Firekeeper's Daughter

I really enjoyed a lot of the concepts in this book. Angeline Boulley really set out to ground a story in the Native culture that was the most familiar to her – the Ojibwe people specifically of the Sault Ste Marie area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. There is a very strong sense of place here. It takes about 50 pages to get into the story and not feel like a history and cultural lesson about the region and people and language, but once that happens the story has a propulsive power. I really liked Daunis as the main character, and her connection to her Ojibwe community and her elders, as well as to science and her white family, while not being able to be enrolled as a tribal member. The interplay between community, family, heritage and individual identity was a major theme and I was very drawn to it.The romance is a little unrealistic and honestly just distracting, and I think relatedly the denouement was a little too conspiracy and high drama for me - I think it would have allowed the rest of the book to shine if there was a little more nuance and realism there. Rather than   a 17-year-old controls a bunch of adults and teens, including his mother who is a judge   I think this really undermines that gritty reality of the majority of the book, that domestic violence and addiction are major problems in indigenous communities and this is a very low priority for law enforcement.

I was so excited for this book and it delivered, but could definitely have used some editing/tightening up. Excited to see what the Obama's will do for the TV adaptation. I appreciated how immersive the reading experience was, and that's credit to Boulley's world building and cultural teachings and sharing, but this book tried to do too much at once and didn't truly move until the last quarter. Daunis is such a fully realized character and there's so much of this book that I'll keep thinking about. Would recommend for upper high school - college - adult.

YA mystery is one of my favorite subgenres, and I thought Boulley's debut novel hit the mark of a good thriller while also having consistent character development and a strong sense of place. You can tell that the author spent years writing and refining this story and I felt fully immersed in Daunis' world, half in and half out of Ojibwe culture. The twists and turns had me reading this book late into the night.

Veronica Mars, mystery-solving, crime-solving vibes, and exploration of indigenous identity, and a cover that is something dreams are made of? Mwah! Really a strong book by Boulley. It follows a teen girl who investigates drug crimes, and while on the surface that sounds like your typical teen-solving-mysteries book, this one is so much more. There's topics like the struggle to find and solidify one's identity, there's twists and turns and some massive “HOLY SHIT” moments. I will say sometimes the plot felt a little overwhelming in all that was happening, which took away some believableness (is that a word? eh...), but hey, ya girl is cool with some flair in plots. This is just the book you should read if you like mystery and twists and turns with exploration of important topics, a little romance sprinkled in (because don't almost all novels have that?), and a kickass mc who I think a lot of people can relate to in some way or another.

You want to read this one.
Pretty sure it's YA.
We've got: a strong female POV character, sports, drama, Ojibwe and Anishinaabe culture, science, crime, suspense, romance, and a little bit of attitude.
The characters are so believable, and the plot plays out like a non-fiction account. You are there as Daunis feels shock, love, victory, and defeat.

Caution: there are both a gunshot murder and rape in this book. Neither are described in great detail, but may be a trigger for some.

This book is so, so special. I blitzed through it in a matter of hours and it spoke to me on so many levels in a way only one Indigenous person can touch another. The socio-political struggles of native identity, tribal membership, cultural knowledge, and more all within your tribe and outside of it up against the many, many issues native country faces all seems like a lot because it IS a lot, but it's perfect in capturing that muchness. There is no one native issue and I think the way this book refuses to let you forget that is good, especially for readers who don't already KNOW that.

The mystery and core of the STORY really did NOT allow me to put this book down. I simply HAD to finish it before going to sleep, even if it meant reading till 3am. SO worth it. I think this book captures the cycle of feeling caught up in an overwhelming amount of responsibility and problems that feel too big to solve yourself wonderfully.

“Love honor's your spirit. Not just the other person's but your own spirit too”

I went into this book not knowing anything about Indian tribes and now I know a whole lot more. Creating something for people who may not have felt seen before is important and Boulley has done an amazing job. Whilst this is fiction I learnt a lot about tribal communities and the culture that surrounds it. I did however find that I was struggling with what everything meant, especially at the beginning.

As for the plot, it was absolutely thrilling. It did take a 100 or so pages to get into but once it did, the stakes were high and the plot twists twisty. The narration was really enjoyable to experience and exploring the main characters own experince within her tribe. I'm both happy and furious at the ending. Some people got the justice and treatment they deserved but like in real life, many did not

It really is an amazing book and a must if you're looking to diversify your reading

Two therapy clients recommended this to me in one week, so I figured I'd better get to it ASAP! This is just so, so good. One could hardly wish for a better hero that Daunis Firekeeper, plus everything else a person could want in fantastic YA: a fast-paced plot, lovingly crafted and complex characters, zero underestimation of teenage intelligence and wisdom, and, in this case, Boulley's centering of Ojibwe history and culture as healing and resilience. There are times when her writing style feels a tiny bit didactic/overly expositional, but that's the smallest of quibbles. I bought her second book at the same time, and am glad I did, because I wanted to hear more from the Firekeeper women right away!

The setting is Sautl Ste. Marie in the UP of Michigan, but more specifically it is set in Anishinaabe people. We learn a lot about the Anishinaabe outlook on the world. That is a strength of the novel. It doesn't feel like we are on the outside looking in to this culture. It feels like Daunis is bringing us into the culture, so we see it from the inside.
Daunis is biracial and her difficult family history has a significant impact on the way many people treat her. However, there are also plenty of people that accept he for who she is. So there are side characters that I love and side characters that I hated. Many of these side characters are round characters. We see different sides of them.
The mystery is solved, but I hesitate to say there is justice. When there is so much pain, it is hard for a jail sentence to ‘make it better.' There are also multiple crimes and not everyone is charged with all of the crimes that they should be. However, the tribe does their best to bring acceptance even if justice is out of reach. This lack of justice mixed with love and acceptance makes the ending powerful. It will stick with me for a while.

Trigger Warnings!! Mainly SA
This book was amazing. I loved how much I learned during it and the social commentary. The romance also was so good and well developed. The trigger warning however was extremely hard to read and I found myself having to struggle past it. I'm not sure if it was 100% necessary, however it did serve to show the treatment of many Native women after such tragedies, and the injustice at the response.

WOW! I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! This was such a powerful and heartbreaking story, and it left me speechless. I will auto-buy anything this author publishes in the future. I can't believe this was a debut, it was so amazing.




Thank you to Henry Holt and Co., Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review.

Great opening paragraph, but downhill from there. It just didn't add up, and kept getting less and less relatable. The protagonist/narrator (age 18 or 19) is hyperprecocious, high IQ and EQ, with a maturity and sensitivity that maybe sets a good example for teen readers (this is YA, after all) but IMO more likely flies right over their heads. The ugly twist early on—the one that sets the story in motion—is both implausible and too-convenient; and so it goes, ever more so as the body count grows. At the end, the number of conspirators is just too unbelievably high. Psychopaths are rare, fortunately for us; more than five of them, in a small community, all of them living productive lives while also cooking and distributing meth (to their community), all of them completely unfazed by more and more murders -- it just didn't work for me.

There was also an unpleasant and uninformed plot element involving “hallucinogenic” mushrooms. I almost stopped reading then, but went on in the hope that Boulley was using characters' ignorance to develop an important theme... but no, the ignorance is entirely the author's and it's the sort of thing she will one day be embarrassed about.

Decent writing, and many beautiful illustrations of Native American tradition, lore, respect, as well as challenges, bump this from 2 to 3.5 stars, almost 4, but in the end I need to round down. Boulley is clearly a compassionate soul and a great writer. Her future work will be more relatable and engaging. I look forward to it.

the ending is was only thing that SLIGHTLY saved this book for me, it was so boring i was so close to dnfing at the 60% mark but i held out just because i wouldn't let myself dnf (skill issue)

this book was really slow & i was disinterested up until the book started to pick up which was around 85% (finally), i personally would not recommend this book to anyone.

it just felt like nothing happened the entire book until the mystery was revealed, this book said everything and nothing at all (not to mention the random SA towards the end of the book? it added nothing to the story i'm confused on what was that about.)

