Spotlight

Hunting by Stars, Cherie Dimaline (2021)

This is the hotly-anticipated sequel to 2017’s surprise, post-apocalyptic hit, The Marrow Thieves. It’s set in a near future where society, already buffeted by climate change and pandemics, has fallen apart after everyone loses the ability to dream — everyone, that is, except for the Indigenous peoples of North America, who are now hunted down for their life-saving bone barrow. This sequel follows our protagonist Frenchie after he’s been caught by the authorities and made to undergo a new experimental treatment, while his found family try to find him and end up uncovering a new, even more nefarious plot. If you read and loved The Marrow Thieves, you will absolutely love Hunting by Stars; if you haven’t read it, and are remotely interested in dystopian stories, please do so, and then read this right after!

Read this if you’re interested in:

• Indigenous Literature
• Post-Apocalyptic Stories
• Residential Schools
• Dystopias
• Complicated Families
• Found Family

My Rating, 10/10

Weekly Roundup

• • The Great Bear, David A. Robertson (2021), 10/10: I enjoyed the first book in the Misewa Saga, The Barren Grounds (see last week’s post) so much that I had to keep on going with it right away. If anything, this was even better, as Morgan and Eli travel to an earlier time in Misewa’s history and help to protect their friends from the threat of The Great Bear. (Middle Grade, Fantasy, Indigenous Perspectives, Cree)
  • The Hourglass Throne, K.D. Edwards (2022), 8/10: The third installment in the Tarot Sequence series picks up on the momentum gained in the previous volume and doesn’t let go. Our hero Rune is getting used to his role as the head of a noble Atlantean House but a mysterious figure from his people’s ancient past returns and throws everything he thought he knew into doubt, and danger. I love this series for the found family and mythology, though for me at least the action sequences aren’t as successful as they could be. (Fantasy, LGBTQ2S+, Thriller, Found Family)
  • Matilda, Roald Dahl (1988), 8/10: I had completely forgotten I’d read this modern classic of children’s literature when I was in elementary school until I came across the name “Miss Trunchbull” and then it all came rushing back. I was surprised by some of the mature themes — not that they were found in a children’s book, but that they were handled as flippantly as they were. It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon, but if you read it with a child, I’d encourage you to take the time to talk through some of the serious content with them. (Children’s Literature, Paranormal, Precocious Children, Child Neglect)
  • Bet on It, Jodie Slaughter (2022), 6/10: I’ll start with the positives here: There is a lot of great representation in this contemporary romance, particularly around mental health issues, healing from trauma, and body positivity; it also gets big points for its strong portrayal of adult friendship. However, these good things could not overcome what was for me a very contrived and silly plot — even judged by romance standards. (Romance, Mental Health, PTSD, Body Positivity)
  • Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier (2016), 9/10: This middle grade graphic novel was fun and educational, without being preachy. We meet Cat and Maya, two sisters who move to a California town that goes all out for Dia de Muertos. Through their adventures they reconnect with their Mexican heritage and also learn to manage their fears and anxiety about meeting new people and their family’s murky future in light of Maya’s worsening symptoms from cystic fibrosis. (Middle Grade, Paranormal, Graphic Novel, Latinx Culture, Disability & Chronic Illness)
  • Spirit Hunters, Ellen Oh (2017), 7/10: This is a middle grade horror novel (the first entry in a series) has lots of great age-appropriate spooky content — haunted houses, graveyards, and spirit possession — and also injects some diversity into the genre with its strong nods to Korean shamanism. (Middle Grade, Paranormal, Korean Culture)