Reviews

Everything I want from a YA novel from style to content - I couldn't imagine a better way to end this book. The singular downside I could find is that it does get quite predictable at times, but I don't know that I can fault a book for high schoolers on plot complexity.

I was hesitant to pick this up because I haven't particularly been a YA person since I was actually the demographic age, but I have never been more glad to possess a physical copy of a book to pass on to my kids on day. The depiction of not just split identities but the shame that goes along with finding oneself are depicted beautifully here, contextualized by tribal affiliation and blood quantum making everything 10 times as sticky (the Catholic church owl t-shirts really hits this nail on the head, I think). Boulley has plenty to say here on the nature of corruption, the relationship between Indigenous people and law enforcement with gorgeous portrayals of the effects of acute trauma on a teenage brain (see: the smell of lavender).
I'm really in love with the characterization of Daunis herself. She gives annoying-ass gifted kid in the best possible way, but it's crazy (impressive) the way Angeline Boulley is able to write us into her mind, perfectly displaying the lack of emotional permanence that is signature to teenage-hood. In this regard, I couldn't possibly be happier with the ending.
I thought it started a bit slow and did take some effort on my part to get into but I'm willing to attribute that to me simply not being the target audience but choosing to read it anyways (sometimes slogging through reading can be good for us, at least for a little while). I found the writing to mostly be naturalistic and appealing but at some points did seem more stilted and out-of-touch that what I would have preferred or even expected from this author. Despite that, I think every young person - especially every young person living on stolen land - should have The Firekeeper's Daughter as required reading.

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