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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
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
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A mystery centered on the MMIW crisis. While the writing style took me some time to get into, I loved being in the main character’s head as she tried to solve the mystery and help women. The day to day aspects of this book were my favorite: life on the reservation and a focus on female friendships.
I prefer Cash Blackbear, I think, as a protagonist but this had some PLOT in the second half.
If you liked this, go watch Catch the Fair One.
If you liked this, go watch Catch the Fair One.
medium-paced
This was a harrowing one. I seek voices like Rendon's, and these are stories that need to be told, but it lost something in the storytelling style for me. The prose is choppy an d
Quill was, perhaps intentionally, hard to really like. I grew up in Minnesota, so it was fun to see references to some familiar places and events (like the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth). BUT that also made the story heavier and more real for me.
I think this would have been a 3.5 star book for me, but it lost me at the way such a heavy story felt tied up with a pretty bow like a movie.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Quill was, perhaps intentionally, hard to really like. I grew up in Minnesota, so it was fun to see references to some familiar places and events (like the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth). BUT that also made the story heavier and more real for me.
I think this would have been a 3.5 star book for me, but it lost me at the way such a heavy story felt tied up with a pretty bow like a movie.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t exactly enjoy the read, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s about the important issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. In fact, I think the author does a fantastic job of portraying just how mundane this horror is treated. Everyday life of running, cooking, kids is interrupted but not ground to a halt by women suddenly missing. It’s white men in industrial “man camps” but it’s also communities not valuing women and the historic violence of systems that created conditions for domestic violence, housing insecurity, drug abuse and mental health issues. And then it’s lack of funding and interventions that lack cultural competence. The author does a great job of depicting the sum of all of this, parallel to day-to-day life on a reservation. Minnesota friends, this is a good read for you.
Beyond the setting being brutal, I can’t say I enjoyed the protagonist Quill. It had me yelling at my kindle for her to just call people back so they knew she was safe. Girl, lock your car doors! It’s true that Crow can’t quite understand what Quill is going through, but he was still in the right when he confronted Quill for being impulsive and putting the family in danger. Does this distract from the strengths of the book? Probably not for everyone but definitely for me. But I know I’ll have this book on my mind for a while anyway.
Beyond the setting being brutal, I can’t say I enjoyed the protagonist Quill. It had me yelling at my kindle for her to just call people back so they knew she was safe. Girl, lock your car doors! It’s true that Crow can’t quite understand what Quill is going through, but he was still in the right when he confronted Quill for being impulsive and putting the family in danger. Does this distract from the strengths of the book? Probably not for everyone but definitely for me. But I know I’ll have this book on my mind for a while anyway.
emotional
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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation