I usually wait till a little closer to publication day to share my ARC reviews, BUT I wanted to make sure this one was on your radar because OH.MY. GOSH. I LOVED it so much. Take everything you loved about Firekeeper’s Daughter and multiply it. Boulley has this immense talent of telling a story, immersing you in culture, and teaching you all wrapped up in a book that you won’t be able to put down.

I loved this return to Sugar Island. This time we are tagging along with Perry and Pauline, our beloved Daunis’ nieces, as they navigate the summer as interns. Told from Perry’s POV, we are taken on a wild ride of character growth, education on how current laws are detrimental to Native culture and way of life, and just the right amount of mystery to keep you fully invested in this story.

What Boulley taught me in these pages is something I will be thinking about for a long time. It touched me in ways I couldn’t imagine. I loved the use of Ojibwemowin throughout the story which mixes so well with the rich culture in these pages. I didn’t want to leave this island. There is something about the mix of their beautiful way of life and the continued persecution of their people that just sits with you in a way that, for me, I will be thinking about for a long time.

The writing. The story. The character development. The mystery. The connection to these characters. Returning to Sugar Island. A small continuation of Daunis’ story. I can’t say enough about how much I loved it. It’s a powerful, thought provoking, and emotional read that will keep you up at night to finish.

Make sure you have this one on your radar. If you loved Firekeeper’s Daughter, just go ahead and preorder this one. It hits just as good, if not even better. A fantastic follow up. It’s the perfect mix of returning to the characters and island we all fell in love with and a new story that, for me, taught me even more.

Mark your calendars. Warrior Girl Unearthed hits shelves May 2nd.

wow i loved this!!!! angeline boulley blew me away with firekeeper’s daughter, so i was absolutely thrilled to get my hands on an arc of warrior girl unearthed.

while i think reading firekeeper would add depth to warrior girl (lots of easter eggs & callbacks!!), i also don’t think it’s truly necessary to enjoy this sequel. like firekeeper, i learned so so much about Ojibwe traditions but i really appreciated how grounded this felt in the present-day. warrior girl is set a decade after firekeeper in the same community, now tackling the issues of repatriation of tribal artifacts & missing & murdered indigenous women, girls, & two-spirit. it’s got the same fast pace, hairpin turns, & fiery characters you love (but often question their decisions!!)

you can really tell how much boulley has grown as an author in this sequel. her characters feel way more age-appropriate (our protagonist is 16) & there weren’t as many totally out of left-field moments. there’s definitely still a LOT of action packed into this book & it probably wrapped up a bit too neatly again, but it felt way more balanced & i was hooked every step of the way.

you can absolutely feel the urgency & emotion from the characters as they fight for their belongings (& ancestors — literal skeletons!!!!) to be returned & for their missing sisters, mothers, & daughters to be found. i definitely teared up multiple times!!! the story really highlights the injustice of our systems, especially against indigenous communities, in a way that is accessible & riveting.

this really blew me away as an engaging, educational, & emotional look into indigenous traditions & culture. i love learning from books that also are so riveting i can’t put down & warrior girl unearthed definitely fit the bill!! i seriously can’t sing its praises enough!!

My goodness, this book is phenomenal. Taking place 10 years after Fire Keeper’s Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed follows Perry Firekeeper-Birch during summer internship. Her plan had been to have a lazy summer full of fishing and time with her family and her dog, but when she crashes her jeep her auntie Daunis arranges for her to join internship program that will give her hands-on experience with programs and resources in the community. Her assignment is with Turtle Cooper, a museum curator who is known to be odd but who she learns is focused on the means of achieving the end, especially when it comes to repatriating their ancestors’ bodies, funerary items, and more that archeologists find and try to keep for research. Perry learns a lot about NAGPRA and becomes dedicated to bringing home Warrior Girl who was found but the college is trying to claim she cannot be connected to modern day Clans as a way to keep the remains at the institution. Alongside Perry’s dive into NAGPRA, a series of young women are going missing in the community and her twin sister, Pauline, is helping to work on MMIW database for the police.

This is such an excellent book full of many layers and elements that come together into an engaging story I found impossible to put down. I loved learning more about repatriation of ancestors and what goes into trying to bring ancestors home. This book also really confronts the ways colleges and museums are a product of colonialism and how they continue to profit and benefit from their othering of Indigenous people and communities. Warrior Girl Unearthed is a hard-hitting story full of family and community and gave me so many feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced eBook copy of Warrior Girl Unlimited.

Angeline Boulley is such a great writer. Firekeeper’s Daughter was one of my favorite books when it debuted a couple of years ago, and her follow up did not disappoint. I’m not a fan of mysteries, but I love that the mystery is secondary to everything else Boulley addresses in her book, focusing more on the characters and story. Just like her debut novel, I appreciate that this book focuses on Native Americans and what has been done and continues to be done to them as it is such an under-represented marginalized group in fiction.

