A review by jassmine
Skraelings: Clashes in the Old Arctic by Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

adventurous reflective 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? No

4.25

"Do you understand this lesson?" she asked Kannujaq. "Wealth makes power. Power makes fear. Fear makes slaves."

I had this on my TBR since I read Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories and decided that searching out more by the contributors might get more indigenous authors on my TBR very effectively. The funny thing is, I don't think I read any of the books added from this batch yet and this book was actually written by authors of my least favourite story from that collection 😂 (Lounge had to really search for that because I made no notes of the authors in my review of that book...)

Anyway, I really liked this book, keep in mind that it's a Middle Grade and it reads as such, but I really appreciated the message of non-violence this sends, although there is some violence in the book, just so you know. This is a story of Kannujaq (which means copper btw) who comes across a camp of Tuniit who is just getting raided by a group of Vikings. At the center of the book is the question of the Vikings' motivation since the camp doesn't look particularly worth raiding.

This is a very short book and not that much actually happens, so I think I'm going to leave off my description here. I really enjoyed this, although I wasn't completely satisfied with the note it ended on and there is also sexual abuse in the backstory of one of the characters which was handled a bit weirdly. (I would liked it if the reaction was a little more sympathetic.)

But yeah, this was pretty good, I enjoyed it and there are also some illustrations if that's something you are into. Nice short read that I would recommend if this is something that sounds good to you!