I will read anything Angeline Boulley writes after loving both Firekeeper’s Daughter and her new release, Warrior Girl Unearthed. Angeline Boulley is a member of the Sault St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Bear Clan, and is from Sugar Island, which lies between the the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Canada. Her novels are set in this beautiful region. I love that Boulley’s protagonists are Indigenous young women who show physical and mental strength as they face challenges.

While Boulley’s novels are Young Adult, I thoroughly appreciated them and would recommend them to teens and adults. Categorized as YA Mystery & Thriller, these novels will keep the reader turning the pages while educating the reader about Objibwe culture and traditions, including present-day tribal citizenship. Warrior Girl Unearthed focuses heavily on repatriation of tribal ancestors with a goal of returning ancestors to the earth with proper burial ceremonies.

Warrior Girl Unearthed’s main character, Perry Firekeeper-Birch, is 16-year old spending her summer in internship roles that will forever change her. Perry learns the past and present personal and public ownership of the remains of her indigenous ancestors and ceremonial items that should be returned to their tribes. Perry sees firsthand that “...one person’s grave robber is another person’s archeologist” and Perry becomes determined to make a difference and help bring these precious remains and items back to her tribe. This novel educates the reader about NAGPRA, The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.

I appreciate how Perry’s community respects its Elders and prioritizes recording and cherishing their oral history. I love that even at age 16, Perry knows to save her energy for people who value and respect her and to focus her attention on causes and people who matter. Perry has such passion for her family and for her tribe. I love that tribal ceremonies are incorporated into the story.

There are multiple conflicts going on in the novel. At first, it seems like the missing Indigenous girls in the area may be the focus of the novel, but most of the story focuses on Perry and her internship and her interest in repatriation of stolen Indigenous ancestors and goods, but then the missing girls continue to come up in the story. There is also a murder dropped in the middle of the novel that has its own conflicts leading up to it. I can see where it may feel like too much is going on for some readers, but, overall, I was hooked and loved reading Warrior Girl Unearthed.

I’m so so so sad to DNF this. I read 20% and really, really tried to get interested. I feel like I am finallyyy getting to the beginning of the meat of the story but I’ve already read 1/5 of the book, and the first part was really dull. The characters seem flat. This is so different from FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER. I hope other people like this more than I did and are able to finish it.

I could not put this title down. What a great story that kept you guessing, right until the end. Wrapped within the story are some genuine thinking points that would make for a great book club/classroom discussion. Theft is seen as unacceptable at every level, but the wider discussion of inequity over time and inequity in the application of Justice is clear. What a great way tho get teens to understand the importance of perspective and its impact on the application of “Justice”. Definitely on the purchase list for the library, recommended for summer reading and highlighted for a book club discussion in the fall.

truly breathtaking. i loved that this was set in the same world as firekeeper's daughter but not a direct sequel- the topics at hand were completely different but no less pressing. once again, i feel like i learned so much while being totally immersed in this world with these characters. this is some top tier YA literature- absolute quality down to the sentence by sentence level. There was a little bit of a pacing drag towards the middle, but then it barrels towards the end and a satisfying conclusion. I can' wait to see what Angeline Boulley does next.

I LOVED Firekeeper’s Daughter and was thrilled that Daunis makes an appearance in Warrior Girl Unearthed!

The story focuses on Daunis's niece, Perry, and her quest to reclaim the stolen remains of her ancestors. Emotionally rich, funny, and powerful. This is a must-read.

I was a little nervous to read this because I loved Firekeeper's Daughter so much, but, of course, Boulley did not disappoint. A believable, likable protagonist and very real conflict centering on MMIW and the repatriation of indigenous ancestral remains made this hard to put down and kept me thinking about this story long after I finished reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is another great book from Angeline Boulley! I really liked the diversity of characters. She creates these stories in a story that all tie back together right at the very end. I DID not see everything being related in the way it was! One thing that I think could've been been fleshed out a little is when Perry crashed the jeep and Daunis is like you owe me $3200 and you're working it off at the museum...I think her parents should have had some say in that decision. I feel like she overstepped a boundary. But other than that it was an amazing story!

4.5⭐️ rounded up for goodreads! Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Firekeeper’s Daughter was my favorite read of 2021, so I was so excited for another book from Angeline Boulley, and it was even more of a treat to return to Sugar Island and follow Daunis’s niece, Perry, on her summer break.

