An enjoyable and edgy YA thriller set in a Native American community, which kept me gripped from the outset. I was very interested in the cultural references too. Due to some of the sexual content/violence I would recommend to older teens.

DRC provided by Oneworld Publications via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Representation: Ojibwe protagonist, Cherokee secondary character, Ojibwe secondary and tertiary characters, Black-Ojibwe tertiary characters.

Content Warning: death, misogyny, racism, drug addiction.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a mystery novel enriched by Anishinaabe culture, starring an enterprising Ojibwe young girl dead set on protecting her community.

I was really intrigued before the beginning of the book, but once I started, my interest quickly faded. The plot took almost one hundred pages to get into motion and the pace progressed at a glacial pace.

Initially, upon hearing about Firekeeper's Daughter (by debut author Angeline Boulley) I thought it to be a contemporary novel about an indigenous girl's coming of age story.
Yet what I ended up reading was so much more than that. With supremely rich layers and cultural context, I was not expecting the thriller crime aspect to this novel. For me this was a novel that going in blind only enhanced the experience.

Written against such a rich history and background as the Ojibwe/Anishinaabe people, by an own voices author no less, this story packed in so many familial and community ties. It was woven throughout the plot and Daunis' story so much so that it never read to me like it was "information dumping", but rather it added so much context, atmosphere and understanding for those who are not Indigenous peoples. As I am not native/indigenous myself, I cannot comment to the authenticity or relatability as other readers may, but I can say that I was deeply immersed and fascinated to educate myself about Ojibwe culture through this work of fiction. In particular, getting a glimpse into the meanings behind some of the Anishinaabe words and learning about even the simple daily rituals was truly humbling as well as inspiring.

This book does deal with some heavier topics, but I cannot say that they make it at all inappropriate for the young adult audience. These themes are very much present in reality and are happening to young people.
To see that representation is invaluable especially as a young adult reader.
I would however, suggest that if you are at all sensitive to the content warnings below to perhaps wait until in a positive headspace before reading or at least to keep them in mind. TWs include: gun violence, grief, death of loved ones, drug addiction, rape, discrimination between tribal and nontribal members.

As I previously stated, on starting this book I didn't anticipate the twists this book would take in the direction of the crime thriller aspects of the plot.
The first 50 or so pages were a little slow for me, as contemporary/thrillers are not my usual genre, but it quickly became a story where I was anxious for every character and couldn't put the book down until I'd finished the second half.
While there were a few things in terms of writing style that weren't a favourite for me, I was still very much hooked.
Without giving away spoilers, the significance of the pansy flowers in one of the last scenes was one of my favourite and most poignant memories I'll carry forward long after finishing the last page.

This book feels like it carries more importance than just being a debut novel. With Indigenous voices and stories still so underrepresented in popular media - and even less often given the time and respect to make sure that it's accurate and in accordance with each individual indigenous tribe's beliefs - I feel like this book and others similar has been a very long time coming for many people. To see so widely talked about in bookish circles as well as social media.

I hope to see more and more recognition given to stories like this and can't wait to see if Angeline Boulley will write other stories in the future.

This book. I hardly know where to start of what to say that isn't just "this book is phenomenal, please read it", so excuse me in advance if this turns out to be just me fangirling a lot.</p>

Daunis Fontaine is really going through it at the start of this book. Her beloved GrandMary is in a care centre following a stroke, her mother is struggling, Daunis has changed her plans to leave and study so she can be there to support her, and then she witnesses a horrifying murder and finds herself being pulled into an investigation as an undercover informer.

She returns to the moment of the murder playing it over and over in her mind, trying to remember everything and piece it together into something that makes sense to her, and in the context of the wider investigation. It is not easy to read, but we get to see how Daunis gradually remembers more details from that night and the impact that this has for her. A big part of this novel is the investigation into her community, but it is so much more than that.
Daunis is struggling with her identity and finding her place in the world. She is biracial; the daughter of a wealthy white mother, and a Native American father, who feels like she doesn't belong either as a Fontaine or a Firekeeper. She is acutely conscious that in different situations it is not always safe or desirable to be herself and open about her parentage. She is often subjected to racism because her skin is not considered the right colour for either part of her life, and we see the deep impact that this has on her.
The Ojibwe tribe is a huge part of Daunis's life and identity. She is a descendent, but because of her parentage (and her father not being named on her birth certificate), she is not an enrolled member, so some of their practices are closed to her. This is a big thing to Daunis, and one of the main reasons she feels like she does not fully belong there. We are immersed in Ojibwe culture throughout the book, and I loved this. The ceremonies, symbolism and the way the Ojibwe acknowledge death particularly fascinated me.
I loved the relationships Daunis has with those around her. She has a brilliant relationship with her Auntie, who helps her to navigate just about every part of her life, and fights for her to be accepted. She has a complicated relationship with her brother, which is strained at various points in this novel. Jamie is also a huge part of her life; he is one of the investigators, posing as a member of the school hockey team and acting as Daunis's boyfriend. Balancing their working relationship with their personal issues and feelings is a big part of the story, and one that really intrigued me. I enjoyed never being quite sure who could be trusted; there are some real betrayals and some genuine gasp-out-loud moments.
Being undercover makes things difficult for her, she is having to hide parts of her life from the people she most cares about. She hates lying to them. As things progress, she learns things about her friends, her family, and her tribe that she never knew. There is an ongoing internal battle between her need for justice, and her loyalty to her family and her tribe, and it was interesting seeing how Daunis navigated this and the choices that she makes as she learns things about

