Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Amy    

Lynnie 

 

young adult, contemporary fiction

Eighteen-year-old Daunis has always felt separate from her Ojibwe community because her mother is white. She is beloved by many but still treated differently. She has survived a few family tragedies and is just looking forward to her future at college when another tragedy occurs. She decides to assist the undercover police with their investigation, after discovering their presence, because she wants to help her community and avenge the deaths of those close to her. 

Amy's Review

Firekeeper’s Daughter was a good teen drama and mystery with engaging characters and situations that kept me interested in Daunis’ life. She was dealing with a lot and managing fairly well, all things considered. As the story progressed, it became more intriguing. I enjoyed learning about the traditions in Daunis’ tribe and getting a flavor of life in her contemporary Native American community along the U.S./Canadian border. Angeline Boulley succeeded in highlighting issues that are unique to Native American citizens, especially women. While it seemed highly unlikely that undercover FBI agents would ask for her assistance and “deputize” her at 18 years old, I went with it. The mysteries around the meth-related deaths compelled me to find out what was going on. And then the last 20% or so of the novel was un-put-downable.

While some of Daunis’ choices were questionable, I found them believable coming from an intelligent, busy teenager. She had to squeeze in her secret detective work as her schedule allowed which made for a few suspenseful delays. Her conflicted feelings and explorations of trust all felt genuine. The way details slowly emerged from her fog after shock also rang true. I really enjoyed Daunis as a character. She was strong, smart, brave, and self-motivated.

The audiobook narrator, Isabella Star LaBlanc, did a good job at voice acting and sounded perfect as Daunis. She did not have much of a vocal repertoire, however. I’ll give her a B+.

 

Lynnie's Review

 

It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up too late to finish a book because I couldn’t bear to close my eyes without knowing how things turned out, but Firekeeper’s Daughter kept me up WAY past my bedtime as the action really intensified at the end of the book.

In her debut novel, Angeline Boulley has written a love letter to her Native American community and her family (she is a firekeeper’s daughter herself). While the tribe in the novel may be fictionalized, it’s clear from the reviews written by other Native Americans that this book holds a lot of powerful truths and I appreciated the education about the culture, language, and issues that matter to the community.

Daunis Fontaine is a wonderful protagonist- she is proud of her heritage, strong, smart, and connected to her family and community. Navigating her own loss, a budding romance, trauma (both her own and and her community’s), on top of a thriller-style mystery is a lot for anyone, including readers, and yet most of it works. Some of the more traumatic events were really hard to read but I’m glad that Boulley included them because it was necessary to show how overlooked crime against Native American women is in this country. Other parts of the story were predictable, but I still thought the book was brilliantly done.

I’m so glad Boulley shared this piece of her culture with us and I am already looking forward to whatever she writes next.