I feel that you could read this book without reading FKD first, but I do think having the background info and knowledge of previous characters would be helpful for reading Warrior Girl Unearthed!

One thing I love about Boulley’s writing is that it spans genres. It’s YA, contemporary, mystery, heist, with a little bit of romance sprinkled in. I also learned so much about a topic I hadn’t known about before - NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), which “provides a process for federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds to repatriate or transfer from their collections certain Native American cultural items -- human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects … -- to lineal descendants, and to Indian tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations.”

This book also touched on the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

I loved Perry’s passion, her humor and wit, her bravery, and her dedication to wanting to bring the ancestors home; she was fueled by righteous anger that was totally justified. I also loved Shense’s character and how she would pump breast milk for her baby while they were apart ❤️ nice to see that represented in a book!

“Warriors do for their people what others can’t or won’t.”

What to expect:
- Own Voices Native author
- Black & Anishinaabe FMC
- Cameo appearances from FKD characters
- Mystery, a complicated heist, plenty of action
- Ojibwemowin words and language throughout

My only critiques was I felt like the ending all happened so fast, I would have liked a little more time to digest everything that went down, and I would have loved to see one more scene between Perry and Cooper Turtle. Also I am still freaked out about the cereal box in Dr. Fenton’s shower - IYKYK. 😬

Perry Firekeeper-Birch dreams of spending her summer fishing while her twin sister, Pauline, participates in the summer internship program. However, after a car wreck, Perry is indebted to her Aunt Daunis and the only way to pay her back is to also join the summer internship program. Perry finds herself a group of interns who she bands together with to form Team Misfit Toys. During her internship, Perry learns about the plan to return native artifacts - one dubbed Warrior Girl, specifically - to their respectful communities, but the red tape of academia moves too slowly for her standards. Meanwhile, women and girls are going missing and Perry learns to juggle doing what's right, what's just, and bringing back the missing girls.
Told from Perry's POV, she is a firecracker of an MC. The tone of the book is full-on suspense as MMIW is simultaneously taking place in the foreground of the story while Perry is also doing her own recon on the most effective methods of returning native artifacts. The cast of characters were nuanced and diverse with the added detail of Ojibwe throughout the narrative a testament of Angeline Boulley's passion for the culture and authenticity.
This was an exciting read and I was on the edge of my seat primarily because of the MMIW events occurring in the background of the narrative. Perry is stubborn, determined, but also reckless. The resolution was wrapped up far too quickly and felt ridiculously rushed in relation to the rest of the book's events. There was also a moment of suspended disbelief when Perry finds herself in a precarious quagmire of a situation. Overall, a solid 4 stars and an important novel because of the past and most recent history.

A wonderful follow up to Firekeeper’s Daughter. I learned a ton about the culture while being entertained. It is a page turner for sure.

One of my favorite reads last year was Firekeeper’s Daughter so I was so excited to receive this gifted copy.

16 year old Perry Firekeeper-Birch is the niece of Daunis (Firekeeper’s Daughter) and the fiery counterpart to her twin Pauline. We are back on Sugar Island where the teens are about to start their summer internships. Pauline is beyond excited but Perry would rather just be fishing. As the sisters get involved in their internships, Perry learns about the artifacts and ancestors whose remains have been collected and housed in museums and she is determined to return them to their rightful tribes. But Perry doesn’t do things by the book and doesn’t have the patience to follow protocols that often leave their tribes empty handed.

So she plans a heist. But can she pull it off amidst the recent kidnappings of local tribal women?

This one took a minute for me to get into as I tried to keep track of all the characters and remember a few key characters from the previous novel. You don’t need to read Firekeeper’s Daughter to enjoy this one. Perry is a flawed teen (aren’t they all?) who you will fall in love with as she makes questionable decisions but has a heart of gold. I don’t read YA novels as much as I used to but this one was great and I enjoyed the story and learned more about how challenging it is to preserve the Native American lifestyle here as well as the unfair laws that deprive them of their safety and their heritage.

Thank you to @henryholtbooks and @netgalley for this early review copy.

Another great read by Angeline Boulley! I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Perry and Pauline - the twin nieces of Daunis, the beloved character in "Firekeeper's Daughter". While Daunis does not play a main role in this book, she is woven throughout the story as well as her son and husband and I loved the connection made between their close-knit family.