Firekeeper's Daughter is a phenomenal debut, and a definite favourite. Angeline Boulley will be one to watch, and I will definitely be reading anything and everything she writes in future.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a book that I was happy to be gifted an earc. Thank you so much. This book delve way deeper than I would ever have expected. This was such a rich and intricate world. The plot was interesting in the sense that it was set in the present day yet has so many historic themes. There were triggers of drug use, abuse, murder. so be aware. The crime and thriller aspect is something that I have not come across hugely in the young adult genre so I enjoyed finding something new.

"We faced worse than you and we are still here. It is our survival song."
This was such a fantastic read, and while I did find it quite hard to get into at first I read the second half of the book in a single sitting. Now, I must be honest, as a British person, I was pretty much clueless about Native American culture or the plights they have faced over the years before I read this book. And in no way am I suddenly an expert and don't have any more learning to do. That would be a false narrative steeped in performative activism. What it did do was giving me a starting point that was accessible to me and kept me updated in a compelling fictional narrative, further learning doesn't seem so intimidating after this.
The way that the authors culture was entwined with the storyline was so organic and added to the context of various issues without being overwhelming (something that it is important if you want to engage teens in your target audience.) There were lots of difficult topics discussed so I would also recommend looking up content warnings as well as own voices reviewers of this book, there may be nuances within the text that could be hard to read that I haven't picked up on being a non-native reviewer.
That being said I think the real driving force of this book was the sense of community between all these characters, there were definite moments that I teared up as our main character realised she didn't have to do things on her own. The trauma Daunis faced was not shied away from and I think the way it was handled in the narrative was both realistic and well done and was definitely not romanticised or glossed over which is very nice to see.
The pacing for me was slightly off towards the beginning, but like I have already said I was well and truly swept up by the end. So if you are struggling to connect with the story then I would definitely encourage you to keep going!
In terms of the mystery aspect it was engaging however not necessarily shocking, which can be taken one of two ways. Some people would dislike the predictability however others, including myself, would recognise that it shows the groundwork has been laid to back up the decisions. That being said I don't think that this is a plot based book in all honestly, its more character and emotion driven in my opinion which I think works perfectly in its favour.
If you like complicated character driven stories that are utterly believable then you will not be disappointed by this one.
Rated:4.5 Stars

Firekeeper’s Daughter is a YA mystery unlike any other I’ve read, full of wonderful representation and a cast of characters that have such vivid and distinct voices. Boulley has crafted a story that will constantly keep you on your toes.

This is an incredibly strong and memorable debut. Boulley has crafted a compelling story full of heart and warmth. The Own Voices representation of Daunis’ culture is infused with such obvious love and respect for the community. You can feel how special every aspect is to Boulley and therefore you connect that much more. The writing is incredibly evocative and pays such close attention to all the minute details, giving it this vibrant and immersive feel. You can’t help but get sucked into the story. It has this intangible quality that is just beautiful to witness. It has a lyrical element to its realism which is intoxicating.

As a mystery, I cannot fault this book. The twists and turns are excellent and delve into some dark places. Alongside Daunis, you find yourself unable to trust anyone around you and secrets are revealed at every turn. Every time I thought I could pin down the plot, some new element would be revealed and new twists awaited me just after the next page. The cast of characters are all so well-drawn and you feel really connected to them. They have such vibrant voices and practically jump off the page, even though you want to know the dastardly secrets they’re hiding.

Something I personally loved about this book was the depiction of grief. It felt like such an authentic experience and made me pour my whole heart into reading the book. Daunis goes through differing stages of grief and to an extent, the entire book is about her journey and process of recovery. Entwined with that is the wonderful indigenous representation. It was really interesting to see how a different culture responds to grief and their sacred rituals to respect and preserve the memory of their loved one.

