Cherie Dimaline

French has been captured by the Recruiters, confined to one of the infamous residential schools, where the government extracts the marrow of Indigenous people in order to steal the ability to dream, and where the captured are programmed to betray others of their kind, something which he discovers has been done to his brother; meanwhile the other survivors, his found family, are hunting for him, determined to rescue him--and French has to decide just how much, and whom, he is willing to sacrifice to survive and be reunited with Rose and the others.

Hunting by Stars (a Marrow Thieves Novel)

From the acclaimed author of The Marrow Thieves comes a thrilling new story about hope and survival that New York Times bestselling author Angeline Boulley called “a revelatory must-read” Years ago, when plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. Without dreams, people are haunted, sick, mad, unable to rebuild. The government soon finds that the Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams, an ability rumored to be housed in the very marrow of their bones. Soon, residential schools pop up—or are re-opened—across the land to bring in the dreamers and harvest their dreams. Seventeen-year-old French lost his family to these schools and has spent the years since heading north with his new found family: a group of other dreamers, who, like him, are trying to build and thrive as a community. But then French wakes up in a pitch-black room, locked in and alone for the first time in years, and he knows immediately where he is—and what it will take to escape. Meanwhile, out in the world, his found family searches for him and dodges new dangers—school Recruiters, a blood cult, even the land itself. When their paths finally collide, French must decide how far he is willing to go—and how many loved ones is he willing to betray—in order to survive. This engrossing, action-packed, deftly-drawn novel expands on the world of Cherie Dimaline’s award-winning The Marrow Thieves, and it will haunt readers long after they’ve turned the final page.

Hunting by Stars (A Marrow Thieves Novel)

         This book showed up on one of the celebrity book clubs I follow, I think it was Reese Witherspoon’s young adult club.  I had placed a hold on it on my library’s website and it actually came off hold pretty quickly.  Then I downloaded it and immediately found it was the second in a duology.  Well poop.  So I returned it and put the first one on hold.  I wasn’t all that impressed with the first one, largely because it was aimed at young adults.  I felt, strongly, that some of the themes and violence might be a bit much for some of those readers.  Then I though to myself that I might be getting a little stuck in my mind as I get older.  When my daughters were in 8th grade, they read books that were hugely inappropriate and I didn’t bat an eyelash, so why now would I have a change of heart?  I’m still pondering that question. 

            This is a dystopian society.  It’s not easy to figure out exactly what happened, but eventually I realized that most of the people alive had stopped being able to dream…and it was killing them.  At some point, non-indigenous people realized that the indigenous people were still capable of dreaming, so they started hunting the dreamers and trying to “harvest” their dreams by draining them of their bone marrow (the first book is called The Marrow Thieves).  The premise is kinda gruesome.  The indigenous people were captured and placed into “schools,” much like what happened to them from the beginning of the 19th century all the way through 1970.  It was an interesting comparison that could be useful in a US/North American history class.  Those indigenous that managed to evade capture banded together and tried everything they could to fight for their lives, being branded by the non-indigenous as savages.  Again, there’s some parallels there. 

            I really enjoyed how this book sets the guidelines for what, exactly, counts as family.  The characters here might not be blood related, but the experiences they shared solidified the roles they will forever play in each other’s lives.  I was pleased with how the story played itself out, calling on history to tell a futuristic story, almost like a warning perhaps.  While it took me a while to become fully invested in this duology, I thoroughly enjoyed them both. 

Kristen Claiborn

         This book showed up on one of the celebrity book clubs I follow, I think it was Reese Witherspoon’s young adult club.  I had placed a hold on it on my library’s website and it actually came off hold pretty quickly.  Then I downloaded it and immediately found it was the second in a duology.  Well poop.  So I returned it and put the first one on hold.  I wasn’t all that impressed with the first one, largely because it was aimed at young adults.  I felt, strongly, that some of the themes and violence might be a bit much for some of those readers.  Then I though to myself that I might be getting a little stuck in my mind as I get older.  When my daughters were in 8th grade, they read books that were hugely inappropriate and I didn’t bat an eyelash, so why now would I have a change of heart?  I’m still pondering that question. 

            This is a dystopian society.  It’s not easy to figure out exactly what happened, but eventually I realized that most of the people alive had stopped being able to dream…and it was killing them.  At some point, non-indigenous people realized that the indigenous people were still capable of dreaming, so they started hunting the dreamers and trying to “harvest” their dreams by draining them of their bone marrow (the first book is called The Marrow Thieves).  The premise is kinda gruesome.  The indigenous people were captured and placed into “schools,” much like what happened to them from the beginning of the 19th century all the way through 1970.  It was an interesting comparison that could be useful in a US/North American history class.  Those indigenous that managed to evade capture banded together and tried everything they could to fight for their lives, being branded by the non-indigenous as savages.  Again, there’s some parallels there. 

            I really enjoyed how this book sets the guidelines for what, exactly, counts as family.  The characters here might not be blood related, but the experiences they shared solidified the roles they will forever play in each other’s lives.  I was pleased with how the story played itself out, calling on history to tell a futuristic story, almost like a warning perhaps.  While it took me a while to become fully invested in this duology, I thoroughly enjoyed them both. 

The thrilling follow-up to the bestselling, award-winning novel The Marrow Thieves, about a dystopian world where the Indigenous people of North America are being hunted for their bone marrow and ability to dream. Years ago, when plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. Without dreams, people are haunted, sick, mad, unable to rebuild. The government soon finds that the Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams, an ability rumored to be housed in the very marrow of their bones. Soon, residential schools pop up--or are re-opened--across the land to bring in the dreamers and harvest their dreams. Seventeen-year-old French lost his family to these schools and has spent the years since heading north with his new found family: a group of other dreamers, who, like him, are trying to build and thrive as a community. But then French wakes up in a pitch-black room, locked in and alone for the first time in years, and he knows immediately where he is--and what it will take to escape. Meanwhile, out in the world, his found family searches for him and dodges new dangers--school Recruiters, a blood cult, even the land itself. When their paths finally collide, French must decide how far he is willing to go--and how many loved ones is he willing to betray--in order to survive. This engrossing, action-packed, deftly-drawn novel expands on the world of Cherie Dimaline's award-winning The Marrow Thieves, and it will haunt readers long after they've turned the final page.

Hunting by Stars: (A Marrow Thieves Novel)

good and powerful, but made me real sad. the content is much more intense than the marrow thieves (but definitely not in a bad way).

Hunting by Stars (a Marrow Thieves Novel)

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