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A review by t0rixoxo
Rez Ball by Byron Graves
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I don’t usually read sports books, as I’ve never really cared for sports outside of track, but I decided to give this one a go. As my first sports fiction book, I think it did a good job.
The book is about an Ojibwe teenager named Tre Braun, whose older brother died in a car accident a year ago. As a way to keep his memory going, he invests his time into playing basketball and eventually works his way up the basketball ranks. His main goal is for his high school team to make it to the state championship, as they would be first Native team to do so.
I was a bit surprised at how enjoyable this book was. While it does mainly focus on basketball, there’s plenty of moments where it focuses on Tre’s life as a teenager on a reservation. It was quite a refresher to go from tense basketball games to Tre dealing with average teenage things. Dealing with the grief of losing his brother, romance, parties.
Though, there was only one subplot I felt was unnecessary. While I do love Khiana, I feel her heavy presence in the first half of the book was a bit unnecessary. She pretty much only existed to be Tre’s love interest, and once that wasn’t happening she very quickly became a background character. And I feel having Tre fall out with Wes over Khiana could’ve been removed from the story and nothing would’ve changed. Wes would still do his documentary clips, and he’d still contact Slam Magazine.
Overall, I’m giving this book four stars. Despite not knowing any basketball terms while reading this book, it wasn’t hard to figure out the general gist of things. Decent plot, enjoyable writing style, and characters I adore give this a solid rating in my book. <3
The book is about an Ojibwe teenager named Tre Braun, whose older brother died in a car accident a year ago. As a way to keep his memory going, he invests his time into playing basketball and eventually works his way up the basketball ranks. His main goal is for his high school team to make it to the state championship, as they would be first Native team to do so.
I was a bit surprised at how enjoyable this book was. While it does mainly focus on basketball, there’s plenty of moments where it focuses on Tre’s life as a teenager on a reservation. It was quite a refresher to go from tense basketball games to Tre dealing with average teenage things. Dealing with the grief of losing his brother, romance, parties.
Overall, I’m giving this book four stars. Despite not knowing any basketball terms while reading this book, it wasn’t hard to figure out the general gist of things. Decent plot, enjoyable writing style, and characters I adore give this a solid rating in my book. <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Racism