The Marrow Thieves

The Marrow Thieves #1

by Cherie Dimaline

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks.

The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream.

In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands.

For now, survival means staying hidden … but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Canada, Fantasy, LGBT

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2017

About the author

Cherie Dimaline wins her first Governor General's Literary Award in 2017 with The Marrow Thieves. She is an author and editor from the Georgian Bay Métis community whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and became the first Aboriginal Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. Cherie Dimaline currently lives in Toronto where she coordinates the annual Indigenous Writers' Gathering.

Reviews

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow... if you read the back of this book, you might get the sense that The Marrow Thieves is your typical YA dystopia just with Indigenous protagonists. You would be mistaken. The speculative aspects of Dimaline's novel are not particularly important. What shines is the Indigenous narrative about loss of culture, abuse and murder by a majority population, yet survival and resilience. It's a powerful, painful book that does not hold back. It moves slowly compared to many other offerings in the YA field, but it's such a valuable book that has the potential of teaching non-Indigenous teens at an early age about what white supremacy does to Indigenous people without also framing Indigenous people as some sort of mythical people who lived in the past.

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would like this more. The idea sounded amazing!
When I finished the book I felt like maybe I had lost the other 3/4 of it somewhere.
The characters all felt underdeveloped and there is very little back story for the premise.
Set in such a wonderful landscape with what should have been a heartbreaking story...what I got felt inadequate.
I would have loved more history. Not just of the characters, but the growth of the totalitarian government and how the lands became so ravaged.
There were just too many holes in the story for me to become fully immersed in any one part.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came to know Cherie Dimaline's writing last year, when I read "Legends are Made, Not Born" in Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An LGBT and Two-Spirit Sci Fi Anthology. The character she writes about in that story is named Auntie Dave.

I wrote, then, that I had to "just be" with Auntie Dave and that story for awhile. There's a quality in Dimaline's writing that reached from the page, into my being.

That's the case, too, with The Marrow Thieves. I paused again and again as I met and came to know 16 year-old French, and then the people who would become his family: Miig, Wab, Zheegwon, Tree, RiRi, Minerva, Chi-Boy, and Slopper.

Later, French will meet and fall in love with Rose. On page 32, there's a line about her that squeezes my heart. "We had a future and a past all bundled up in her round dark cheeks and loose curls."

French (sometimes called Frenchie; his given name is Francis) and the rest are on the run, running away from "the Recruiters." Here, I'll share the description from the back cover:

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream.

In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden.... but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

The hunters in Dimaline's story are "the Recruiters." They're the ones French and all the others are hiding from, running from. The Marrow Thieves begins when French is 11, being chased by those Recruiters who want to take Indigenous people to schools to take their marrow. That's a specific reference to the residential schools of the past, where so much was taken from Native children. It is one of many points in The Marrow Thieves where--painfully or with exquisite beauty--Dimaline's story resonates with me. It will resonate with other Native readers, too.

One moment that made my heart swell is when the group has come to an abandoned hotel. After months of sleeping on the ground in tents, they cautiously enter the hotel, and then later, enthusiastically say good night, each in their own rooms, on beds. For the first time, French and Rose are curled up together. They're startled when they hear little Ri say "French, can I sleep with you guys?" and then a minute or two later, Slopper (he and Ri are the two children in the group) appears and says "Move over, French. I can't sleep." They drift off to sleep. That's how it is.

There's a passage in The Marrow Thieves that, for me, embodies what matters for any society. French thinks about how, when a people don't have their youngest and their oldest, they are without deep roots, and without an acute need to protect and make things better.

That's a key piece of why this story is one I'm carrying. It is about caring, about love, about how people can continue, and will continue.

There's so much more to say. About... song. About Miggs and Isaac, about Ri, about Minerva, about French. But I'll stop and let you be with these achingly dear characters.

I highly recommend The Marrow Thieves. I ordered my copy from Canada. Published by Dancing Cat Books (an imprint of Cormorant Books), it isn't available in the US till later this year.

[❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of interesting themes, subtext, and symbolism within the story that tie the futuristic dystopian society of the book into very real issues of today, and the analogies just in terms of how the non-Indigenous of this country often view Indigenous people in society and how Indigenous cultures and traditions and very livelihoods tend to be overlooked and disregarded by them unless or until they desire something or think they can gain something from it and so decide to claim it for themselves is so quietly yet effectively done.

Frenchie, the narrator, was really well written; a character who naturally draws in a reader's attention and exudes different facets of emotion and personality that are easy to relate to and see yourself in. The rest of the group of characters were also well written, but less so than Frenchie, and I'm hoping one of the reasons for this is because this is going to eventually become a series, so the others will get their chance to be even more fleshed out in later installments. I found myself particularly drawn to the character of Chi-Boy, a very astute but reserved young man, who was one of the characters whose 'coming to' story wasn't elaborated on, and so I'd love to see him more in the spotlight in a future book.

As for the ending, I couldn't have asked for a better one - and I'm usually the kind of reader who's rarely fully satisfied by book endings (even with books I really love). It didn't wrap everything up neatly or end necessarily on a super positive note (in regards to the dystopian society), but it was hopeful and beautiful and sincere. And again, it gave enough as a solitary ending but left it reasonably open for future books should the author turn it into a series.

[Jananie (thisstoryaintover)]

my first read for the Read-EH-Thon! So glad I finally got to pick this book up. It had so many incredible lines and absolutely tender moments. I loved Rose and Miig and Minerva, but most of all I loved the way this book was told largely in the stories that the characters share with each other.

[Silvia Moreno-Garcia]

Today I bring you a book that didn't make a blip in SFF, but which is SFF nevertheless. Perhaps because it's Canadian, perhaps because it's Indigenous, but whatever the reason I doubt most of you SFF fans read THE MARROW THIEVES, which takes place in a near-future with a group of Indigenous people on the run from bone-marrow harvesters. Though it dangles a SFF premise, it is a thinly-veiled allegory for the loss and trauma inflicted by colonization. This is *not* a criticism, as anyone who has read any of my stuff or likes magic realism might know, thinly-veiled whatever are the bread and butter of many storytellers. And rather than focusing on broom-broom cool-tech, I've always looked for the social in my SFF. So, if this sounds like you, you might like THE MARROW THIEVES, an unsettling YA and also a moving novel.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would be good as it was chosen for Canada Reads competition, but I was really disapointed. I hate books that are just people running. The main characters were running for 5 years and they still didn't get to where they were going??? How did a party of 9 always have food and tobacco? What was the point of the dreams if they were hardly mentioned?

[Kate Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book was kind of like taking medicine. I took it, and maybe it was good for me, but... I really didn't enjoy it.

If I read it as a sort of primary document, a study of one Indigenous author's survival fantasies, it's kind of interesting. Obviously residential schools were horrific and left deep scars and anger and I should read more Indigenous writings as part of the Truth and Reconciliation process and it's good for me, a white Canadian, to sometimes experience the one-sidedness and villainization that First Nations people have dealt with for so long, etc. And I guess the magical realism aspects are a part of Indigenous culture that I need to learn to value more highly, maybe? So... it was good that I read this.

But as a story? The characters never felt real to me, the entire premise was shaky, the resolution was almost non-existent except for a couple deus ex machina reappearances... as a novel, it didn't work for me.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope. This book tried too hard to be deep but wasn’t. The premise was interesting, but the plot just meandered along. There wasn’t any real character development for the main characters, and French suddenly gets jealous, moody and ideas of leadership grandeur two thirds of the way through. Is the loss of dream supposed to be a metaphor? And too many forced happy-ending reunions despite no happy ending. Blah on this book for wasting my time.

[DebraDebrareads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no clue why people like this book so much. It is a lazy excuse of a young adult novel with plastic and fake characters. The "love" between Frenchie and Rose is so forced it makes me cringe. It comes off as trying too hard to be a good book but its not. I dislike the inclusion of Slopper being only there for fat jokes. Overall its a big disappointment of a book

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted the book to be better. It had some interesting ideas but it fell down on some fundamentals. The first half of the book was a lot of no-consequences actions mixed in with info-dumping back story. In the last quarter things finally happen--a cringeworthy romance (the main characters girlfriend really really should have dumped him). Before finally we get to the plot that's on the back cover, but that doesn't get resolved.

Oh, and another thing. For most of the book we have this idea that bone marrow is the key to why native peoples of North America still dream while no one else does. It's in the title, right? And then near the end there is a blink and you miss it line (seriously, a number of people in my book club missed it) that it's not the Marrow after all. The title still stands, for whatever reason.

Low 2

[Emilythefancyreader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book completely misses the mark of being a good book for young native adults. As a native myself, this book is a complete insult to our kind. It tries so hard to shove the fact that this book is about the native culture that it comes off as a white chick who checked her ancestory.com and found out that shes 0.5% native and embracing it. Such a disappointing read and a complete waste of my time

[Boston · Rating 4 out of 5]

That ending 🥺

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep thinking that the author betrayed their characters.
Like they came to the author's dream, and tried telling their story hoping the story will be told properly yet somehow, somehow only a vague memory of it stayed with the writer and we never got to hear the really powerful story that happened

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally read this YA dystopian novel where people perceived as being indigenous are kidnapped in hopes their bodies will help everyone else regain the ability to dream. The novel is more about the groups of people living on the run and the ways they connect and build community - very little is about the mad scientist component (this is okay but was a bit surprising based on how much it is included in most summaries of the book.) Also in the background are the history of the "residential schools," climate change, and human-directed environmental destruction. It's set in the future so California is gone, the Great Lakes are toast, etc.

If you waffle on YA, there is much less angst than in the Hunger Games or Divergent. The majority of the novel features characters from a broader range of ages.

I had a strange experience (twice!) where I fell asleep while reading it and sank into deep dreams, so beware!

This was the January 2021 pick for Sword and Laser with guest co-host Mallory O'Meara. It was also discussed on Episode 202 of the Reading Envy Podcast with the Book Cougars.

[Allison Hurd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was something else.

CONTENT WARNINGS: genocide of Indigenous people, medical experimentation, repeated rape, loss of loved one, body horror including teeth and eyes, torture of children, global catastrophe.

I think I have to give this five stars. The characters, the infusion of history, the love for the native population of Canada, this is really not so much about the plot hook as it is about what makes someone part of a community and a moving, direct summary of what has been done to the native people in North America over the centuries. I thought the sexual violence was a bit extreme, and that the narrator's lust was a bit besides the point and then I realized...I was very wrong.

The sexual violence is a lot because it's a metaphor of all that the native people have endured under European regimes, and the lust was a metaphor for how we're all the same, we all adapt, and we all are capable of love, no matter what's befallen us.

And then that ending...It could have been twee, but she made sure to add just the right amount of black powder to keep the sugar coating nice and bitter and dangerous.

Not a happy book. Not a book to read now when we're rounding people into cages and performing hysterectomies on unconsenting women and facing ecological disaster while we arrest activists defending natural resources. But also exactly the book to be reading right now. I'm all a-jumble.

[Chels Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off this book has no conclusion at all.

We learn of recruiters and a places for the indigenous but at the end of the novel there is no conclusion. Yes the small band has met the council, but there is no end to the war, no safety no finality, they think they found the key, but they do not use it.

It’s almost as if one end chapter is missing. Or the author is hoping to make it a trilogy.

French and Rose is not concluded.
French leaving is not concluded
The war is not concluded.
Issac returns but his role is unclear.
The new nurses role is unclear
The key does not unlock the war or the dream taking machines.

The narrator spouts some bullshit about knowing the real reason for dreams and about dreamers. Pure bullshit of a lazy author that doesn’t want to write the final chapter, and is try to be deep.

The main problem with this novel is the author’s need to keep part of the story hidden, even if they already seem to be known to the author.

This novel is a disappointment, a complete disappointment.

The themes are interesting and worth exploring but it was left to an incapable author who doesn’t know how to articulate a store properly.

I’m still interested in the CBC Canada Reads debate on this book, it is not a book I would recommend unless you want to be disappointed, or there is a second book.

[Coatesj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed written in a rush and the story didn’t flow. The characters needed more development, even with the back stories, they just didn’t seem real.

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of a futuristic world where people have stopped dreaming and indigenous people are being hunted for their bone marrow, because the process of researching and using the marrow apparently kills the donor grabbed my attention. It was a bit like a 'Star Trek' episode where people stopped dreaming (although it didn't involve a genocide like this book) so I thought I'd go ahead and plunge back into a YA book (which I don't care for) set in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian world (which I'm also not really in the mood for right now).

Frenchie is 15 year old Anishinaabe who flees with his brother and then alone during the opening of the book. He meets up with other indigenous people and they flee together further up north in the hopes of finding sanctuary and away from the "recruiters" who are hunting people like Frenchie for their marrow.

It just didn't work. Even the opening sequence wasn't particularly engaging to me even though it sets up Frenchie alone to continue on and survive. There were some great concepts and themes on the history of how indigenous peoples have been treated: from violence to hunting them down for something of value that only they have to racism and more. But I didn't care for the framing of the book (I thought the book would focus on Frenchie fleeing with the others but instead we get background stories of the other members) and just found myself turning pages.

Can't lie, it could very well be that I just don't want to read a dystopia right now but the book seems to have high reviews and is a finalist for Canada Reads. Maybe I just don't get it. Borrow but I wouldn't rush out to read it.

[Chelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever since they lost the ability to dream, non-natives have been hunting indigenous Canadians, whose bone marrow contains the cure for dreaming. French has been living on the run with his family for more than 5 years, struggling to survive through brutal Northern winters and dry summers. But sooner or later, they all know that they're bound to be found.

