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Firekeeper’s Daughter (Firekeeper's Daughter, #1)

Angeline Boulley

Start date: June 1, 2021

Finish date: June 30, 2021

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What Members Thought

Sep 25, 2022 Bonnie rated it really liked it

Shelves: indigenous-literature, young-adult, ya-contemporary, 2021-books

The last third of the book - when all the plotlines finally pulled together - was the strongest part, and quite well done. I wish this had been edited with a little bit of a stronger hand to make the beginning and middle tighter and as compelling as the last third.

This is the story of Daunis Fontaine, a daughter of two worlds: her father's Ojibwe community and her white mother's old money family. When a shocking murder-suicide rips through Daunis' life, she finds herself pulled into an investiga The last third of the book - when all the plotlines finally pulled together - was the strongest part, and quite well done. I wish this had been edited with a little bit of a stronger hand to make the beginning and middle tighter and as compelling as the last third.

This is the story of Daunis Fontaine, a daughter of two worlds: her father's Ojibwe community and her white mother's old money family. When a shocking murder-suicide rips through Daunis' life, she finds herself pulled into an investigation of who is dealing the meth that is destroying her Ojibwe community. What with murder, and mysterious deaths (possibly murders), and drugs, and the FBI, I thought that this would be more on the "thrilling" side of "thriller." It is not. It is really just the story of a turbulent year in Daunis' life with an exploration of the themes of identity and family and community.

Daunis is smart and caring and kind and brave and Boulley does a good job of having many "show don't tell moments" (i.e., Daunis clearly caring about others and her Ojibwe culture, as shown by the time she spends helping the elders in her community). And yet I never felt that she was truly compelling - I guess I like my heroines either rough ex-mean girls (like in Some Girls Are), or ruthlessly determined (like in The Girls at the Kingfisher Club). There is absolutely nothing wrong with Daunis as a character, she just did not leap off the page despite all the time the reader spent with her. I actually even liked the romance (even with the age gap and power dynamics, usually things that turn me off). But it felt like the romance went pretty quickly from Will-They-Won't-They to They-Both-Clearly-Like-Each-Other-But-Daunis-Keeps-Going-From-I-Love-You-To-I-Hate-You-And-Back-Again.

I started this book about four times and kept giving up after the first chapter because of its slow start. I switched to audio book and that was a gamechanger- it kept my attention and interest in that format and I was able to get through the slow parts more easily.

While the beginning was slow (I really think it should have jumped into the murder-suicide timepoint much faster) and the middle was pretty repetitive, the last third brought together all the threads and very successfully carried it off. I even liked the choices that Boulley made in the final resolution - the ending was bittersweet, but felt true to the book. ...more

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