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A review by julies_reading
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
4.0
Bad things come in threes, at least for Daunis. Her uncle relapsed and died of a strange overdose and her grandmother is in a shaky state - both of which caused her to stay at home for community college instead of going away to play hockey. When the third bad thing finally comes and Daunis' best friend is shot by her meth-addicted ex in a murder-suicide, her world is shaken to its core as she is grieving and the FBI contacts her to help with their investigation of meth dealing in her native community.
This was a great YA coming-of-age mystery, especially because of its focus on the main character's Ojibwe community. This was clearly written from a place of great love. The author paints their traditions beautifully while also pointing out ways its people are harmed from outside and inside the community. Daunis' family, friends, elders, and the overall culture are so important to her, and she never stops putting them first throughout the entire story. The mystery itself is based upon a very important statistic, that Native Americans have among the highest rates in the U.S. for substance abuse. Boulley recognizes this and addresses the failures of authority figures, all while avoiding demonizing those who suffer from addiction. I really enjoyed reading from a perspective of a young woman in STEM who was very passionate about such interests, on top of being very different from the traditional "nerd" character in build. I thought that the subject of assault was handled well and realistically. The ending was heart-pounding and cathartic. At first, this seemed frightfully cliche in its depiction of teenagers, but once the plot started up, that was not as much of a problem. The romantic relationship was written well enough but I could never really get behind the imbalance of power between them, but I think the ending of that plotline was done rather well.
Overall, this was a solid YA title that I will definitely be recommending particularly for those who want to pick up more titles from native authors.
This was a great YA coming-of-age mystery, especially because of its focus on the main character's Ojibwe community. This was clearly written from a place of great love. The author paints their traditions beautifully while also pointing out ways its people are harmed from outside and inside the community. Daunis' family, friends, elders, and the overall culture are so important to her, and she never stops putting them first throughout the entire story. The mystery itself is based upon a very important statistic, that Native Americans have among the highest rates in the U.S. for substance abuse. Boulley recognizes this and addresses the failures of authority figures, all while avoiding demonizing those who suffer from addiction. I really enjoyed reading from a perspective of a young woman in STEM who was very passionate about such interests, on top of being very different from the traditional "nerd" character in build. I thought that the subject of assault was handled well and realistically. The ending was heart-pounding and cathartic. At first, this seemed frightfully cliche in its depiction of teenagers, but once the plot started up, that was not as much of a problem. The romantic relationship was written well enough but I could never really get behind the imbalance of power between them, but I think the ending of that plotline was done rather well.
Overall, this was a solid YA title that I will definitely be recommending particularly for those who want to pick up more titles from native authors.