Firekeeper’s Daughter brings strong indigenous representation to the table in a striking debut, told through an evocative and intriguing voice. Keep an eye on Boulley.

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!

A powerful and well written book that kept me hooked.
It can be appreciated by people of all age as it's a gripping and entertaining read.
Excellent character development, a tightly knitted plot that kept me hooked.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Firekeeper’s Daughter is phenomenal, I read this book in March and I’m already convinced it will be my favourite novel of 2021! The story of Daunis and her attempts to unravel the crimes being committed within her community is beautifully and heartbreakingly written. This is one of the most complex stories I have ever read, it isn’t simply a thriller novel, it is an unflinching tale of gendered violence, rape, race and drugs interwoven with the beauty of Ojibwe traditions and culture. The author kept me hooked on Daunis’s story from the first page to the last, I devoured this entire book within a couple of days in my desperation to discover the truth.
As well as writing a fast paced and action packed story, Angeline Boulley also included a surprising yet sweet romance in this book. The character development, the plot, the setting, everything within this book is perfection! I listened to the audiobook of Firekeeper’s Daughter alongside reading the novel, and I would highly recommend listening to all or parts of this book to fully appreciate the story. By listening to the audio I was able to fully immerse myself in Daunis’s story and hear the correct pronunciation of her beautiful language.
Angeline Boulley has crafted one of the best debuts I have ever read, the story is perfectly paced to keep the reader engaged while taking the time to educate us on Ojibwe traditions and culture. I was drawn to Firekeeper’s Daughter from my own desire to read more books by Indigenous authors, please remember that we should all strive to diversify our reading as much as possible, if you have yet to read a book by an indigenous author I highly recommend ordering a copy of this debut. Firekeeper’s Daughter is a detailed, powerful and thrilling novel that I will reread countless times.

Daunis is an aspiring university student, previously hockey player, keen scientist and Ojibwe woman of mixed heritage. She has recently experienced tragedy, and as her community succumbs to an influx of a new potent drug, she will experience it again. The FBI want Daunis as their confidential informant: her interests and place in her community make her an ideal candidate. Reluctantly, hoping for a greater good, she begins to juggle her place in her family, in her tribe and amongst her friends whilst hiding her involvement in an investigation into her community and the people she's known her whole life. Along the way, she learns hard truths and valuable lessons - uncovering layers of deception and greed amongst people she trusted entirely, as well as finding powerful new connections to her history and people. All the while the tightrope of undercover work gets harder to balance and real danger starts to touch Daunis' life. I was hooked from start to finish.
Daunis is a bold and brilliant heroine, the final chapters are adrenalin pumping and I loved learning about the beautiful customs of the Native American people.

A great YA read! In fact, a pacey thrilling read whatever your age. A fantastic array of authentic characters, with a spikey, sparky female protagonist, Daunis, at the heart. Daunis is a member of the Native American Ojibwe community and this allows Boulley to offer her readers fascinating insights into the history, culture and structures of this ancient society. We learn much about the community, traditions, and rituals of the Ojibwe: which I found both interesting and fascinating.
While dealing with hard hitting themes like rape, drugs, racism, and death, this book balances the darkness with Ojibwe cultural texture, and realistic, three dimensional characters. Boulley has created a complex and riveting plot full of tension and suspense, told in real time with an almost lyrical voice: some passages are quite beautifully crafted. A recommended read.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to receive ARC.

Breathtaking, heartbreaking and just one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time. I loved the narrative and the way that it was entwined with such rich detail about native American culture. Beautiful storytelling, layered characters and a wonderful descriptive quality sets this far and above your typical YA novel, and I'm hopeful that that it will attract a wider audience. An utterly compelling read, I'm going to be recommending this to everyone.

Firekeeper’s Daughter had me intrigued from the beginning. With unexpected twists and and a great buildup to the final reveal, it kept me on my toes. The writing flowed easily and some powerful lines really made me pause.

I do however think that, besides the mystery, the characters and the community were the strongest part of the story. Daunis is such a well-rounded character and it felt like I really got to know her personality, her dreams and her fears. She’s intelligent and brave and she also had great character development. I especially loved learning about Daunis’ experiences as a biracial Native teen. Seeing the different relationships with her white mother’s side of the family on one hand and the Ojibwe community on the other hand was so interesting. Daunis feels torn between those two worlds and like she doesn’t really fit into either, and I really liked how she wanted to be a part of both but still saw the flaws in both as well. Firekeeper’s Daughter has a quite big cast of characters without being confusing and all of the different community members and their different experiences added a lot to the story. I also really enjoyed that so many Ojibwe words were included as well as traditions and ceremonies. There were so many things that I hadn’t known about before and it really showed me that I have to educate myself more.

