tatisbooks 's review for:

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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: Complicated

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Firekeepr's Daughter: 4/5

“When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present. It’s even worse when you’re angry at the person. Not just for dying. But for how.”

This took me almost two weeks to read. By no means is it easy and lighthearted. Make sure you look up TWs before you read it, but this story is so essential and captivating that it transcends genre. Anyone from any age can pick this up and love it.

Premise:
In this stunning debut from Angeline Boulley, set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, we meet 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine amongst the Native American Ojibwe community. Daunis is biracial and born through the scandal of an underage white mother and a Native American father who lost his hockey career due to an accident. She feels deeply for her Native culture but feels like she never fits in with either community.

After her uncle David’s sudden relapse and death from overdose, the news shocks the community, especially as a new hockey star, Jamie, joins the team. Daunis gets close to Jamie, but he seems to have many secrets that break loose when innocent people around Daunis start getting hurt. Due to Daunis's connections and scientific knowledge, she can be an asset to help solve the mystery of drug trafficking inside her community and its members getting hurt.

Writing & Plot:
Although this book is difficult to read due to the nature of the topics, it is so worth it. The setting was incredible, and though nobody's fault but my own and my education, this book opened up my eyes to Native American culture that I never been exposed to. Angeline Boulley also writes in such a way that nothing is confusing, even for a mystery book.

The plot itself was so captivating and had so many twists and turns. It is layered like an onion, and the reader slowly pulls back each layer to find something even wilder and breathtaking. I cried, laughed, and gasped in shock. This was a rollercoaster of a book.

My one criticism is that I think this book could have used one more round of edits. A lot was introduced that had almost nothing to do with the story. I think a few of those small paragraphs could have been taken out, but honestly, it is nothing major. I cannot wait to see what Angeline Boulley comes up with next, and she has become an auto-buy author for me.

“Inaction is a powerful choice”

Characters:
Angeline Boulley has written some of the most complex characters I have ever read. They change so much throughout the story but always seem to stay true to themselves. I don't want to spoil anything but nothing is as it seems, and as soon as you know a character, Boulley changes it up.

Conclusion:
I don't usually pick up a mystery, but this may have changed my mind. The way Boulley writes is so captivating and different it feels like a breath of fresh air. This book's plot and setting are wildly different, and I have never read anything like it. Make sure you look up TWs before reading, but Boulley does an incredible job writing traumatic scenes while staying respectful. I don't know how she does it, but please read this book. It's incredible.