Firekeeper's Daughter

No posts in a month, but lots of books read . . . let's see if I can catch up.

I found Angeline Boulley and her debut novel on the Queries, Qualms & Quirks podcast. The book follows recent high school graduate Daunis, still in her hometown after deciding to attend community college with her best friend. An injury that seems to be a secret has kept her from being the college hockey star that her family and community expected. Daunis is also caught between her father's Ojibwe traditions and her mother's white patrician family. Actually, Daunis knows who she is; it's other people who try to label, exclude, or use her.

Enter an undercover FBI investigation into crystal meth production and distribution that is tied to her uncle's recent supposed overdose, her best friend's erratic ex-boyfriend, and more that you shouldn't know until you read it. The aspect of drug addiction consuming a community reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead.

This was a fast read with maybe a few too many things happening to Daunis. First person is the standard POV for YA, and perhaps that explains the inclination to have Daunis experience all the traumas that the author wants to highlight. Still, I approve of the way she left the ending open. Daunis is at the beginning of her life, the rest of the tale before her.