In Warrior Girl Unearthed Perry Firekeeper-Birch, a bi-racial (Black and Anishinaabe) teen whose twin Pauline is the achiever, hopes to spend her summer fishing and slacking off. However, after trashing her aunt's car, she finds herself working with Pauline in the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe's summer internship program to pay for damages. She is assigned to work at the tribal museum where she discovers remains and artifacts from deceased Anishinaabe tribe members are being claimed by the local university. Determined to return them to the tribe, she comes up with a heist plan and in doing so uncovers a mystery involving missing Indigenous women. Always headstrong, Perry gets into trouble by acting before she thinks. Adding first love, sexual harassment, and colorism issues to this thriller makes for an engaging and thought-provoking read. The author, who is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes a great deal of information about repatriation of cultural artifacts and human remains, as well as missing Indigenous women, both pressing issues for Native Americans.

I’ll admit I didn’t really know much about this book when I asked to review it. Mostly, I knew the author’s name, because her debut, FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER was all anyone was talking about for a while when it came out in 2021. So I wanted to read it on the strength of that praise.

And… all I can say is that no one who was blown away by Angeline Boulley’s writing exaggerated. I mean, wow.

The story has a lot of moving parts. Perry and her sister are doing this summer internship (Perry only under duress). Girls keep going missing from their community. Perry begins learning about laws and processes governing the way that ancestral remains are identified and (ideally) returned to tribes and decides she must help return the remains of a woman knows as Warrior Girl. There’s the possibility of romance for Perry with one of the other interns.

So there’s a lot going on. The beginning builds a little bit slowly. I remember not being sure what the story was going to really be about. It took some time for me to feel like I got oriented within the story.

Once I did, though, the story took off. Roadblocks, and setbacks, and raised stakes, and twists kept coming one after another. And every single one seemed to pull the story more into focus.

All those pieces came together to show a more complete picture, and all of it illustrated a powerful theme about the value of life and the need to honor community and ancestry.

I loved this book. I’ve already got a copy of FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER, and I am really excited to read it. Some of the minor characters in this book are in FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER, so I’m curious what blanks reading that one will fill in. I hope there are more stories about Sugar Island and Perry’s family in the works, because I will definitely read them.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Warrior Girl Unearthed - Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
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NOTE: I highly recommend reading Firekeeper’s Daughter first.
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QUICK LOOK: Indigenous Culture, Thriller & Mystery, Heist, Critiques of Archaeology and Museums, Unpredictable Twists
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WHY 5/5: This book is beyond incredible. Boulley is a master storyteller. Her characters are full of heart, beyond brave, and endlessly curious. Through these characters, readers will not only learn about the mistreatment of Indigenous remains and artifacts, they will be swept up in the mystery of the missing women and feel true fear as they root for these teens when they take matters into their own hands. The twists of this mystery were so well crafted, I was left guessing until the very end. This book isn’t just incredible. It’s important. Read with caution - It will change you.
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Miigwech, Angelina Boulley.
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Thank you @netgalley for my eARC copy. I was given this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Warrior Girl Unearthed was a solid second book after Boulley’s incredible debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter. I was very excited to see that she written another book and I’m so thankful to Henry Holt and Co., MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for advanced copies so I could read it early! I’m hearing rumors of a third book and can’t wait for that one as well!

Warrior Girl Unearthed takes readers back to Sugar Island, but this time the story follows Perry Firekeeper-Birch, one of Daunis’ nieces, who is now at the end of high school. During Perry’s summer internship, she learns that ancestral remains and other sacred items that belong to her tribe, have been stored in the museum archives. The university has been using loopholes in federal law to hold onto them, but Perry is determined to get them back where they belong. As if this challenge isn’t big enough, young women start disappearing and Perry and her team of Misfits find themselves caught up in more obstacles and secrets as they try to bring peace back to their community.

I enjoyed the book, but found myself comparing it to Firekeeper’s Daughter, which probably wasn’t fair. The first half was slower-paced and I had a hard time getting invested in the plot. It also read more like a young adult book and I didn’t feel as connected to the characters. Looking back on the book as a whole though, it was very well-written and I learned even more about the Ojibwe tribe. I love that their language and culture was a huge part of this story and that characters from Firekeeper’s Daughter made appearances again, even though the two stories are loosely connected. The last 25% of the book had me at the edge of my seat and it really brought the whole book together even though I struggled at the start.

I can’t wait to see if there is a third book in the works!

Miigwech to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book!

Warrior Girl Unearthed takes place in the same community as Firekeeper's Daughter, only ten years later and following Daunis's niece, Perry. A series of unfortunate circumstances led Perry to having to work in a summer program, even though all she really wants to do is fish and lazy away the hot summer days. During this program, Perry learns about “Warrior Girl,” an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in a museum's archives, and how long and tedious the repatriation process is in getting ancestors' remains back to their community. Mystery ensues.

Boulley does a wonderful job again with characterization, particularly within the familial and friendship units, and with describing the Ojibwe community that Perry lives within. It's so rich and detailed. It's special, for me, as someone who is an enrolled citizen of the same tribe as Boulley, and who has family who lives in Michigan's UP. Reading these books feel a bit like home, which I deeply appreciate.

I loved Perry as our main character. She's a spitfire who isn't afraid to do just about anything for the people and community she loves. And I love that we get to see Daunis again.

I do have a couple criticisms of the book, mainly in its plot. Where the characters and world are so rich, the plot suffers from having way too many things going on. I wish some plot points had been cut and there had been more of a focus on Perry learning more about repatriation and delving into that rather than some of the (many) side plots that come and go so quickly it feels a bit like whiplash. The ending also wraps up very quickly--I wish it had a bit more time to end.

I was also a bit confused at the timing of the book. It takes place in 2014, but some things feel very 2020s. That may be a bit more smoothed over in the finished copy, though.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. Not only is it full of so much cultural beauty and explorations into Anishinaabe people, but it's also an important reminder of what has happened and continues to happen to our people. MMIW is another big topic in this book again, and the book also highlights how institutions in the United States keep our ancestors and the history behind NAGPRA.

I was lucky to get to read an ARC of this book and let me tell you… it’s unforgettable. It is so emotionally raw from the start. I found it difficult to process my emotions while reading, just as the characters experience all kinds of emotions. Rage, sorrow, pride, you feel them all for Perry and all the indigenous people across the country who are facing horrible injustice. The quote from up above resonated with me as someone who doesn’t know a lot about indigenous culture. This book taught me that it’s okay to learn and become mindful of things I may not have known before. This book is not just a thrilling heist story, it’s a cry for change.

I loved how this story was both informational and entertaining to read. The stakes just kept getting raised and I was on the edge of my seat for the last 1/2 of the book!! The characters made me laugh out loud and I loved getting to see how all my favorites from Firekeeper’s Daughter are doing 10 years after their story. Daunis has a special place in my heart.

I think Warrior Girl Unearthed lacked the more serious plot that Firekeeper’s Daughter had, but I contribute that to the age difference of the characters. Daunis was 19 and Perry is only 16 so of course everything felt a little less mature & not completely thought through. I know when I was 16 I wasn’t making well thought out decisions. Overall, despite not enjoying the mystery & heist plot as much as I enjoyed the plot of Firekeeper’s Daughter’s, I found the message to be equally as powerful.

Good not great. I SO wanted to love this follow-up to Firekeeper’s Daughter, but the plot felt too busy for its own sake.

I liked our new MC, Perry Firekeeper-Birch. She was feisty, loyal, and clever. And it was fun getting to see badass Daunis again, even as a side character!

There was just too much going on, to the point that I was confused come the end and had to check with @paperbackbish that I’d understood the reveal correctly.

All of the themes are critically important and absolutely need to be written about, but it might’ve benefited from diving deep into just one area (ie. MMIW or NAGPRA) and focusing on others in subsequent books (which I would absolutely still read).

You never know how a second book will go when the first was fantastic, but Warrior Girl Unearthed was everything I hoped and wanted it to be. Not a true sequel, the story follows another family member from Firekeeper's Daughter living on Sugar Island and dealing with the difficulty between native and non-native communities as they deal with the traumas inflicted upon the Ojibwe. This story was action packed and Perry was a wonderfully connectable character.

Warrior Girl Unearthed was an exquisite sophomore novel from Angeline Boulley. Her first novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, was my pick for my book group #terrifictravelingtales so I was able to reread it this year! You do not need to reread Firekeeper’s Daughter - or even read it at all - to enjoy Warrior Girl Unearthed, although there are many familiar faces. This book follows Perry, Daunis’s niece, about 10 years after the events of FD.

Something I love about both of these books is the amount of humanity that is brought to tough issues while reading it. This also makes me feel a bit guilty - like why do I need fiction to empathize with real issues human’s face today? But it’s the truth, and it is also human nature right?

Warrior Girl Unearthed focuses on NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. I knew a little bit about this issue going into the book, but nowhere near the scale of both the amount of items held in museums or the feelings that Indigenous people may have around those items. We also continue to hear about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, & 2 Spirit People (MMIWG2S). This is a tough plot line but is so important.

I loved Isabella Star LaBlanc’s narration for WGU especially since Perry is bilingual and frequently speaks Anishinaabemowin. (Don’t worry - you can follow along easily, she translates herself in her head for those of us who don’t speak Anishinaabemowin.)

Feel free to reach out if you want more details/spoilers for any of the content warnings listed here or on StoryGraph - no questions asked!

Thank you to @fiercereads , Macmillan Children’s publishing, and @librofm for my review copies! All thoughts are my own.

Brilliant, Expressive, Meaningful and what not! Angeline Boulley knows how to articulate her thoughts into a book that makes an impact.

Top 5 reasons to read this book~

• The Native Americans life detailed here and the richness of the history.
• An intriguing YA thriller that has you questioning things and feeling anger against the injustice.
• Characters you will never forget.
• A powerful story that needs to be read.
• Tribal language Ojibwe with its translation.

Perry was strong, flawed with vulnerability and journey full of teachings. I enjoyed being part of this with her. Her emotions got through to me.

The diversity, friendship, cultural details are amazing in this book.

This story was informative and there was so much going on, I liked how it was written to have readers hooked though it was bit difficult. The story telling is beautiful.

This was unique to anything I have ever read before and the experience was good.

I haven't read The Firekeepers Daughter and plan to do it soon. I wouldn't say much other than go ahead and add this to your TBR.

Rating ~ 4🌟

Thanks for the netgalley review copy! @angelineboulley @fiercereads and @coloredpagesblogtours

When Perry Firekeeper crashes the Jeep she and her twin received as a gift, her care free summer days become ones fraught with fear, anger, inspiration, and hard work. She is forced to join her twin, Pauline, working various jobs for the Tribal Council. She learns about the slow and cumbersome process for repatriating her ancestors remains and belongings. She learns about her violent Aunt Daunis,’s past. And she learns what she will do to bring her ancestors home where they belong.
Throw in a tender romance, murder mystery, and the sad truths behind the MMIWG2S, and you have a beautiful complex story that will speak loudly through the ages.

When I heard @angelineboulley had written another book, I think my mouth dropped and I may have made some unintelligible noises. Warrior Girl Unearthed (swipe for a synopsis) is set several years after the events of Firekeeper's Daughter. Don't worry, our badass Daunis is around in this one too. Our main character is Perry (niece of Daunis) who finds herself in the unfortunate situation of having to work rather than the mass amounts of fishing she had originally planned. Over the course of 10 weeks, Perry finds friends, a mystery, a new found passion and even a little romance.

Part of the reason I love Boulley's writing is the education that comes along with the story. I love a book that teaches me something in addition to providing hours of entertainment. I also was completely wrong about the villain in the story which automatically makes this an amazing read. It's hard for me to enjoy a mystery story because I usually find them predictable. While some of the story was a well duh, I saw that coming moment, most of it was not and on that fact alone, I recommend you read Warrior Girl Unearthed.

Thanks so much for the advance (free) copy of the book, @fiercereads and @coloredpagesblogtours and to @angelineboulley for sweeping me up in the Sugar Island world again.

Warrior Girl Unearthed publishes on May 2 and is available for pre-order now wherever you buy books!

In the two YA novels that Boulley has written so far, there are two experiences I have had -- 1) I learn a lot about Native American culture and traditions, as well as the social issues, racism, and stereotyping they face; and 2) I am always hooked by the true crime and thriller elements that run throughout.

In her second book, Boulley's character, themes, and plot structure are familiar, but she has taken a much heavier handed with the social commentary. It's less a traditional "murder mystery" and more a nuanced investigation of the laws that minoritize communities like the main character Perry's. In addition to passively investigating the disappearance of young women in her community, Perry sets out on a quest to reclaim ancestral remains and cultural objects from a local university who has found loopholes to maintain their "museum" of property rightfully belonging to the local tribes, including the remains of a "culturally unidentifiable skeleton" named the titular "Warrior Girl". As Perry attempts to bring her ancestors home, she struggles to adhere to the laws and regulations which she finds inane and egregious.

If you're looking to learn more about the US and all its flaws when making atoning for past and present wrongs, or if you just loved "Firekeeper's Daughter" this is the book for you.

Perry would love nothing more than a nice relaxing summer fishing with her dad, but when a small accident leaves her in debt, she is required to work her summer away instead. Her new experiences aren't always pleasant, but she does come to learn and appreciate those who are doing their best to preserve her heritage and reclaim her ancestor remains. Perry finds ways to get herself in and out of plenty of scrapes. The last one, however, may just prove to be her undoing.

While not quite as strong of a character for me as Daunis, but Perry was still a relatable character with plenty of flaws. She spends time finding herself and discovering what she really wants out of life, and ultimately learns to work with others to achieve her end-goals.

A strong companion to Boulley's first novel, this is a great read for those who are looking for more.

I received a DRC from the publisher via Netgalley.com

The Firekeeper legacy of brave, strong women continues with Perry Firekeeper-Birch. This new book from Angeline Bouley takes readers on a wild ride that could play out in any community in America, as we all inhabit Native land. At the forefront of this fast-paced novel is the deep need to get ancestral relics and remains out of the display cases and collections of public museums and private collections alike, and return them to the community where they belong, among people who will properly honor and respect them. Bouley gives readers a narrative full of twists and turns that is also intended to inform her audience about the many injustices facing indigenous communities.

Angeline Boulley’s debut book was an amazing story and I knew I would want to read her next books asap. Though I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Firekeepers Daughter I still enjoyed the story overall.

While this seems a bit more juvenile than ABs last book I think most readers will still enjoy the story. AB pours her heart into her writing and that really shows throughout. You can tell that she loves her culture and to see an own voice author capture their culture so clearly on the page makes this an easily immersive tale that everyone will connect to regardless of their own culture.

This book will pull on all your emotions. You will rage at the injustices done to the characters, you will cry with them, and you will love them fiercely.

I can not wait to see what else AB puts out in the future.

I love how Boulley uses her books to explore previous and current issues plaguing the Indigenous community and "Warrior Girl Unearthed" is no exception. The novel delves into themes of cultural identity, family, and resilience with a touch of a mystery and a little romance.

I found myself constantly switching between this and Google to find out more about NAGPRA and any current context. I also really enjoyed the quotes that were weaved throughout the story - they really drove home the importance of preserving cultural identity.

Boulley did an excellent job of creating a compelling and thought-provoking story that will stay with me for a long time. Check this one out if you love history and restoring power back to ethnically diverse communities.

Thank you, netgalley, macmillan/henry holt and co, for the ARC!

Loved this book so much!!!!

Pauline has always been told that she is "the smart twin," but is also plagued by perfectionism and anxiety.
Perry knows that she's not considered the superstar of her family, and she doesn't care. She loves her sister and watches over her. After a fender bender wrecks her planned "summer of slack," she's suddenly transformed into a rebel with a cause.

As part of a summer internship program run by her tribe, Perry is assigned to be a tribal museum assistant. Perry yawns at the idea of dusty display cases, until she learns that artifacts and even remains of her tribe members are being displayed at the local college, even stored in cardboard boxes.

Perry is horrified and outraged. When she is foiled in her attempts to apply for the repatriation of the remains and objects throught legal channels, decides that she will mastermind a heist.

Perry is just as fierce and inspirational a main character as Daunis from TFD. Plus, you'll get to revisit so many of your favorite characters.

As in The Firekeeper's Daughter, Boulley writes incredibly movingly about Ojibwe culture while at the same time never letting the reader forget all the horribly indignities and abuse her people have suffered and persevered through. I can't wait for her next book!

Title: Warrior Girl Unearthed
Author: Angeline Boulley
Genre: YA, mystery
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was ready for her Summer of Slack but 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.

Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl”, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors’ remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right – for the ancestors and for their community.

I enjoyed learning so much about the Anishinaabe tribe and culture. I found those details fascinating. Perry was a great character! She truly learned from her mistakes and grew from that knowledge, and she fully embraced her culture and heritage and determined to honor it in every way she could. I also liked the connections to Firekeeper’s Daughter.

Angeline Boulley is from Michigan. Warrior Girl Unearthed is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)

Ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is also, oftentimes, a privilege. And I'm sad to say, I've been ignorant of a lot when it comes to things like NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) and the fight that Indigenous peoples have had, and are currently having, with museums and collectors to recover tribal artifacts and the bones of their dead.

Perry is your run-of-the-mill teen - a little too sure of herself, kind of naiive, and a bit impulsive with a temper to boot. When she gets stuck with a summer internship at the historical museum, she tries to find a way out of it - history is way less up her alley than fishing - that is until she see the Warrior Girl. Trapped inside a dusty museum, claimed by a white anthropologist, the remains of an Indigenous ancestor sit within a box; while many others are disassembled and organized by bone pieces, rather than their own individual bodies; all barred from their descendants by bureaucracy.

As I was learning about these laws and these injustices with Perry, I felt her disbelief, her anger, and her reactions felt justified, if not slightly irresponsible. She's determined to fight for her ancestors and the ancestors of Sugar Island and beyond - but do two wrongs make a right? A big part of this story is wondering if the ends justify the means, and we walk both sides of that line throughout the story.

In addition to learning about NAGPRA and the red tape that surrounds it, the story delves deep into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) - both the organization and the fact that women and girls go missing regularly. It was heartbreaking and suspenseful as characters disappeared from the pages, and it reflected the often neglegent attitude of law enforcement, as well as the unfair and unbalanced justice system surrounding crime (i.e., rape, murder, and kidnapping) on tribal land.

This book does focus on heavier themes, but it doesn't make the book as a whole feel heavy. We still see a lot of Perry and her friends just being teenagers. There's love and jealousy and pure fun and joy. At the end of the day, I never thought I'd read an educational mystery thriller that made me both cry and laugh, but here we are. An absolutely heartbreaking and fantastic book, this is not one to be missed.

TW: injury detail, racism, kidnapping, death, murder, bullying; mentions grooming, rape, pedophilia, adult/minor relationship, genocide, residential schools, colonialism, chronic illness (diabetes), drug use, pregnancy, war

Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

eARC and finished copy gifted via NetGalley and Colored Pages Tours by Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.