The main plot follows Perry and Pauline as they spend their summer in an internship program for Native teens. Perry is also working at a local museum where she learns about the Ojibwa Tribe and the realities of what it takes to reclaim and repatriate their ancestral remains and sacred objects from museums and collectors. While I didn't find this book as much of a page-turner as "Firekeeper's Daughter", I was very engaged in the characters. The author's love and pride in her culture and people is very evident and, as a reader, that was my favorite part.

Thank you to Angeline Boulley, NetGalley, and Henry Holt and Co. for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

Another informative yet entertaining book by Ms. Boulley. Written with both new and familiar characters Warrior Girl Unearthed delves into ancestral pride and customs while drawing the reader into the native world.
I highly recommend this to people from all walks iof life, from varying geographic areas, and both YA and adults.

3.75 Stars

I adored Firekeeper’s Daughter. ADORED it. So when I got the chance to read this eARC, I couldn’t believe my luck. When I started the novel, I immediately found myself comparing it to Angeline Boulley’s first novel, in part because they take place in the same world—it’s not a sequel, but more like a loose follow-up book? I wasn’t hooked to begin with, even though the storyline about stolen artifacts and Indigenous people’s remains is alarming and important and relevant and Boulley packs in the details and the history. Although I did get totally sucked into the story at about the 70% mark, I ultimately had significant frustrations with it that left me confused and underwhelmed by the time I finished it.

First, the pacing was all over the place. I remember that Firekeeper’s Daughter had a lot of intense action and chaos in the final few chapters, and Boulley mimicked that approach here, but because SO much of the story was building up to that point, the ending felt rushed and like she was trying to tie up approximately 1000 loose ends. She was also juggling multiple side plots throughout that she brought together at the end, but again, in what felt like a very rushed manner.

Second, the character development frustrated me. Perry’s actions made sense for how Boulley developed her as a person, but everyone else? Not so much. The explanations for many characters’ behaviors confused me more than anything, which maybe would not have been the case if Boulley had spent more time with them.

I recognize I’m going to be in the minority of readers with my feelings toward Warrior Girl Unearthed, and I think it’s possible a lot of people won’t have issues with the frustrations I mentioned above. And I do want to say that I learned a great deal from the book, and I’m grateful for that. Overall, though, I just expected so much more from a narrative standpoint.

If you’ve read Warrior Girl Unearthed, what did you think of it?

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always been the laid-back twin and is currently looking forward to what she is calling her “Summer of Slack.” But as the evens of the summer unfold, Perry finds herself caught up in a murder investigation and tensions rise as Indigenous women continue to go missing and a grave robber tries to turn the Anishinaab culture into profit.

The Fire Keepers Daughter firmly solidified Angelline Boulley’s place on my list of auto-buy authors so I jumped at the chance to snag an advanced copy of her new novel! There are so many things I loved about this book!

I loved Perry’s adventurous spirit and love for her tribe and their culture. She is the type of strong female character that you want to stand up and cheer for by the end of the book. The other members of The Misfit Toys were likable and endearing. I also loved getting to see Daunis again. I felt like her story was unfinished in The Fire Keeper’s Daughter and was happy to get that closure from this novel.

Warrior Girl Unearthed is a YA thriller but it is also very informative. It deals with issues of racism, cultural appropriation, and violence against Indigenous women.

The chapters range from short to medium length. The plot has a medium pace with a several twists and reveals. The ending and events leading up to it were not what I saw coming and very unexpected.

Warrior Girl Unearthed is an adventurous and emotional YA thriller that you won’t want to miss!

Another winner from Angeline Boulley, Warrior Girl Unearthed is as educational as it is entertaining. Like Firekeeper's Daughter, this story is set in the Sault Ste. Marie area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, in the Native American Ojibwe community. We meet teenager Perry Firekeeper-Birch right out of the gate and are quickly drawn into her story.

Perry is a bit rudderless at first - her twin sister Pauline is the brilliant, overachiever, while Perry is just waiting for her Summer of Slack. Instead, after a fender bender that was entirely not her fault, she’s stuck working to pay back her Auntie Daunis for repairs to the Jeep. If you read Firekeeper's Daughter, you'll love seeing adult Daunis throughout the story!

During her internship, Perry learns about the federal reclamation laws/acts (NAGPRA) that allow indigenous remains and artifacts to be returned to their native tribe - and how the laws are often skirted or ignored and rarely enforced. When she learns that the "Warrior Girl" remains at a local university have not been returned to her tribe, she begins to her mission to make it happen.

