Follows the adventures of a sixteen-year-old First Nations kid in small-town coastal BC. It's north of where I am, but the world felt incredibly familiar. I feel like this is a one-book example of the value of the #OwnVoices thing, as the world felt realistic and lived in with out the sort of cultural voyeurism one often gets in fiction about rural Canada. It also ties in with the #IdleNoMore movement that was happening at the time, but has each character have their own feelings about it without preaching. Also, it was really funny, probably more so if you're familiar with coastal BC.

The actual plot follows the MC's growing awareness that he belongs to a family full of magic and legend, and that it's going to come crashing down on his head if he doesn't watch his step. (Or he could get murdered by his drug-dealing step-dad's business rivals.) I loved the way magic was written in this story, the intersecting power interests and creepy nature of the bleed through dimensions especially. I could read this kind of fantasy novel all day.

All of the family dynamics are incredibly dysfunctional, and I had a hard time with how much the MC put up with his mother's unstable and abusive behaviour. Though having very little other family, his position was understandable, but I kept wanting him to try to draw some boundaries. I was left unsettled by what the book seemed to be trying to say about blood ties and loyalty. There seemed to a strong emphasis that blood ties could not be shed, but chosen relationships could.

I also felt like the love interest was a little on the manic pixie dream girl side of things, but I think a lot of that was an intentional subversion the trope, as the character's story was allowed a lot of space on its own, and didn't just centre on the MC.

I'm pleased to hear that this is the first in a series, because the ending felt extremely abrupt. The author didn't tie up the majority of the mytharc threads, though she did land the protagonist and his family into a semi-stable situation at the end. Were this a stand alone book, it would feel unfinished, but as it is, I'm very interested in what happens next.

The narrator seemed to have a trouble getting a handle on local names and accents, which was a bit distracting, but he was otherwise pretty good.