Book Review #1: "Hunting By Stars" By Cherie Dimaline
The book “Hunting By Stars” By Cherie Dimaline takes place in a dystopian version of our world, with the main characters set in North America, mainly mentioning Canada. Post-apocalyptic earth where almost everyone has stopped dreaming. Due to global warming affecting the earth, the world began to develop plagues and different types of disasters, causing the world to disarray. People also became dreamless, contributing to the world's end. Without the peace of their dreams, the dreamless became crazy and went to inhuman lengths to bring back their dreams. The Canadian Government hears a rumor that Indigenous people still harvest the ability to dream and that they store all of their dreams inside the bone marrow of their bones. Hearing that the government reestablishes reservation schools to take natives hostage and harness their bone marrow. This book is a sequel to the author’s original story “The Marrow Thieves” set in the same universe. The book's main character is a 17-year-old Indigenous teenager named Frenchie. For 7-8 years he has been on the run, running from the school recruiters. When he was 10 years old his brother Mitch sacrificed himself to keep Frenchie safe from the recruiters. Frenchie later finds his newfound family a group of other Indigenous people who are on the run from the recruiters. Frenchie is kidnapped by recruiters and taken captive in one of the reservation schools. Some of the main protagonists are, the leader of their group Miigwans (Miig) is an elder of the group and tries to keep the teachings and language of their culture alive. In the first book, Miig is struggling with the loss of his husband Issac who was taken by the recruiter but was found by Frenchie reunites the two lovers. Elder Minerva who dies in the first book but is mentioned often throughout the book was the Elder of the group and taught the children their culture’s language and taught them the importance of dreams. Chi-Boy is the oldest boy in their group being in his late teenage years. He’s perceived as quiet and very tall but is skilled in stealth, he is a soon-to-be father with his lover Wab whom he strives to protect. Wab is the oldest girl in their group being 18 years old, she is the one who divides the tasks to each person. She has a tragic childhood facing sexual abuse at a young age which left her with a scar that comes from her forehead down to her chest. She is described as absolutely beautiful and looks like a supermodel. She is pregnant with her and Chi-Boy’s baby. Rose is a 16-year-old girl, who is described as beautiful with curly brown hair and big eyes, and a big smile. She tends to be very emotional when expressing big emotions. She is Frenchie’s love interest. Derrick is a boy around the same age as Frenchie and Rose who has a big thing for Rose and tries to win her over and is very cocky, so he and Frenchie are kind of at war for this girl's affection. Tree and Zheegwon are 12-year-old twins, who act exactly alike. In behavior and speech, they are the same. They are both missing their pinky fingers from being tortured in a failed attempt to have their bone marrow extracted. Slopper is a 9-year-old in the group and is described as overweight and struggling in the space between child and adult where he’s confused about responsibility. Mitch is Frenchie’s older brother who gets kidnapped by the recruiters, but we discover that he now is working for the government in kidnapping Indigenous people, he now believes that harvesting the bone marrow is better for humanity.
My opinion of the book is that it has a very cool concept which is what drew me to the book originally. I’m not completely sure if I like the book, the book has beautiful descriptions that truly help you understand the world of the story. But, when it comes to how the plot is developed its kind of boring I fell asleep during a couple of chapters. I didn’t even know originally that this book was a sequel. I thought it was a stand-alone book, and I even looked the book up beforehand and didn’t even see it mention that it was a sequel. Also, the fact that the book only has a review of only 45% of people liking the book. I wondered why the first chapters were so confusing, I just thought it was bad writing. But, after doing a deep dive into the first book and learning about the characters and the plot of the first book It started making more sense when reading. But, learning about the book also left me with more questions than answers. I’m still not sure how exactly they know the bone marrow is working, like how do they know it’s not some kind of placebo effect that they are giving themselves? This book has made me start to think about how I will use descriptive language to describe the sensory and placement of my characters and story. I want to be able to write a story that seems light-hearted but has enough descriptive language to make you see the beauty in the writing. Also, it’s making me want to use a tactic I learned in my drama class in middle school in making a vision board about your characters and plot.
My opinion of the book is that it has a very cool concept which is what drew me to the book originally. I’m not completely sure if I like the book, the book has beautiful descriptions that truly help you understand the world of the story. But, when it comes to how the plot is developed its kind of boring I fell asleep during a couple of chapters. I didn’t even know originally that this book was a sequel. I thought it was a stand-alone book, and I even looked the book up beforehand and didn’t even see it mention that it was a sequel. Also, the fact that the book only has a review of only 45% of people liking the book. I wondered why the first chapters were so confusing, I just thought it was bad writing. But, after doing a deep dive into the first book and learning about the characters and the plot of the first book It started making more sense when reading. But, learning about the book also left me with more questions than answers. I’m still not sure how exactly they know the bone marrow is working, like how do they know it’s not some kind of placebo effect that they are giving themselves? This book has made me start to think about how I will use descriptive language to describe the sensory and placement of my characters and story. I want to be able to write a story that seems light-hearted but has enough descriptive language to make you see the beauty in the writing. Also, it’s making me want to use a tactic I learned in my drama class in middle school in making a vision board about your characters and plot.
Book Review #2: "Hunting By Stars" By Cherie Dimaline
Almost all of North America has stopped dreaming except Indigenous people still have the gift to dream. The Dreamless seek out the Native's Bone marrow In hopes that will cure their sleeplessness and bring back their dreams. The story stars Frenchie and his journey of trying to escape being kidnapped and taken to one of the reservation schools, to learning about the truth about his brother and having to choose between his found family and his original family. This book is the sequel to the original book “The Marrow Thieves”. Towards the end of the book Frenchie learns from Mitch that a new program has started that takes pregnant women and harvests their babies to get a fresh source of bone marrow. Wab who is pregnant is at risk of being taken and to protect her Frenchie kills his brother Mitch. The group finds a way to make it across the Canadian border into America as the US has a law against hunting natives for their bone marrow, the group finally hopes for peace at last. But, they get captured by wealthy women wanting to use the group's bone marrow to help their dreamless families. While in captivity Wab gives birth alone as everyone is tied up, but everyone tries to talk her through it and encourages her as she gives birth. Giving birth to a little girl by the name of Ishkode. In the wake of their escape, the twins Tree and Zheegwon die trying to protect the family. The family finally escaped and hoped for a peaceful future. The final line in the book says “They never stopped dreaming.”
Overall, I found the book to be quite good, though not my absolute favorite. It was an interesting read. This isn’t usually the book I would pick up, I usually don’t like SciFi books. They've always been kind of boring to me but this book was pretty interesting. The plot of this sequel, as well as the entire series, is impressively detailed, unique, and beautifully crafted. One aspect particularly stood out to me, as I’ve mentioned before, It’s world-building. The author’s ability to vividly describe the surroundings and intricately depict interactions between characters greatly helped my reading experience. Her attention to detail and descriptive language while writing helped me vividly visualize the scenes. This kind of immersive storytelling is often lacking in many books. For anyone writing a book, especially a series, it’s important to know the importance of descriptive writing. There are some lines in the book that the way they are written inspires me to use the same type of analogies in my own story, one of my favorites, “Earthworms slid slow bodies over one another like bus fingers in the soil.” Another quote from the book is when French mentions the residential schools being like slaughterhouses. Using a flashback to talk about how his mother and father instilled in him that eating meat hurts the animals and how that affects the animals making him think of the place he was currently in as a slaughterhouse. Another thing I like about how she writes is how we learn slightly important details the more we get into the story. For example, we learn that the government originally asked for volunteers for the experiments but some people escaped after learning that they were trying to extract people's bone marrow.
The skills demonstrated by the author of those writing pieces that she uses inspire me to use them in my writing. I aspire to create beautifully written and thoroughly detailed descriptions of my characters. Ranging from their appearances to their personalities and clothing styles. Also, I aim to craft a world so vividly showcased that readers can close their eyes after a chapter and envision the book’s universe unfolding around the characters in their minds. Another thing this book is helping me think about is the conflict within my story because I’ve been having a tough time trying to think about a thought-out conflict and climax for my story that will keep people engaged while reading my story and I’m still not sure exactly my conflict will be but reading this and seeing the pressure on Frenchie’s and Mitch’s sibling relationship and how it’s strained because of their different choices in life, has given me ideas on how I can make my characters Paloma and Stella. I want to make it so Stella is the antagonist in some way but still has a strong bond with her younger sister Paloma. Another thing I want to implement into my story is flashbacks, making a chapter a flashback to show the reader what happened to cause the tension in the story and add some detail to my character's younger selves.
Overall, I found the book to be quite good, though not my absolute favorite. It was an interesting read. This isn’t usually the book I would pick up, I usually don’t like SciFi books. They've always been kind of boring to me but this book was pretty interesting. The plot of this sequel, as well as the entire series, is impressively detailed, unique, and beautifully crafted. One aspect particularly stood out to me, as I’ve mentioned before, It’s world-building. The author’s ability to vividly describe the surroundings and intricately depict interactions between characters greatly helped my reading experience. Her attention to detail and descriptive language while writing helped me vividly visualize the scenes. This kind of immersive storytelling is often lacking in many books. For anyone writing a book, especially a series, it’s important to know the importance of descriptive writing. There are some lines in the book that the way they are written inspires me to use the same type of analogies in my own story, one of my favorites, “Earthworms slid slow bodies over one another like bus fingers in the soil.” Another quote from the book is when French mentions the residential schools being like slaughterhouses. Using a flashback to talk about how his mother and father instilled in him that eating meat hurts the animals and how that affects the animals making him think of the place he was currently in as a slaughterhouse. Another thing I like about how she writes is how we learn slightly important details the more we get into the story. For example, we learn that the government originally asked for volunteers for the experiments but some people escaped after learning that they were trying to extract people's bone marrow.
The skills demonstrated by the author of those writing pieces that she uses inspire me to use them in my writing. I aspire to create beautifully written and thoroughly detailed descriptions of my characters. Ranging from their appearances to their personalities and clothing styles. Also, I aim to craft a world so vividly showcased that readers can close their eyes after a chapter and envision the book’s universe unfolding around the characters in their minds. Another thing this book is helping me think about is the conflict within my story because I’ve been having a tough time trying to think about a thought-out conflict and climax for my story that will keep people engaged while reading my story and I’m still not sure exactly my conflict will be but reading this and seeing the pressure on Frenchie’s and Mitch’s sibling relationship and how it’s strained because of their different choices in life, has given me ideas on how I can make my characters Paloma and Stella. I want to make it so Stella is the antagonist in some way but still has a strong bond with her younger sister Paloma. Another thing I want to implement into my story is flashbacks, making a chapter a flashback to show the reader what happened to cause the tension in the story and add some detail to my character's younger selves.