If I had to pick one thing that bothered me, the mysteries of the book seemed to wrap up a bit too nicely and neatly. Otherwise, this was a well-written second novel from someone who will surely become one of my favorite authors.

I would happily recommend this to teens and adults!

This book was, once again, absolutely incredible. I got to read it early thanks to NetGalley and I'm so grateful - nmiigwechinendam zaam ngiigindaas! Boulley now has a signature style and it's a familiar presence throughout this book. It's a joy to revisit Sugar Island, and particularly because we get to spend time with the Firekeeper-Birch family. Perry is a delightful counterpoint to Daunis from the first book and we get to see more of her personality. The mystery, the ties to real-life and current concerns around repatriation and reconciliation - this book is another absolute winner that's going to captivate everyone who reads it.

Thank you Angeline Boulley for providing a second great book that is wonderfully written with suspense and mystery that keeps the readers turning the pages. Perry Firekeeper-Birch is a teen who thinks she has her future figured out only to find that she is drawn into her culture and the atrocities of the past and today.. Fast paced and believable characters will keep readers want to learn more about the Ojibwa culture.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for review. I thoroughly enjoyed Warrior Girl Unearthed, and in many ways I’d say it’s almost better than Firekeeper’s Daughter. I only say this because I think Boulley has gotten much better at writing teen characters who read 100% as teenagers (my only beef with Firekeeper was that Daunis was far too mature and advanced for her age - a minor issue, but it distracted me sometimes). Warrior Girl hooked me from the beginning and I was totally invested in this plot, all of the characters, and of course in learning more about Objiwe culture and Native American history. This story will definitely stay with you, as it should. Boulley’s a confident writer and she knows how to weave a story. Her plot is solid, and her characters are too.

Perry and Pauline are the twin nieces of our beloved Daunis. They are in highschool and spending the summer in an internship program for Native teens. She finds herself working in the local museum learning all about the artifacts and their care. When she learns about the battles to bring back sacred items and ancestor's remains she finds herself overwhelmingly passionate about righting the wrongs. Even if she needs to cross the line herself to do what is right for her people. Meanwhile Daunis is caught up in a murder mystery and native girls keep going missing. Perry finds a way to get herself caught up in all of it.

I wondered if there was any way Boulley could beat the triumph that was Firekeeper's Daughter but I think I loved this book even more. It educates on Native culture and the current and continuing damaging policies that America has without being too heavy handed or preachy. You live the atrocities and unfairness of the repatriation of Native items with Perry. This book will definitely make you angry and heartbroken.

You see how easily the government and law enforcement work against the Natives. Don't get me wrong, Perry was a teen and often made precocious and unrealistic decisions that got her into trouble but her youth made the rest of the story more accessible. I also guessed the bad guy pretty early but it didn't keep me from enjoying the journey.

This book also used Ojibwe language throughout, but did it in a way where it was accessible and understandable. It's a big pet peeve of mine when English novels use the characters natural tongue but don't ease into it or give you a real guide to understanding and internalizing. This novel did that so well.

Thanks to Henry Holt for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Solidly YA. I think even middle schoolers would enjoy this. I stopped at 10%, but definitely think this will have good appeal.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC.

How can you not love Perry Firekeeper-Birch? I couldn't stop myself from rooting for her from the opening page to the very last, even (or maybe especially) when she was doing something she shouldn't be doing. Perry pulls you into her story, along with all the twists and turns, and I could not put it down. Just like with Firekeeper's Daughter, Angeline Boulley addresses very real issues that affect Indigenous people today with a brave and sharp witted protagonist that is both serious and humorous. This is a fast-paced must-read

Another fantastic novel by Angeline Boulley. A fictional tale with real information and stakes. I loved the characters and the messages and themes are so important and impactful. Boulley is excellent!

I truly could not put this book down. I fell in love with the characters, especially Perry, of course, but the other Misfits as well. I truly appreciated learning about NAGPRA. The turn the book took at the end was completely unexpected and just a "wow" moment but also sooo tense! I 100% recommend this book and can't wait to get it in the hands of our patrons.

