Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Firekeeper's Daughter

but overall I loved the representation and learning about the tribes in that area! It was interesting reading Daunis being caught between two worlds-as a mixed race individual myself I always learn and heal when reading about other people’s experiences as such! The author did a great job of pulling you into her life and showing her pride!

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sunnymashi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

I am utterly speechless. This book covered so many themes and effectively showed how interconnected seemingly disconnected different topics and areas are (I am aware this is very vague but there’s just so many topics this book covers- particularly with respect to the cultural context of the Ojibwe community). Additionally, Daunis was such a thoughtful, brilliant, and passionate character who was constantly surprising me with her insight and cleverness. I also admired how real she felt and how perceptive she was about the world and events around her- it was so clear with how she made sure to humanize the people around her rather than only seeing them for flaws. From the writing to the plot to the characters to the themes, it is so clear that Angeline Boulley put all of her heart and soul into crafting this… also for this to be a debut novel astounds me because this was so expertly created.
Although I had slight difficulty keeping up with all of the lore dropped as the narrative progressed, I think that was the point. You can’t just jump to conclusions based on one string- you have to consider the whole system at play. Just another thing to add to this book’s captivating quality- you have to read it and sit with it before you truly grasp the full meaning.

Also small side note- I do wish we got more clarity about the way the Sault Superiors team works and that the romance with Jamie was more gradually built up because at some points in the middle I was slightly confused about how Daunis and Jamie got to that level of closeness and trust- however it did get remedied by the moments they had together and the tension of the fast paced third and fourth parts of the book testing their connection and bringing them close together.

All in all, this has to be one of the best thrillers I have read and I’m ecstatic to know that there is a second book to this one1 THOUGH I MUST NOTE THAT BEFORE YOU PICK THIS UP… This book does cover a lot of potentially triggering topics and themes, so I would suggest reviewing those and evaluating your mental space before diving into this book. I might add/edit this more as I reflect, but to wrap this up… truly one of the best books I’ve read this year.

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meat_muffin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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crystalsparkles's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Wow, I learned so much from this story. Thank you to the author for sharing it.

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mirrorstorm_'s review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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djreads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Going into this book, I had no idea this was a thriller, so that was definitely a surprise. But despite my aversion to mysteries, this book sucked me in.
Each chapter left me hungrily wanting more and there were deep scenes that evoked strong emotions from me. The representation of grief I thought was done really well as well as the PTSD the character was experiencing; though it wasn’t named that, the symptoms were visceral and evocative, and it felt believable, not a laundry list from WebMD. I’m not indigenous, so I can’t speak to the representation of a native tribe, though I think I learned more about tribe systems and laws. And with the ending, that wasn’t quite happy or sad, we got just a taste of the injustices indigenous tribal members face to this day.
Though I felt empathy for the main character, there were times I didn’t like her. I felt like she slipped into the “not like other girls” category like a lot of YA protagonists have a tendency to do. She acted like she wanted to speak up for women, but she called other girls dating her brother’s friends “angler fish” and judged them way too harshly.
I also think the pacing was slightly off. The first two thirds of the book was slow to medium paced, but still enjoyable. In the last third, lots of action came seemingly out of nowhere and it felt like we were racing to keep up until the end. If the pacing could’ve been evened out a little more, I think it would’ve made for an even more enjoyable read.

However, I did love this, and I do recommend it! It kept me on my toes and taught me a few lessons, while being mostly believable.

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