Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~7 hours. Read by Meegwun Fairbrother. Kobo Originals, March, 2018. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday! Teen Tuesday features The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. This sci/fi dystopian in set in the future, in Canada. Human-caused climate change has resulted in an apocalypse. Not only has the physical landscape changed with rising sea levels, but people have stopped dreaming and this has resulted in mass madness. Government officials realize that Indigenous people seem to be immune and continue to dream, so "Recruiters" have been tasked with rounding them up and bringing them to "facilities" called schools, where they are never heard from again. Our narrator, Frenchie, is a sixteen-year-old orphan who has been part of a bonded band of mostly youth, led by an elder named Miig for the past six years. Surviving in the wilderness is rough and requires constant vigilance. This riveting story is believable and the writing is layered and lovely. Frenchie's story is honest and raw. 

The narrator's performance was well-paced and engaging. Teens who enjoy dystopian literature will find much to admire here. The Marrow Thieves was published in 2017 and won the Kirkus Prize for Young People's Literature and also made the School Library Journal Best Books List, as well as the YALSA Best Fiction list among other honors. A sequel, Hunting by Stars was published in 2021 and I need to read it. Happy reading!

No comments:

Post a Comment