This started out so strong, developing the fear of being Native and hiding in the Canadian wilderness straightaway. It hits upon issues like racism and genocide, which make it both timely and, at times, difficult to read. I really appreciated the development of their Native culture, particularly through language and storytelling. Unfortunately, the latter half of the story was much weaker.

[Nonarch of ice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is really bad. I keep seeing people asking "why do people like this book" and they're right, why DO people like this book? The only thing I personally like about this book is the authors way of writing and how she describes things but even then she lacks in being able to write captivating and interesting stories. The story is very boring and droning, all the characters are unrelatable and I didn't care how they turned out since we barely spend time with these characters. The way Frenchie meets the group is so laughably bad, he wakes up and they find him?! What? God this book is badly written, rushed, and just a waste of everyone's time. The 'romance' is so forced and gross and honestly, the inclusion of Slopper was only there for fat jokes. What a horrible way of writing comic relief absolutely disgusting! People are trying to boost up this book so much cause there are barely any books about native culture but there are better books out there that convey the "hope" message better! Please, don't read this book.

[Martymarty87 · Rating 1 out of 5]

God this is a bad book. I have no clue why everyone likes it so much. The author has a cool way of writing and is very descriptive but other than that the story is so bad. Everything about it makes me cringe and the forced "romance" and the bs inclusion of magic confused me so much. It's just a waste of time. Apparently, this book is to bring hope to young native children yet its a dystopian novel? The ending is bad and confusing. I'd like it better if the main character in the book was actually likable and not a whiny kiss-up.

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grandparents told “residential school stories to scare you into acting right,”

“stories about men and women who promised themselves to God only and then took whatever they wanted from the children, especially at night. Stories about a book that was like a vacuum, used to suck the language right out of your lungs.”

How’s that for a sadly eloquent statement of the horrific abuse and long-standing attempt at cultural genocide perpetrated on aboriginal people by the priests and nuns of the Roman Catholic Church that they based on their interpretation of the Bible?

THE MARROW THIEVES posits a mid-21st century dystopian world, caused by the ravages of global climate warming, in which non-aboriginal white people have somehow lost the ability to dream. The scientific reasons for this devastating neurological deficit in white people and the fact that its cure rests in the bone marrow of aboriginal people are not explored. Nor are those explanations necessary for Dimaline’s story - aboriginal people are hunted down, their bone marrow is harvested, and the marrow donor is summarily killed. The narrative stands, fully exposed in its naked reality, as an extended metaphor for the cultural and actual genocide of aboriginal people in Canada by the white non-native population, their government and its tools, the Roman Catholic and other Christian churches.

Like the first step in AA’s Twelve Step Program to recovery from alcoholism, the white community’s acknowledgement of the existence of this problem, as shameful and as embarrassing as it is (and note carefully that this is couched in the present tense), is the first necessary step to a meeting of the minds with aboriginal people, to the adoption of some of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and to the elevation of aboriginal people to a recognized, important status in the future of a compassionate, tolerant, forward-thinking Canada.

Highly recommended with the added hope that THE MARROW THIEVES makes it onto the curriculum for younger school readers. Perhaps if young readers, who are undoubtedly innocent of Canada’s past offenses, become shocked and angry, they will become adamant activists in the fight to ensure the problem is repaired and subsequently relegated to history.

Paul Weiss

[CW ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marrow Thieves is the kind of post-apocalyptic dystopian stories that I long for - thoughtful, heart-wrenching, and a reflection of history, present, and the future. This was so so good.

- Set in a world where people no longer dream except for Indigenous people, the story follows Frenchie, an Indigenous teen who, alongside a group of other North American indigenous people, are constantly on the run from a government who is looking for 'unwilling donors' to harvest marrow wherein dreams are kept.
- This is not the 'high octane' and 'action-packed' dystopia. Rather, it's slower and deliberate in pace, and very much centers on the characters. The story unfurls slowly, revealing each character's story before everything fell apart, and each story is heartbreaking and devastating.
- What makes this book so good is that it's an allegory of the violence that indigenous people have experienced across history - the trauma and violence of colonial violence, cultural genocide, residential schools, and that loss of identity and community.
- I really loved this. The book is heavy at times, but there are also fleeting moments of hope. A marvelous and important piece of YA dystopian literature, and I can't wait to read the sequel.

Content warning: death, violence towards indigenous people, mentions and allegory of residential schools, rape, human experimentation, post-apocalyptic setting related to climate change, torture.

