Two Second Review
★★★★½ // 4.5 s t a r s
In the most basic sense, Firekeeper's Daughter is a book centered around Daunis, a biracial French and Native American girl, who ventures into a world of desire, deception, drugs, and drama that truly is so captivating. (do we appreciate the alliteration there, go me)
The Book
Trigger Warnings: racism, sexual assault, drug abuse, death (of loved ones)
Release Date: March 16, 2021
Publisher: Henry, Holt and Co.
Genre(s): Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Series?: no
Page Count: 496
Premise:
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.
Review
After all of almost a whole month, I'm back! Honestly, there's no better book to finally come back and write a review for than this one because it well and truly left me reeling and has me sitting in abject *oh my gosh* feels for the last day. I really am ready to just dump my brain but at the same time I can't think of a single cohesive thought so I really don't know how this will work out.
I am not gonna add my dumbed down added words summary in this one because you need to experience everything for yourself, so I shall give you the pleasure of hearing me rant about Daunis and Jamie for a paragraph, freak about Grant (aka barf), and rave about the plot twists that were while predictable, very much gut wrenching.
So, onto the blob.
The characters! The amount of characters I would give my life for and the amount of characters I would give my life for in order for them to die is truly unrivaled in this book. Daunis and Jamie, the absolute best protagonists this book could've asked for, truly. Daunis was just so strong and so relatable at times and she just embodied exactly what this book needed with every key protagonist trait and wasn't annoying at all which is so hard to find in the main character sometimes. Jamie, the absolute best love interest ever. He was such a cinnamon roll, I just can't. I love him with my whole heart I don't even have words to express how much I died. Levy, Daunis' brother who seems so one-sided but then opens up brand new possibilities of character development that was predictable but so immaculate.
Grant. Barf. Mike. Barf.
Moving on…
The plot! (The exclamation points should tell you all you need to know about my feelings for this masterpiece.) This book is categorized as a mystery and at times it felt so far from that, but goodness at time it leaves you on the edge of your seat dying to finish pages faster but also not wanting to skip a single word for missing important details that will leave you reeling by the end. The heartbreak is basically unrivaled in this one. The end, just one deception (or betrayal, I suppose you could call it) had me wanting to bawl my eyes out and that's saying something.
❝ Maybe there’s a word in Anishinaabemowin for when you find solid
footing in the rubble after a tragedy. ❞
Super short, I know. This is me keeping you here for the shortest amount of time possible so you can go put this baby on hold (or yk buy it if you aren't as broke as me) and read the living daylights out of it.
Tropes…
— coming-of-age
— predictable plot twists (that are still really good)
— forced (not really, but for lack of better word) proximity to lovers to who knows what
Read…If You Liked…
Clap When You Land (secrets? I can't think of anything better ah)
Concrete Rose (kind of just drug-ish aspect a bit)
Watch…If You Liked…
The Hate U Give (because I legitimately can't think of anything…)
ADD FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF
random q to drop comments <3
What's your favorite diverse read?
(I'll be honest, this book right here has skyrocketed to one of my favorite books
of the year but if we want another basic response, it'd be The Poppy War)
