himpersonal 's review for:

Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius
4.25
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wanted to wait until I read it a second time before writing a review. I didn't know anything about the  Sámi who are the Indigenous population of Sweden. I had to wonder the entire time if Elsa is a true Indigenous name, and that was distracting (thanks Disney 🤦🏻‍♀️). At least her reindeer's name wasn't Sven 😅.

Something tells me that this fiction has happened far too many times in different iterations. Certainly, we know similar have and continue to happen to the Indigenous in the US and very likely anywhere else the Indigenous have resided.

Lots of moral conflicts to walk through, lots of frustration with the system that makes it impossible for police to be effective, which leads to me wondering how competent police are or how morally compassionate they can be, and the courage of one youth over that of all the adults who persecute and support her.

This being a trilogy, I'm looking forward to the next book.