[Rebecca Dorris · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book had so much potential, and i really liked the elders' storytelling in the middle of the book, but it didn't deliver as i had hoped. i didn't feel that the climax was strong enough, and it seemed over too quick. the ending was cute but it kinda came out of nowhere. i liked rose and miig the best, peobably because their past lives were described in much more detail than the other characters so we knew them on a deeper level. i actually didn't know this was a YA novel going in so it explains why it was a simpler read than what i was expecting, but there are still lots of dystopian novels with more substance than this one. maybe i would have liked more description on how the inability to dream impacted the rest of the population. but kudos for an all indigenous cast with ties to true events in our shameful canadian history.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

As often happens, I simply cannot figure out why this book has such a high average rating. I almost dropped it after ~80 pages of nothingness, but, being a completest I powered through, hoping for a turn around. I was disappointed. I did read several reviews of people who wanted to like this book because of what it represents, and who the author is--I totally get that, because I love exploring diverse authors and topics, and reading about worlds outside of my own (one reason I love sci-fi). But there was just no story. And it felt too young.

I wanted to know more about the schools, how it was "discovered" that dreaming will reverse global warming? How did society fall? What's up with Minerva? For most of the book she's written as baggage, but then she's captured and becomes the most important person ever?

[Matt Fraser · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Marrow Thieves was kind of an impulse read. I decided to read the book because the author is visiting Ottawa for the Ottawa International Writers Festival at the end of the month. I only became aware that the author will be here just this past Thursday and to get the most out of the event I wanted to read the book.

The book does appear to be written for a young adult audience and takes place in rural Ontario's 'near future' (Circa 2050-2060). It follows a boy, Francis "Frenchie", who gets separated from his brother and the rest of his family as they try to escape, hide and run away from the "Recruiters" who are hunting down native American populations for their bone marrow to aid with 'white peoples' inability to dream which has caused mental distress/instability. Once he is on his own, he stumbles into a small group of other native Americans on the run who are 'heading north'.

The Marrow Thieves was well written and did not stray from its main story. It was a short read and great for filling in the gaps between larger novels. I would however not necessarily recommend this book for others to read if the subject matter doesn't instantly grab your attention.

[Leah Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried SO HARD to like this. I slugged myself through it praying for some kind of brilliant revelation that never came, for an answer to the question of why this was getting all the praise it was, and never got it. Part of it is my fault, the genre and I are an inherent mismatch. I didn't like YA even when I was a teenager. It is just too shlocky and self important and it appears YA editors don't put much effort to stop authors from going into the territory of florid prose or melodrama. I wanted to like this one because I know its importance in the genre as one of the first Indigenous YA novels, and I acknowledge that there will be time for the genre to grow and change and for better works to come along. But it made me cringe. Every other page was stuffed to the gills with the kind of jokes and references old uncles make at family gatherings that were maybe fresh when Smoke Signals came out. Jokes about hoping the attractive person you see isn't your cousin? References to lip pointing? Deer and moose meat? All that and more! It felt like I was being hammered over the head by the author trying to prove how authentically Native it was, and it was distracting.
If you want an example of the opposite of this, an Indigenous novel with teenage protagonists that has cultural elements that feel authentic and natural rather than contrived and forced, read Eden Robinson's Son of A Trickster. It has better characters, settings, and writing, and deserves far more attention than it's getting, and doesn't suffer from any of the schmaltz pitfalls of this one. It respects the reader and assumes an Indigenous audience or at least, literacy on Indigenous worlds.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I brought this book with me on a trip, and read it during the long bus rides. I wanted so hard to get into this book because I know there is significance. The opening just jumped into the story but it didn’t seem to make much sense. When they talked about their heritage it was after the change, and I didn’t feel like it was necessarily about what happened in history. Maybe I didn’t fully understand it. Then I realized it was more about each of our character’s stories. Things happened but it wasn’t really deep. I felt like there was a chance to further develop these characters but it never happened. I also couldn’t really follow what happened to the country in that time period. Winnipeg and Toronto were mentioned, but I don’t know exactly how those cities have completely changed. Maybe it would have been better as novellas that focused on each character’s past, and how those events shaped their current selves.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dystopian / post-apocalyptic YA book set in northern rural Canada in the future where global warming has altered the world.

Written by Cherie Dimaline, an award-winning indigenous writer member of the Métis community and first published in 2017, this also includes elements of magic realism as the indigenous survivors are the last on earth who can dream.

As the band of young survivors, led be a seasoned outdoorsman and an elder, tried to find their way they are pursued by evil hunters who want to get them to extract marrow as this may grant the ability to dream.

Well written, this could also be seen as an allegory for race relations, and I also enjoyed the references to Native American culture.