Excellent book
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Daunis is a young Ojibwe woman living on Sugar Island in Michigan. Recently, in her community, there’s been a rash of meth related deaths. She is contacted by the FBI to become a confidential informant to try to get to the bottom of who is manufacturing the meth. This book addresses many of the current issues Native Americans are experiencing on the reservations and in their communities. I liked that it was a contemporary look at their culture, most books about Native Americans are based way back when. I also liked that it takes place in MI, that’s where I live and you don’t see many books based here. I was also able to envision the places she was talking about and going which made the book even more enjoyable. I also realized that I don’t know a lot about Native culture even though I’m surrounded by cities, rivers, and roads that come from their languages.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Wow.
"Love means wanting you to have a good life, even if I'm not in it." ~ Firekeeper's Daughter Wow this was surprisingly good!! I know this is categorized as Young Adult but it felt more like a literary coming-of-age. I guess this is because the self discovery and community-discovery feel so relevant to people of any age. I think the narrative also feels mature. One of the main characters is a working adult, and there is a mystery to solve that feels imminent and serious. The characters were so real and developed! I was drawn in from the very beginning and really cared about them as they grew and stumbled. And the language was so vivid. I loved the descriptions of food, traditions, and family history. I'm not a huge mystery reader and I usually prefer YA Fantasy over YA Realistic Fiction. So I was very happy to have enjoyed this as much as I did.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Amazing!
This was such a great read! It has a strong female role with a focus of an indigenous woman. It keeps you wanting to read all night. Definitely one of my new favorite books.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
solid debut YA mystery/thriller
(4.5 stars rounded up to a 5) Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a debut YA contemporary mystery/thriller featuring indigenous teens. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at fourteen hours and is narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc. We follow our main character with a first-person point-of-view. Daunis Fontaine is a biracial, unenrolled Ojibwe woman, living in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, who was a star hockey player in high school. After several family tragedies, she decides to defer her enrollment at the University of Michigan to spend her freshman year at a local college in order to care for her fragile mother. Things start looking up when she meets Jamie, a charming new recruit on her brother's hockey team. But then Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she's roped into a criminal investigation, and agrees to go undercover investigating a string of meth-related deaths in her community. I was very surprised that this was the author's debut novel! She has a really great voice her and her prose is both super readable but also lyrical. This hit me really hard in my emotions, more than I had expected in a YA book. But it was really well done. Maybe it leans a little more New Adult than Young Adult for me? I really enjoyed listening to all of the indigenous stories and descriptions of natural medicine in this book. Daunis is in a rough spot in a lot of ways, and I understand why she feels like such an outsider even though she routinely shows how deeply connected she is to her heritage. I'm going to read pretty much anything Boulley publishes in the future. Tropes in this book include: own voices Indigenous representation CW: drugs (addiction, abuse, selling, manufacturing), gun violence, grief, dead parent (referenced), abusive parents, sexual assault (on-page, mentioned), racism, kidnapping, drugging, victim blaming, fat phobia
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
My new favorite book
I read this book back in the summer of 2021, and I high recommend it. this book of filled with everything that one could love. There’s romance, crime, murder, cultural significance, coming of age, betrayal, and so much more. Even all the English teachers at my school are passing this book around bc of how good it is. I wish i could read this book for the first time again.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Strong characters and true character development!
Daunis is looking forward to college and her future. She’s attending with her best friend Lily. They’re both descendants of members of the Tribe Council who are Native American. She befriends a new hockey player that just moved to town. His name is Jamie and he’s good at avoiding answering questions about his personal life. When a murder-suicide affects Daunis, she’s asked to help the undercover investigation to catch and stop the drug dealing happening in their community. She reluctantly and cautiously becomes an FBI informant. Daunis worries that she’ll betray her people by not helping the FBI see the good in her community, only the drug issues. A wonderful glimpse of a piece of Native American life, language and culture. Strong characters, true character development and the surrounding mystery pulled me deep into the story and it’s still sticking with me days later. Betrayal, deception, mistrust, broken family, violence, loyalty (sometimes misplaced), and manipulative behavior are all parts of this book. 4 stars!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Absolutely captivating!
Firekeeper's Daughter is an absolutely amazing story about Daunis. It follows her story including loss, secrets, culture, and personal issues. Not only is the writing wonderfully done, but many tough subjects are addressed in a beautiful and understandable way. A must read for anyone!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Amazing Read!
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley was an amazing read, and I can’t wait to read more of her books! It kept me intrigued the whole way through, loved the twists and turns, and was a great way to show off Native culture. This book, while long, had many great qualities to it. Its character and world building was amazing, even the side characters had amazing plots and you felt for them. At times, it felt as if I was in the book, and I was able to visualize everything, which is sometimes hard for me with books, so I was definitely impressed! The way she was able to create this world so realistically is absolutely amazing, and I am so excited for the next book. I also appreciate how she handled some pretty heavy topics, like abuse, drug use, and loss. She handled all of this and more, very delicately, but also very realistically which gave this story so much power to its words, and really showed some real world problems in an incredible way. I would recommend looking up the trigger warnings for this book, so you are prepared for the topics discussed. I also appreciated how she discussed her traditions and culture. As a Native myself, I loved seeing our culture talked about in a book, and could definitely relate to some parts of the book, which I loved. I think it is important to have books represent all cultures, since it is nice to feel seen and see people talk about things you could be going through. Overall I really recommend this book for anyone over the age of 17, since there are heavy topics, but they should be talked about, and this book is so interesting and the plot is amazing!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com