Madeline
The Firekeeper’s Daughter is one of those surprising books. It appeared to be one thing and ended up being a completely different thing that was very unexpected. As the book unfolds, we meet a biracial White and Native American young women who is studying medicine and is obsessed with hockey. This was the expected part of the book. Then it turns into something completely different and that is when Meth and love come shooting through and causing a sharp turn in the story.
Premise of Firekeeper’s Daughter
Daunis may not have the perfect life but she has her own life down. She knows where she has been in her life, what she has accomplished (mostly hockey and being a great student) and she knows where she is going. She was born to an underaged white mother and a Native American father who was not put on the birth certificate. Although she became in tuned with her Native American side of herself, she was always slightly removed.
That is until a tragedy that includes Daunis’s best friend, Lilly, and her best friend’s ex boyfriend, Travis, hits the community. Travis, who recently became addicted to meth, and Lilly have had that type of toxic relationship that never ends but really needs to. This “love” is the reason Travis needs to do something stupid. Add a new mysterious boy in the mix and then everything changed. She will no longer will be the medical student who was born to love hockey.
Geography and Native American Culture In This Book
This book takes place on the Canadian and United States border where Michigan is. This area and the Native American culture in this area is a huge element in this book. The different countries play into the laws and specifically laws around Native Americans. There are prayers, herbs, plants, and other Native American culture that plays into this book and makes it, from what I can tell, an authentic book about Native American culture today in Michigan.
Final Thoughts
Although Firekeeper’s Daughter is not what I had previously expected when I picked it up, I was not mad about it. There was a “who did it” aspect that thrillers, crime, and murder mysteries have that I love. And there was the lightness of chick lit or young adult books. Mix in some Native American culture that I have zero knowledge of, and it was a quite enjoyable book about hockey, meth, and love.
