Review by sandaru - Firekeeper's Daughter

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

3.0

adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

character development and depths? It was too YA. The main character is just corny and confusing. Some characters were nice and well built up but the main characters were too dense and predictable as well. However since it's a YA story the characters would appeal more to the young adult audience.

Writing style? An amazing writing style by the author. Very rich language and phrases and also it was informative on the Ojibwe tribe, nature and science.

Readability? I picked up the audiobook which was a good choice. It was very easy to listen to. The narrator did a great job as well.

The message? The cultural messages of identity and community were great. Also the message about the communal misogyny and the patriarchy and the importance of keeping women safe was great but sometimes they lost the message at some points.

Originality? An indigenous story with a drug trafficking conflict narrative earned a point but the conventional characters lost some points from it.

Immersion (Rich world building)? A nice and meaningful world building by the author ety the Ojibwe community. Even the descriptions of nature and the fictional Sugar Island was amazing.

Plot line? the story did lose me at some moment. Considering the length of the book those losing parts were very memorable. Also, the culprit was very predictable from the start. And the romance in the story was corny and weak in a very Twilight-y way. Also the fact the FBI got a teenage girl involved in a drug trafficking incident seem too unreal and very YA.

Ending? Staisfacory as the main characters no matter how corny their love hate relationship was, the ending made sure to come and and press the original themes of identity and community.

Emotions (overall)? it was too YA for me. There was too much of Daunise focused corny scenes which did not sit well with me.

Would you recommend it to someone? I would recommend this to a young adult. And probably the audiobook.

Side note- the cover of this book deserve an award for being one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen.

Content Warnings