I loved this book!

It has been on my shelf for a while but once I picked it up it was hard to put down. I originally thought the main plot would be focused on the identity of the main character and while that is the main focus there was so much more to that identity development than I expected.

I connected with all the characters and was committed to the plot. It was also the first time in a while that the twists of a book actually were twists, I didn't predict what was going to happen and I didn't really want to in the way I normally do. It also taught me a lot about native culture without taking away from the plot.

Would recommend a million times over!

This book really surprised me. Partially it was because I didn???t remind
myself of the blurb before diving in, partially because it had a small focus on hockey which coincided with my re-subscription to NHL.com, partially because the plot just did not let up in terms of pace.

Our main character is a teenage girl straddling two worlds that don???t seem to want to accept her. She is sharp and vibrant in every page of the book and it felt like she was the force driving the plot along rather than the plot happening to her. She takes charge of her story as soon as events start picking up speed. One thing I didn???t love about her character is how much it is emphasised by everyone around her that she???s so good at every skill she comes across. It ended up feeling a little flat, but that???s my only drawback.

Everything else about this book was great to read. Fast plot, complicated storylines that kept me guessing, I didn???t feel like the answer to the mystery was obvious at any point. I really recommend this book to anyone interested by the blurb. It only gets better from there.

Libby can be very motivating when it comes to reading. I started Firekeeper's Daughter, but didn't finish before my loan expired. I had to put another hold on. When it came in again, I read so fast to finish in time! I also have about 4 or 5 other books right now because all of my holds came in at the same time. There's no way I'm going to finish more than one of those.

Anyway, let's talk about this book. Our main character, Daunis, is half Ojibwe, but because of a technicality on her birth certificate, she's not formally accepted by the tribe. She lives between her white family and her native family. The story blooms from Daunis' difficulty with her identity, family, and tradition. Interjected is a criminal investigation about meth being sold on reservations. Daunis is recruited to work undercover. She struggles because this is her community and she doesn't want to betray them, but she also wants to help them. Also, the story takes place in the early 2000s. This doesn't necessarily affect the plot all that much. I even forgot most of the time, until I realized how little technology played a part in the characters' lives.

I enjoyed this book and was interested in the plot. There are moments that made me a little emotional surrounding grief and loss. Daunis' relationship with her mother didn't exactly remind me of my own, but there are things they say to each other that moved me. Daunis' feelings about herself in relation to her parents' lives, however, felt personal to me. Living between parents who are separated for whatever reason is difficult. The book shows how it is to live with grief in many different ways, and those moments were very special.

However, in some ways it felt convoluted, convenient, and predictable. I found myself thinking, “I wish this written better,” meaning the structure of the mystery and overall story. There are many revelations and different characters. I do like that since the book is about Daunis' life, which is wide and varied. The book was rich in that sense. But working out the mystery could have been done more clearly. The two aspects of the book – Daunis' life and the mystery – simply don't mesh well.

I suppose on the one hand, they shouldn't exactly mesh. After all, this mystery is disturbing her life. However, what I mean is how the story is created. It felt messy and unresolved. I was able to predict several revelations. I wonder what it would have been like if Daunis' life was even more forward and the mystery took a complete backseat. For example, if Daunis only heard rumors and someone else was working undercover. If the book was a study on Daunis' identity, grief, family, etc., even more than it already is, I think this could have been a great book.

Additionally, the romantic plot almost made me angry. I don't read or enjoy romance, so most of the time a romantic plot needs to be done really well for me to like it. A lot of the time it feels like every book puts in romance just to have it there. With Firekeeper's Daughter, it makes sense to a degree. Daunis is undercover and having this boyfriend is her cover. But she then is distracted multiple times by how hot he is and how drawn she feels to him. It felt out of character and forced so it could lead to romance instead of just being undercover.

Overall, I might read this book again. It had its moments. I can't say the mystery was the most interesting part, though, so I do wish it was in the background more.

Trigger Warning for this book: sexual assault. It doesn't go into detail, but an assault happens on the page.