A review by dontwritedown
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I had high expectations for this book and it hit most of my expectations. It's a breath of fresh air to see Black Natives being represented and not as an after thought.

I love how the author dealt with intercommunity issues like residential schools and language growth. I however don't quite like how the author dealt with mixed Natives outside of Rose, using a lot of inner community derogatory words for them.

That being said, I removed one point each for each character that failed the Aila or Ali Nahdee test. It's a test that measures whether Native women on screen and in media get good representation, that's similar to the Bechdel test. Three characters fail the test, one is sexually assaulted and two more die during events in the book.

Hopefully the sequel has a better result....
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