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4.4 AVERAGE
4.4 AVERAGE
Thrilling story and loved the look into such a deep culture!
In her Author's Note Boulley writes, "I sought to write about identity, loss, and injustice . . . and also of love, joy, connection, friendship, hope, laughter, and the beauty and strength in my Ojibwe community.", and that is exactly what she did. I loved the twists and turns of the plot, it kept the story exciting but it was still easy to read. I loved the relationships between the characters. The complexities of the characters made them real people, real imperfectly perfect human beings. It's easy to connect to this story because at its base level it's about community, and having each other's back.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Sooo many layers to this book! It’s a coming-of-age tale, a thriller, an homage to the resilience of Anishinaabe culture and people, a reckoning with the trauma of past and ongoing colonization, a love story. And it’s well-written, engaging, with well-rounded, realistic characters. I continue thinking about Daunis and her family long after finishing it.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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
Well-written mystery YA novel based on a Native American reservation. Definitely a page-turner
This is my first book review and I’m here to tell how disappointed I am with this book.
When you read the back cover you see an indigenous woman as the main character and a mystery to be solved with hints of science and biology and get excited.
What you read for 500 pages long is just how perfectly imperfect this character is. I was really tired of the internal misogyny. The way she looks down on girls that date hockey players, the way she sees figure skating as an inferior sport… She has the audacity to get angry for pages after pages when an undercover officer has not told her his real identity first thing?? Her daily routine was repeated so many times. She is supposed to be geeky sciency girl but she believes in little men spirits and prayers and rituals more than anything. I hope I got that little men part wrong!
Also, why was her past injury such a big deal? We already pieced it together that she plays hockey cause of his father anyway. It wasn’t really a big secret to be hinted until 400th page or so.
Lets get to the ending. Well the head of the operation was already hinted really early in the book with the expensive reno etc. I understand that not all the books need to have a happy ending and the author is trying to make a point here for the tribes struggles, but I was so frustrated that EVERYONE that was guilty got away: judge, grant, AND mike. At least she could put some more of them in jail. My preference would be grant to be honest.
All in all, I’m really frustrated and glad I’m letting it out by writing this review. I hope that Netflix will do a better job telling the story but I won’t be watching it.
When you read the back cover you see an indigenous woman as the main character and a mystery to be solved with hints of science and biology and get excited.
What you read for 500 pages long is just how perfectly imperfect this character is. I was really tired of the internal misogyny. The way she looks down on girls that date hockey players, the way she sees figure skating as an inferior sport… She has the audacity to get angry for pages after pages when an undercover officer has not told her his real identity first thing?? Her daily routine was repeated so many times. She is supposed to be geeky sciency girl but she believes in little men spirits and prayers and rituals more than anything. I hope I got that little men part wrong!
Also, why was her past injury such a big deal? We already pieced it together that she plays hockey cause of his father anyway. It wasn’t really a big secret to be hinted until 400th page or so.
Lets get to the ending. Well the head of the operation was already hinted really early in the book with the expensive reno etc. I understand that not all the books need to have a happy ending and the author is trying to make a point here for the tribes struggles, but I was so frustrated that EVERYONE that was guilty got away: judge, grant, AND mike. At least she could put some more of them in jail. My preference would be grant to be honest.
All in all, I’m really frustrated and glad I’m letting it out by writing this review. I hope that Netflix will do a better job telling the story but I won’t be watching it.
adventurous
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes