Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanusa for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @macmillian.audio for a free download of the audiobook.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch is a bit of a rebel and a bit misunderstood. To payback the cost of fixing the car she shares with her twin sister, Perry is assigned to work an internship with Cooper Turtle, the curator of the local museum. He encourages her to learn about the reparation of tribal artifacts from universities and museums. In her mission to recover artifacts in her own way, she starts to uncover clues to help find missing Indigenous women.

I loved Firekeeper’s Daughter by @angelineboulley, so I knew I had to read her latest book Warrior Girl Unearthed. I just love how Boulley writes and the way she tells a story. She weaves together cultural history with modern day issues to make her YA novels relevant and informative.

5 stars

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I have mixed feelings about this book. It is amazing for sure. I learned so much just from reading/listening to it. There's just so many plot points. There's nothing wrong with that, but because of that and the need to resolve them all at the end it just feels a bit rushed. The story line is profound and deep and I think more honestly reflective of what life is like for many people- there's intersectionality everywhere. But while that is true life, that doesn't always work in fiction. There's just so much that's going on; it feels a little clunky. The ending feels thrown together.
The storyline in general is great though. There's coming of age, there's romance, there's mystery.
I think my big disappointment is the title doesn't really reflect the outcome of the story. I believe the writer attempts but it doesn't happen.

This book hooked me from the very beginning and didn't let go. I loved the characters. Every single one felt unique and so real. I learned so much about NAGPRA and museums and universities and was fully invested in the goal of repatriation. This is the kind of book that shines a light on a problem and changes hearts.

Angeline Boulley has done it again! The Firekeeper's Daughter was one of my favorite books I read last year. So I could not wait for Warrior Girl Unearthed. It lived up to my expectations and more! These are the best YA Contemporaries. The audio narrator was fantastic, and I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book to teens and adults alike.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely engaging and thrilling. The whole reason I downloaded Net Galley was to listen to this audiobook and it was so worth it! So many twists and turns, plus so much detail about Ojibwe identity and ways of life. I also love the deep and lyrical quality of this narrator’s voice. A must-read and a must-listen!

Fantastic read! Both of Angeline Boulley's YA novels are outstanding. Firekeeper's Daughter was mysterious and thrilling. Warrior Girl Unearthed was grounded in tribal traditions and was filled with stories of love, loyalty, family and honoring those who came before us. What I thoroughly appreciate about her novels is what the author teaches us of native life and culture. She shares openly the connection to the earth and how that impacts the characters.

I was thrilled to get to spend more time in the Firekeepers-of-Sugar-Island world that Indigenous author Angeline Boulley created with her debut novel, Firekeeper's Daughter!

Set ten years after the first book, this YA novel once again shares a compelling, Indigenous-focused mystery through the eyes of a strong, smart, dynamic teen--in this case Perry Firekeeper-Birch, the niece of Firekeeper's Daunis. It's as educational, engaging, and emotional as Boulley's first novel. I loved it.

After getting into an accident in her Aunt Daunis's car, Perry is forced to work off damages at the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe’s summer internship program. She starts off as the tribal museum intern & is immediately immersed in the plight of her Anishinaabe tribe to reclaim the remains of their ancestors from a local university, which abuses the laws to keep them. Perry's snark and her love of family shine through as she uses her intelligence and fearlessness to stand up for what's right, even against a society that is racist and misogynistic at almost every turn.

In the midst of a heist where she plans to steal back stolen remains, Perry also must deal with the reality of Indigenous women going missing. I was listening to this on May 5, which is the Nat'l Day of Awareness for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, so it was especially relevant.

Boulley once again smartly mixes information about Indigenous culture and social plights with the everyday struggles of teen girls. Perry is as strong-willed as Daunis but instead of a carbon copy, you get a fully fleshed out character in her own right. This attention to detail makes Boulley a star in the genre.

Indigenous narrator LaBlanc once again narrates a Firekeeper story with heart, passion, and joy. She's perfect for this work and elevates Boulley's words with her talent.

This is a YA book that's great for teens AND adults!

I was keen to listen to Boulley’s Warrior Girl Unearthed when I learned she won the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. And I was intrigued to read a mystery focussed on Boulley’s Chippewa culture. And goodness knows, Boulley’s theme of returning Indigenous remains to their people struck uncomfortably close to home given the recent discoveries of mass graves in Canada’s former residential schools. (A horrible legacy Canada has yet to reckon with fully.) Boulley’s message becomes more important than ever. And it is a message couched in an engaging coming-of-age narrative, more nuanced than I thought it would be. First the blurb to help orient us:

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.

While the blurb makes Boulley’s novel sound like an ensemble piece, it is Perry’s voice we stay with and Perry’s perspective that dominates every encounter, event, and revelation. And speaking of voice, I shall take a moment to praise the audiobook narrator, Isabella Star LaBlanc, whose smooth, engaging delivery kept me listening…even while I thought the novel was bloated and needed a dab editing hand. I don’t know that I would have had the patience to see it through to the end had I been reading a paper copy.

One aspect that I enjoyed was Perry’s journey from her “Summer of Slack” to maturity. Her confrontations with history, injustice present and past, and the urge to take action against both become a moral dilemma she had to work through. Perry discovers that reclaiming the past means healing the past, but it doesn’t redeem the present: one must be vigilant and active in the defense of Indigenous rights. Perry’s and her friends’ desire to return their ancestors to their tribe and give them the honours they did not receive is woven into the terrible present of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

What I appreciated in Perry’s journey was a portrayal of a family and community life that was made up of love, support, discipline, and expectations. She was not alone and she was not abandoned. She was rooted in family and community and this gave her strength and determination. Perry had to navigate right and wrong in taking action, confront the importance of making friends and family more important than a cause, and figure out how to take her place in the world. Boulley’s novel didn’t want to miss even one aspect of what it means to grow up Indigenous in this world right here, right now. A coming-of-age novel that is rich in Indigenous culture and voices, a tough, caustic, yet tender main character, and superb narration, that is the partnership between Boulley and LaBlanc.

I received the audiobook of Boulley’s Warrior Girl Unearthed from Macmillan Audio via Netgalley, which does not impede the free expression of my opinion.

In Boulley’s second novel, we return to Sugar Island and the world of the Firekeeper’s Daughter. This novel takes place many years after Firekeeper’s Daughter and Daunis shows up as the adult aunt of our protagonist.

Warrior Girl Unearthed is a terrific novel. Part coming-of-age, part heist adventure, we follow Perry as she navigates an Ojibwe internship program. When Perry is assigned to the local museum, she learns about the process of repatriating indigenous remains. (Boulley also does a great job of educating the reader without it taking away from the story). Through her internship program, Perry learns about the complexity of the repatriation process and vows to find a way to return her ancestor’s remains.

If I had one complaint, it was that Perry is sometimes frustratingly, immature and reckless, although that fits with this being a YA novel and her character being a teenager.

I highly recommend the audiobook, which added to the reading experience by being able to hear the pronunciation of the Ojibwe words.

I really love the education I get when I read Angeline Bouley's novels. This story didn't captivate me as much as her previous book, but I still really enjoyed it and will recommend it to others.

This was very well done, I love the mix of Contemporary Fiction mixed with the historical ancestry of the Native Americans. I did find it slow in the middle but the ending was very well done.

I have been a big fan of Angeline Boulley since her first book Firekeeper’s Daughter and I was so excited when I heard she was releasing a second book!
This book was fantastic! Full of everything I loved from the first book, the culture, the language, the history, with the added benefit of a new amazing heroine Perry Firekeeper-Birch.
This story was heartbreaking and inspiring all wrapped in one book. I was crying out of frustration and anger the majority of the book but Angeline weaves hope and inspiration so that by the end you feel empowered by the story she is telling.

This is a book you have to let settle into your heart and bones. Throughout the novel, I would have to pause and sit with my thoughts and feelings regarding the ongoing hostile treatment of our indigenous people. I was not only drawn into the story, but also the history and the factual information. I also made sure to add several of the books referenced to my TBR list.

I did not realize that Daunis' story (The Firekeeper's Daughter) would be part of the overarching plot of Warrior Girl. It isn't necessary to read The Firekeeper's Daughter first, but I'm glad that I did. I had a clearer picture of the characters in this story from their actions and traits revealed in TFD.

The power of this book lies in Perry. She's a fantastic character -- a little rough around the edges, but still so grounded in who she is and where she came from.

I was a little disappointed in the mystery elements, because it almost felt like two completely separate stories slammed together too close to the end. As a result, the end felt rushed to finish. This didn't take away from my overall feelings of the book as a whole!

As a teacher, this is the type of book I wish I could add into my curriculum. Without that power, I can (and will) add it to my classroom library and recommend it to students.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was fantastic. I have not been pulled into a book like that in a long time. Once I started, I could not stop. This was a fantastic sophomore novel and I couldn't have asked for anything else. Angeline Boulley is a master storyteller and I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us. I have been converted into a lifelong fan.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this story. All opinions are my own.

Fantastic detective/mystery story and in a new to me setting. I haven't read Boulley's earlier novel with this same setting and similar cast. And it was totally fine. This stands fully on it's own. At the heart, this is a story about returning Indigenous materials to their rightful homes, with an underlying mystery around the fear of disappearing women and girls. Solid read, great story and characters.

In the times we are living, THIS is a book that needs to be read and for us to take notice of not only an amazing storyteller, but also that Angeline Boulley is here to educate us about her people, the Ojibwe community.

After reading/listening to Firekeeper's Daughter, I was surprised and excited to learn that Ms Boulley was returning to this world for Warrior Girl Unearthed. Now, it is 10 years after that story and we are getting the story of Perry Firekeeper-Birch, niece to Daunis Firekeeper. Perry is a bit of a wild card, shall we say. She's the type that wants to do the least amount to get by. But once her job as an intern has her leading a group of "misfits" we learn that she has a lot more to offer the world and her people.

I enjoyed Perry and the way others around her may have counted her out. Putting more of their faith in her twin, Pauline, "the smart one". But Perry is more street smart and knows how to work a system that doesn't exactly favor her people. The way Angeline Boulley incorporated MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) and the realities surrounding reclaiming and repatriating indigenous remains was done so well. I learned so much while also being entertained with Perry and her group of "misfit" friends. Were some things a bit out there and OTT? Sure. But I for one was glued to the page and wondering what Perry was going to do next and how she was going to be seen in her community. She took risks all for ancestors and put herself in some danger. How was everything going to come together in the end?

Another great story from Angeline Boulley and great narration by Isabella Star LaBlanc. She became Perry and brought her to life. I loved the way she captured each character and the Native accents. Superb!
Yes, this story is fiction but I felt like I learned so much about the Native Ancestors of our country. 4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed Angeline Boulley's Firekeeper's Daughter and was excited to see another book of hers come out. (Also surprised because I know she took a really long time to write her first novel). Warrior Girl Unearthed was similar to her first, but completely different.

I enjoyed that WGU is in the same universe as the first novel. It's not a sequel by any means but Warrior Girl involves Daunis' niece. We also see some resolution from Daunis' story even if it is not a major plot point.

One problem I had with Firekeeper's Daughter is that it was marketed as YA but had some heavy adult themes. Just because the main character is a teenager, doesn't mean that the book should be YA... But in this instance I would agree with the YA designation but believe this would be great for adult readers too.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't yet read the Firekeeper's Daughter, and based off of this book I can easily say that Angeline Boulley is worth the hype. I plan to read the Firekeeper's Daughter soon and likely all of their work to come!

Warrior Girl Unearthed was beautifully done. The story was thrilling, heartbreaking and even educational. Even with a background in Archival work, I learned so much about repatriating indigenous ancestral remains and sacred objects from museums and collectors (things I did not work with). This is one of those novels that live with you for years to come.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
I was thrilled to see this available on NetGalley, I've been looking forward to reading it ever since it was announced last year. Boulley had written such a poignant and moving work with the Firekeeper's Daughter, and she captured the same spirit here. I love that this stayed in the same family/tribe as the last story and so you got to see more of Daunis.
I loved the tribal aspects and the langauage. I loved the passion that Perry finds. I like that the relationships or at least the descriptions of them are ya appropriate. I don't love that the main character and the misfits repeatedly make bad choices, but for the most part there are consequences and Perry does seem to eventually learn and grown through the course of the book.
The narrator did an excellent job, bringing the book to life.

I will read absolutely anything Angeline Boulley writes! Her writing is so engaging, immersive and informative that I just couldn’t put this book down.