Book Review | Firekeeper’s Daughter

Eighteen-year-old Daunis’s mixed heritage has always made her feel like an outsider, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. When she witnesses a shocking murder, she reluctantly agrees to be part of a covert FBI operation into a series of drug-related deaths.

But the deceptions – and deaths – keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. Now Daunis must decide what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known. -Goodreads

My thanks to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for the digital proof of Firekeeper’s Daughter to read and review.

This is a YA thriller set on a Native American reservation. We follow Daunis, a teen who ends up helping the FBI with an investigation into drugs and drug-related deaths in her community. This novel is brilliant. The setting combined with the fast-paced and sparky plot line makes this novel a really exciting new addition to the genre!

The book manages to balance the YA thriller aspect with the contemporary tale of teenage highs and lows. Daunis meets a new boy through the ice-hockey team, and we get a lovely teen romance, mixed within the thriller! The Native American aspect is wonderfully unique, not a setting I’ve read before, but one that I will definitely search out now. This is the sort of representation we need much more of in YA, and I cannot wait to get it set on the shelf in work!

This book does come with quite a few Trigger Warnings, including rape/sexual assault, drug use, murder, suicide and gun violence. Please check out the book page on Storygraph here which lists the TWs.

The novel is fast-paced for the most part. I do think it started off a wee bit slower, and it did take me a couple of chapters to get into the novel and get to know the characters. But once the book gets going, and the FBI investigation starts to take place it is 100 miles per hour until the very last page. There are loads of twists and turns throughout this novel, it really had me guessing who I could trust the whole way through, and some of the twists I definitely didn’t see coming!

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. It’s a perfect contemporary YA thriller, with high drama and some awesome characters!

Buy Firekeeper’s Daughter from Waterstones here

Thank you for reading my Book Review of Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Have you read this novel? What did you think? Let’s chat books!

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