context because my professor always offers very valuable insight on certain indigenous traditions that enriched the books meaning. For example the legend of the rougarou and its application to Minerva's story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, and Misogyny
Minor: Pregnancy
carminajavier's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Child death, Racism, and Death
booksthatburn's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
THE MARROW THIEVES speculates that, given the opportunity and incentive, settlers would do what they’ve always done and steal the very dreams from the bones of Indigenous people in a last, desperate attempt to save themselves. And it won’t work. It’s not dystopian, nor apocalyptic, but five-minutes-in-the-future speculative fiction because the necessary backstory is the real history that’s already happened. The “generic dystopia” version would include a factory tour and a lot more gore, rather than this (much better) story of a community trying to stay together. It’s wholly uninterested in gazing at the machinery of pain, but is focused on community, memory, and surviving long enough to have a chance at thriving.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Genocide
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Murder, Death, Rape, Gun violence, Cannibalism, and Child death
Minor: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Ableism, Excrement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Confinement, Vomit, and Death of parent
offbrandclubsoda's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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
5.0
I absolutely loved this book! It is beautifully written and kept me engaged the whole time. The world-building and story telling is excellent. Cannot recommend enough!
Spice level: 🌶.5/5
Spice level: 🌶.5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Grief, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Torture
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit
Content warning: Residential Schoolssonygaystation's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
I really, really liked this. It takes a familiar genre of YA post-climate change dystopian fiction and makes it fresh and interesting with indigenous characters and a compelling narrator in Frenchie. One of the things I struggle with most with dystopian fiction is that it so often feels like the things that make a world dystopian are hinged on how white people (myself, of course, included in this grouping) view and interact with the world. Lots of the things white characters experience in dystopian novels are things BIPOC experience right here and right now. It feels kind of telling that so many of the 1- and 2-star reviews I see on this book are overwhelmingly from white people. I think every aspect of this book feels infused with Dimaline, her culture, and her identity. I see it reflected in the story-telling, the entire plot, and the relationships of the characters with each other. The dystopian aspect more a backdrop for the characters, this book is overwhelmingly about the things you do for the people you love, and how you continue to connect and build community with each other when the world tries its hardest to extinguish you. It's pretty brutal in parts and it doesn't shy away from the nuances of systemic mistreatment of First Nations, indigenous, and Native people at the hands of white oppressors, but it ends timely and hopeful and packs a pretty intense punch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Torture
Minor: Animal death
cnohero's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I found this story very dark and heart breaking. I was very well written I just didn't enjoy the plot or storyline.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Hate crime
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, and Sexual content
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