A review by daryase
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr

challenging dark informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

For some reason, when I first heard about this book, I expected it to be YA, according to the supplementing information. Which it is not. Don't get me wrong, it is a great book, it is many different things, but it is not YA. If you come here looking for a YA-appropriate take on decolonization, indigenous activism, and ecoactivism, this book probably won't meet your expectations. Otherwise, it is a very profound take on the situation of the indigenous people in present-day Canada, their socio-economic marginalization, and their deplorable loss of connection to the natural habitat.
The story is focused on two young Metis people living in Edmonton, who happen to be very distant cousins. Again, was the book marketed as YA because they are "young"? But they are not YA-young, more like in their late 20s, already pretty conscious of being failed by society and disenchanted by the possibilities of change suggested by the existing avenues of social activism. That's exactly where Grey's decision to take upon a more radical action comes from: she corals some bison from a national park and lets them out in downtown Edmonton. Not that it is any kind of solution in itself; rather, just a starting point of further events that entangle both her and Ezzy (and the poor bison) in many more ways.
Highly recommended if you are ready to confront these complicated topics. Not YA, I repeat, not YA :)

I am grateful to NetGalley and U of Minnesota Press for an eARC. The expressed opinion is fully my own.

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