Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Firekeeper's Daughter

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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

356 reviews

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

5.0

5/5 stars
1/5 spice (fade to black)

This was on my shelf for too long, and I'm happy I finally got to read it. I listened to the audiobook and read in tandem because I knew I needed to hear the native words I was reading. I completely forgot this was a thriller/mystery book when I started, which wasn't a bad thing, but I also really liked how the coming of age story was integrated.

I was engaged from the start but really got hooked once the mystery started picking up. Some heavy topics were discussed that could be triggering or difficult for readers younger than 16. There was some intimacy and implied sexual content, but nothing too descriptive.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it for fans of murder mystery, Native American representation, and coming of age stories.

Content Warnings

dragoninwinterfell's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

Trigger Warnings: Drug Addiction, Suicide, Murder, Sexual Assault, Racism

While Firekeeper's Daughter was written for the young adult reading level, as the trigger Warnings indicate, the novel explores very mature themes. I won't say that the themes are too mature. These are all issues that impact people of all ages and were treated realistically in this work.

The overall realism is what made this novel extremely compelling. Readers are immediately immersed in the life of Daunis Fontaine, an 18 year old young woman whose father was Native American and her mother is white. Her mixed heritage plays a major part in her daily life as she is very close to both sides of her family despite the scandal of her birth. The way Angeline Boulley balances the impacts of her maternal and paternal sides perfectly.

As far as protagonists go, Daunis was extremely compelling. She's far from perfect as she has a temper and jumps to conclusions that aren't always right, even as she is shown to be competent and learning from her mistakes. She guided the story from start to finish, going through realistic struggles as well as earned triumphs.

While we follow Daunis through her tragedies and the overarching mystery, we're introduced to a wide variety of characters who make up the community around her. Every supporting character felt just as well fleshed out as Daunis with personalities and lives that felt like they extended beyond the story being told.

The female dynamics were exceptionally well done. Daunis' friendships and familial relationships felt so authentic. They tease each other, argue, lie for both good and bad reasons, and had each other's backs. I particularly loved how sex positive the novel was, which was reflected in how the women spoke to and supported each other.

This was a solid 5 stars. I'll be going directly into the sequel.

Content Warnings

sundayfever's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

This one started out mellow but was throwing some heavy punches by the end. A lot of dark stuff happens, but this is an unflinching tale of things that really happen. Really love the main character. A few pieces felt unrealistic, like the ending with the love interest, but maybe she's just much more mature than most teenagers.

Content Warnings

cfreeman129's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

bajablastbestie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

thepaperwitch's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a great read. It is richly detailed with Native culture that invites you in to learn more about it and the people who still keep their traditions alive despite all the harm that has been done to their communities. It is insightful, relevant, and has a good mystery plot that blends together pretty well. There are a number of modern issues that affect Native communities that the author addresses, such as substance abuse, the exceptionally high rates of violence towards Native females, tribal laws, per cap money, blood quantum, distrust and weariness of police and Federal agents, the destruction that the government has caused Native families and their struggle to be made whole and maintain their traditions. I thought these were well balanced with the overall story.

I will say that towards the middle, I felt like it was a little slow and somewhat bogged down by Daunis' slightly repetitive internal monologue, but once it moved past that, I couldn't put it down. Daunis felt like a well built character with flaws, strengths, struggles, and triumphs. I think everyone should read this book.

Content Warnings

lakajira's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? No

4.75

Content Warnings

sometimes_ready's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Be prepared for a nonlinear experience that may at times trick you into thinking you missed a page. But dive in.

I have so much love for the authors that pull off streams of consciousness throughout a plot, and Boulley did it well.

Not a light read, but so worth the weight.

Content Warnings

shydragon's review

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I was not expecting to have

rape

come up in this book. I knew what the premise of the book was and that there was drug use and murder but that was just too much for me, especially because it was so obvious I got pissed off at Daunis for walking right into it. After that I was pretty disengaged and it just got worse from there. I was not prepared for any of this in a YA book and I think there needed to be some trigger warnings at the beginning.

Content Warnings

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