Firekeepeer’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley Book Review.

Posted On June 23, 2021

Hi Readers! I am writing this review from Lonavala, purely enjoying monsoons! I’m here with the family & we are just relaxing. Talking about everything & nothing, eating a lot of delicious food, watching old movies, napping, playing Pictionary, reading & now writing! The best or worst thing is there is no network here, so we all are kind of away from our mobiles. Anyway, time passes super slowly here, but it is entirely blissful. Coming home on Monday yesterday after 2 days of this was pure torture.

So, I finished reading Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter last Thursday. I was keen on reading it because it has great reviews. It was also highly recommended by readers who have the same taste of books as I do. But, unfortunately, it was a letdown for me. Not completely though. There were good parts as well, but overall it did not sit well with me.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.

Now, Daunis must learn 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.

Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

~~THOUGHTS~~

When I first read about Firekeeper’s Daughter, I was curious about the genre of the book. I noticed a few different patterns. It was mainly Young Adult fiction, but from most of the reviews I read that it was more of a mystery or thriller. And, when I read it, I found hints of Young Adult, Mystery & Romance with insights of the Ojibwe culture. So, this time I am going to review as per the different genres.

~~YOUNG ADULT POV~~

Most of the characters are teenagers, because of which this book would have been tagged under the YA genre. As with any YA, it also comes with a bit of a coming-of-age story in it. We see characters such as Daunis, Lily, Levi, Travis, Jamie & so on change during the timelines of the story. While some change for the better, some change for the worse. Because of teenagers (Daunis) acting like an adult & sharing her self-aware thought process in unintelligible phrases, the YA point of view did not work for me. Also, YA books hit real life young adults because of the flawed protagonist & in this one, we have Daunis who is the most unflawed perfect character I have ever read about. Another major reason why YA as a genre did not work for me.

~~ROMANCE POV~~

There is also the Romance PoV between Daunis & Jamie which I found to be a lot inconsistent. One moment Daunis hated him & the next she was kissing him. This transition from love to hate to love to hate & so on was not smooth & could have used some improvement. The initial pages between Daunis & Jamie is a story which wasn’t anything new either. Because of the cliched naivety & uncourageous writing style between Daunis & Jamie, the romance point of view did not work for me.

~~MYSTERY POV~~

The most anticipated aspect for me was the mystery touch to it. The anticipation did not result into satisfaction. The mystery about who was making meth & distributing was entirely predictable. If you are going to include obvious clues about hockey & its golden boys, then obviously they are the ones who are going to be involved in something illegal. I suspected Levi from the beginning & I was right. The only suspense was about Mike & the Coach, which were not so overwhelming. Because of the predictability & underwhelming ending, the mystery point of view did not work for me.

~~OJIBWE CULTURE POV~~

This was one of the most enlightening part in the novel & all 3 stars are for this content. I got to learn a lot about the Ojibwe culture. Especially the way the author has described some semantics & also explained them in detail so as not to leave the reader confused. I loved all the insights about rituals such as offering semaa & the 4-days ritual after someone’s death & also about the grandfathers.

More importantly we see how indigenous communities are perceived by people outside of them. We also see how the people in the community are tightly-wound & stand up for each other. It was a courageous move on the author’s part to showcase the resilience of her community while also not blaming it for the ongoing criminal activities generating inside it.

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

I thought that Angeline Boulley tried to put too many ingredients in one recipe. Some people can digest it, but some people cannot. I think that if it was about the Ojibwe culture mixed with a little historical fiction or plain mystery with YA or YA with romance, then it would’ve been a lot better.

If you are looking to learn about the Ojibwe culture, then you should read this book. That’s the only part I enjoyed in the entire novel. But, if you are looking for a fast-paced thriller, then Firekeeper’s Daughter is not it. If you are looking for a relaxed beach-read Young Adult novel, then I would not recommend reading Firekeeper’s Daughter either. If you are looking for interesting writing mixed with words from another language, then you can go for it! Overall, I have rated Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter at 3/5 stars!

Until next time,