Along the way, she is haunted by the disappearance of several young native girls. And then she stumbles onto the disturbing mystery of a secret vault of remains. Why are they there and for what purpose? Along with her sister and friends, a plot is hatched to return the remains for proper burial.

I have to say I do think I enjoyed Firekeeper's Daughter a bit more than this one. Perry is younger and not as mature, but she is also 16 and you'd expect a few poor decisions. The story didn't have the same dangerous, propulsive feel either. I still thought it was a great story and Boulley's love and admiration for her Ojibwe community and heritage continue to shine.

- WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED is set roughly ten years after the events of FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER, with Daunis' niece as the protagonist. I think you can read this one as a standalone, but certainly more context would be clear to you if you've already read Daunis' story.
- Boulley is so great at writing girls and women who are full of emotions, and their love and rage spills right off the page. And not only are the characters great, but they're set within a tense and compelling mystery built out of real life stories.
- I don't think I've ever read a YA novel (or maybe even adult novel?) that faces the multitude of damages caused by the theft of cultural artifacts and of their repatriation head on like this book. I think it's really going to be eye-opening and perhaps even radicalizing for many readers.

Even though 10 years have passed, the Firekeeper-Birch family still remains strong and united as it follows Perry, one of the twins. Perry’s summer was hoping to be that of slacking and fun, until she falls indebted to her Auntie Daunis, who is not to be messed with.
Daunis gets her into a youth program and she quickly falls into friendship with “Team Misfit Toys” consisting of Erik, Shense, Lucas, and later her sister Pauline. During the summer women are going missing, the town is ‘working on it’ and then Perry learns of artifacts that belong to the families of Sugar Island and more.

How far will you go?

I love the way Perry’s called to action in the same way Daunis had been, something happened and she knew it wasn’t right. Not to stop until every stone is unturned, every angle has been explored. Knowing this was Boulley’s work, I paid much closer detail to details this time, noting when something panned out. I was never expecting the twist!

Characters were deep and beautiful as always, my personal favorite was Shense. It felt like I was talking to my best friend, the way she responded to certain situations and her support for Perry even when it could be dangerous or chaotic.

I always love the way female characters are written by Boulley, strong, brave, and protective. Every time I read Teddy I think of my auntie and how she keeps me safe.

Overall, you need to read this book. Let the words speak from themselves.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch is 16 years old and hoping to have the most laid back summer possible filled with fishing, but finds herself placed as an intern at the tribal museum. At first she wants to quit, but after visiting a nearby college who has ancestral remains and cultural objects affiliated with the Anishinaabe, she's determined to see them repatriated to Sugar Island. Perry gets frustrated with how slow the process takes and decides to plan a heist, despite the fact that it could get her friends and family in trouble. Meanwhile, more and more women are going missing and Perry gets involved with finding them, particularly when her own friend disappears. This book touches on a lot of themes, especially highlighting the stolen history of Indigenous nations and the MMIW movement. Overall, a compelling story about a girl who wants to do right by her family but is figuring out that sometimes you have to consider the means and not just the ends.

4 1/2 stars. Unlike her twin Pauline, Perry Firekeeper-Birch doesn’t have any desire to work over the summer. She just wants to fish off her island and enjoy her break. But after a car accident, Perry is forced to work as a summer intern so she can pay for the damage. She is assigned to work in the tribal museum where she learns how difficult it is to repatriate Native American remains, sacred items, and other items of cultural importance. Perry is angry that the process is slow and cumbersome with museums and universities using legal loopholes to delay repatriation, so she decides to act on her own to obtain remains and items related to her Ojibwe tribe. When her friend becomes one of the missing indigenous women in the area, Perry realizes that there is even more at stake. Her actions have unexpected consequences which endanger the people she cares about, including a cute fellow intern. Like Firekeeper’s Daughter (which is one of my favorite books from 2021), Warrior Girl Unearthed is a fascinating window into the lives of Native Americans. I learned so much about the Ojibwe culture from each book without feeling like the writing is too didactic. Penny is an engaging character - feisty and fearless with a deep love for her family and tribe. My only quibble with Warrior Girl Unearthed is that there are some pacing issues if the book is a thriller, because the first part of the book is slower and reads more like realistic fiction until the action heats up in the middle. That said, I really enjoyed Warrior Girl Unearthed and I will never look at a museum collection of Native American artifacts, or any other artifacts for that matter, in the same way.

My thanks to NetGalley, Libro.fm, and Henry Holt & Co. for an advanced galley and audiobook of this novel.