After reading and loving Firekeeper's Daughter, I was so thrilled to find out that Angeline Boulley had another book on the way, especially after finding out the story returns to Sugar Island! We join our friends from Sugar Island years after the events of Firekeeper's Daughter, where revisit twins Perry and Pauline (who were so little during the first book and are now in HIGH SCHOOL!). We follow Perry as her summer of "slack" is sabotaged by a small fender bender that results in her having pick up a summer internship to pay back our girl auntie DAUNIS for repairs to the jeep!! (So excited to see her character again). During her summer internship at the local museum with the quirky Cooper Turtle, Perry learns about the remains of Warrior Girl. Warrior Girl is an ancestor, who is stored in museum archives and split from her community and traditions, and Perry becomes determined to bringing her back, along with the artifacts and items of many other Anishinaabe ancestors being stored in museums, archives, and other unsavory places where they certainly should not be. Adventure and thrills ensue as Perry, Pauline, and the gang of Misfit Toys take on a heist to end all heists and bring their ancestors home to Sugar Island.

One of the things I loved most about Firekeeper's Daughter was Boulley's way of seamlessly interlacing incredible characters and stories with real world learning moments about Ojibwa language, customs, and tradition. Warrior Girl does this very same thing incredibly well, along with highlighting incredible relevant issues within the community, as Firekeeper's Daughter did. We learn about NAGPRA and the complicated process indigenous communities go through in order to repatriate stolen cultural items, and we also get a nod towards the MMIW crisis that continues to harm communities and women across the country. Reading about NAGPRA was particular impactful for me as someone who has worked in archives and spent a lot of time considering the ethics of storing and collecting material, to see the way characters in the story grossly mishandled cultural items made me feel even fervently that indigenous objects have no place in collections outside of their communities.

Boulley serves us a combination of heavy but incredibly important topics, along with representation for strong and smart and independent characters like Perry and Shense ( who I love soo much). I felt that even with the complicated array of topics that were addressed in Warrior Girl Unearthed, it all synthesized well, and made for an incredible story. As I mentioned before, I was really pleased to learn about how some of the folks on Sugar Island had been doing since the events of the last book, particularly Daunis. It was so special to see Perry and Pauline grow along with Daunis in her adulthood, and just see where she ended up! I really loved this story, and hope that Boulley continues writing books with powerful messages like these! We all need to read Firekeeper's Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Firekeeper's Daughter is a 5-star read for me, so I was super excited for a chance to return to Sugar Island. Once again, Boutley's writing is beautiful, painting a picture of Ojibwe life, struggles, and pride. Another phenomenal book by an author who is quickly becoming a go-to author. I will definitely recommend this book to students and adults alike!

I was so excited to read this book and I wasn't disappointed. I love that it occupies the same universe as Firekeeper's Daughter. The fast pace and intriguing mystery are supported by a lot of factual information that wove neatly into the story. Great book.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of Warrior Girl Unearthed. I loved Firekeeper's Daughter, so I had high expectations for Warrior Girl Unearthed. Let's just say I was not disappointed. Set approximately 10 years after the events of Firekeeper's Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed follows one of Daunis's relatives, Perry, as she learns about the history of her people, the repatriation process, and the unfairness of the systems around her. Set against a wave of missing Indigenous women, this novel takes readers on an impetuous ride of discovery alongside Perry. Highly recommend.

WOW!!!!!! I liked Warrior Girl Unearthed even more than Firekeeper's Daughter, which I loved loved loved. Ms. Boulley's writing has sharpened. Perry is a character who lives life with gusto. Though she appears calm and mellow of the surface, she cares deeply and passionately. The story kept me guessing, and I didn't see the twist coming at the end., I couldn't put the book down. My only question is, WHAT HAPPENED TO JAMIE?!!!

What else can be said about this author and their books that hasn’t already been said. A masterful storyteller telling a narrative that everyone needs to hear. Books that speak to the world we live in and the atrocities committed that society ignores need to be written and Boulley is doing a Oscar worthy job

Fast paced, exciting and steeped in indigenous culture and issues of critical importance.

The story has plenty of twists and turns and a few "hold your breath while reading a fast as you can" moments.

Components I liked best include the following (not an exhaustive list):

*very strong female lead protagonist. Perry displays bravery and vulnerability, joy and sorrow, tenacity balanced with wisdom, impulsiveness that becomes tempered with patience and maturity.

*Descriptions of the physical region transport the reader perfectly to place.

*The echoes of history that no one can (or should) avoid were beautifully interwoven, along with setting the stage for challenging work to be done in the future.

*the strength of family, culture, belonging and interconnectedness of us all.

This is an important book, one I'll be handselling all summer.

This is another amazing book by Angeline Boulley! This one is told through the eyes of Perry and how she learns more about her ancestors and how to bring them back home where they belong.
We still see Daunis, who Perry and her twin Pauline call Auntie. In the first book they were younger and now they are 16. They are doing internships over the summer with tribal council and other tribal members and businesses throughout the island and mainland.
This is a deep look into returning ancestors of indigenous peoples back to their lands and their tribes.
Just read this book, it's amazing!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!