Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

450 reviews

internationalreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I absolutely loved this until the last 10% or so. I wanted to see more of the case wrapping up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ruffian23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Colonisation

whiskeywoman79's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 Fiction / Young Adult / Indigenous / Mystery / Romance

TW: sexual assault, rape, suicide, death of a loved one, addiction, drug use

Woah. I started this earlier this year and I was not in the right head space to finish it, I was ready now. This was a heartbreaking story but also a story of resilience.

I don't think that my thoughts and personal takeaway from the story are helpful to the conversation, please see the reviews from #ownvoices or #firstnation or other Indigenous reviewers

"There is healing medicine in those kisses." 

See less 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

jelkebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Ugh, this book is such a difficult one to review for me. I feel like for most of this book this stood at a three star for me, with the thought that the reveals/ending could pull this up to a four, or bring it down to a two. Sadly enough it ended up landing on a two. I'm so disappointed as I just had heard so many good things about this book, and it didn't work for me.
First of all let me say that I thought this book was incredibly interesting. I thought the mystery was quite intriguing, and I was very curious to see it all play out throughout the book. I also thought the perspective of having our main character have to investigate undercover in a way was really interesting, and not something I have seen much in YA mysteries. I feel like it caused a very interesting mental back and forth where our main character didn't know if she was betraying her community or helping them. The sense of community is also incredibly well done in this book. It's very complicated, not very perfect, but her community is sacred to our main character. I thought that aspect to it was really interesting.
This book is strongest when it is giving commentary on the casual racism Native people face in the US, as well as how the police doesn't actually care about their tribes when they go to investigate crimes. There's also discussions in here around how especially crimes against Native women aren't taken seriously. It was incredibly frustrating to see that happen in this book, but its even more frustrating knowing it is very real. I definitely like how that was included in this book.
My problem with this book was that I thought it was incredibly slow moving. It felt a bit of a slog to get through. At points it also got very repetetive, and not a whole lot happens. So it wasn't my favourite. That being said I did think a good ending could pull it all out of the water for me. Sadly enough, it didn't do that. I feel like the big reveal was incredibly predictable, and the fact that the main character didn't really see that coming until the very last minute just feels a bit disappointing. Especially because we're constantly told how smart she is but her kind of accidentally stumbling upon this incredibly obvious (to me) thing just makes her seem incredibly dumb. On top of that I also feel like some of the aspects of the reveal don't make the most sense to me, and I just wish we got a bit more explenation. I get the message of having peace with not knowing everything, that sometimes it's better to not know some things, but I feel like there were just a couple to many holes for me to make the ending really work. So yeah, sadly it ended up being a let down for me. I do definitely still want to read more from Angeline Boulley because I feel like there was a lot of potential in this book for me to love it, so I hope another book by this author will work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

leahkalantai's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Grief

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Rape, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gabi_r184's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

onarosebeam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was spectacular, a deep evolution of character, community, and finding healing among unimaginable pain. I think This one will be perfect for fans of All My Rage. 

This was such a unique plot and the framing for the mystery investigation was one I haven't Come across in a ya book before. And even though it was a mystery I was just as deeply invested in the everyday lives of the characters and loved them just as deeply.  

Trigger warnings: domestic abuse leading to murder (on page), ptsd flashbacks and grief, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), rape, drug use and abuse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Grief

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

ms_read's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

quinnpjd930's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism