barnes_and_noel 's review for:

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-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

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This was my second book by William Kent Krueger, and it was just as captivating as the first.

This was a slow and steady kind of story, and it felt like each little bit I read got me more invested. These characters felt so real, and the camaraderie and love between them was so easy to feel. Even though the book is told from Odie’s perspective, there is equal time given to the other three MCs, and I felt like I had a full picture of who each of them was. 

I love a good coming of age story, and while this was definitely that, it was also so much more. Set against the historical backdrop of the Great Depression, a Native American boarding school, and a multi-state river journey, there was so much to look at, and seeing how these young characters lived in certain circumstances was eye-opening and engrossing. There are so many people they meet along their journey, and each section just made me fall more in love with this book and these 4 kids.

This was not a book that I rushed through, and I think it made the story that much better.