Firekeeper’s Daughter deals with so many different topics – most of them are very hard-hitting but also incredibly important. I especially thought that Angeline Boulley wrote about grief in a very realistic way and that she handled this difficult topic very well. Drugs, addiction, murder, sexual assault and more – the trigger warning list is definitely quite long and it also leads to the main reason why this wasn’t quite a 5-star-read for me. I just thought that some themes could’ve been addressed in more depth. The romance actually played a bigger role than I had expected and I did quite enjoy it, but with character development and the mystery and general talk about the community, there just wasn’t enough page time left for some topics that I personally think were touched on too briefly.

However, I still highly recommend checking out Firekeeper’s Daughter if you’re looking for a gripping book that deals with heavy topics while also sharing a look into a community that is still very rarely represented in literature.

Firekeeper’s Daughter is a suspenseful YA thriller that will stay with me for a long time. 4.25/5⭐️

Firekeeper's Daughter is an emotional read, heartbreaking yet beautiful. It’s a story about community, coming of age and identity. I couldn’t believe this was a debut for the author because it’s stunning and just brilliant. The characters are so well-crafted and full of depth. This book is so insightful and well-written, I felt honoured for the author to share her world, culture, language and traditions with the reader. Absolutely beautiful and thoroughly recommended

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I really struggled with this one and I’m so disappointed. Apparently this is being touted as a thriller, but there is a crime/investigation element to it, I didn’t find it thrilling at all. For the most part, I was bored.

Let’s start with what I did like. Check out that incredible cover! It’s stunning.

I also really loved the descriptions of the Ojibwe traditions. I will confess that while I know there are others out there, this is the first Own Voices book I have read by a Native American author. I really appreciate Boulley being willing to allow the rest of us in. I did have to guess at the meanings of some of the words used, but most I was able to figure out from context.

But the rest? The drug ring investigation? The romance? I just didn’t feel anything. It was a hard slog to get through, and I think it was just too long. It did pick up in the last 20% but overall it was too little too late to really get me engaged.

Also on the romance: a) it came pretty much out of nowhere. I didn’t really feel like the characters had any chemistry. And b) was incredibly inappropriate. Admittedly, another character did call it out as such, but I just… felt pretty squicked by it. I could understand why Jamie would connect with Daunis as he did, but still…

The other thing that kept throwing me off was that it was set in 2004 for no reason that I could really figure out (though some reviews I’ve read say that 2004 was around the time crystal meth was really starting to take off, so I wondered if that was it). Apart from the absence of social media and the occasional reference to a now-outdated phone, there was very little to place it there, so whenever a specific reference was made (such as “class of 2004” or a mention of Janet Jackson’s infamous Superbowl wardrobe malfunction) it always threw me for a second.

I am obviously in the minority with this view – the current GoodReads average is 4.55/5 from over 1700 ratings. I wish I could have been one of the 5 star reviews but not this time.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

At first sight, without reading the synopsis, I thought it was a fantasy of some sorts but turns out it's a mystery/thriller/policial investigation with a nice subplot of Native American culture in it - and I learnt tons about it. I was really invested in learning more about the community but also to uncover the truth of the investigation. The book deals with heavy topics such as abuse, drug addiction, sexual assault, grief and so on, be aware. It's really hard to say that I enjoyed the read because of the overall theme of the book but I can assure you that this debut is incredible and deserves your attention.

"Firekeeper's Daughter" is a stunning debut from Angeline Boulley which draws beautifully on her own heritage. The book provides a valuable insight into Native American beliefs, culture and traditions. Protagonist Daunis is a strong Anishinaabe kwe who finds herself assisting an investigation into meth production in her community. But who can she trust? It's a strong YA thriller and I'm delighted to hear that it's being optioned for Netflix. Boulley handles a variety of themes with skill and sensitivity, including the devastating effects of drug abuse and sexual assault. I love the cover design of the book and also the authentic language and setting.

Angeline Boulley sold this, her first novel, at the age of 54 and if that's not inspirational then I don't know what is! "Firekeeper's Daughter" is now a No1 New York Times bestseller and I hope it does equally well in the UK. An excellent read!

It took way too long for the story to start - around 100 pages
Once it finally got going it was very good, it was intense and suspenseful but very predictable as to who were the culprits.
It was wonderful learning about the Anishinaabe culture and language
I dont understand why they cant pursue the rape charges though

This is an amazing debut from Angeline Boulley. I was immediately hooked and connected to the characters. It was beautifully written and I will definitely be reading this again. Not only is the story enticing but the world that Boulley created. I cant wait to see what Boulley writes next,