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The Marrow Thieves cover art

The Marrow Thieves

Written by: Cherie Dimaline
Narrated by: Meegwun Fairbrother
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Publisher's Summary

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden—but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

©2017 Cherie Dimaline (P)2023 Penguin Teen Canada

What listeners say about The Marrow Thieves

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Vivid and Compelling

Marrow Thieves is so much more than a dystopian YA crossover. The characters are all vivid and complex and real. And the setting is full of sensual detail, in that we can feel and see and hear and smell what the characters do. The themes are complex as well - what family is - who bears responsibility for the earth and how do we move forward. It is a compelling read, one I couldn't put down and yet one I wanted to read slowly, so as to savour it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

just great

I loved this book. at first I only got this to make an English project on but than I started to get into the book reading farther ahead than I really needed to because the story is just so good. also credits to the narrator, I could listen to him read through the goddamn phonebook.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An unexpected treasure, an insight into what should be shared not stolen

Dimaline’s piece was an unexpected gift. A well crafted history of a long forgotten collection of indigenous peoples whose community, and familial loyalty demonstrates the best qualities we should hope all shared as human beings. The ebb and flow of triumphs and tragedy made the culmination of the story all the more rewarding. A gifted author, a student of history, a reminder of the blessings that could be enjoyed if we all pulled in the same direction, for the common good of the earth and all of its peoples.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Pleasant Surprise

I adore Meegwun Fairbrother. When I found out he was narrating this story I knew I was going to love the telling of it. My only critique was the pace of the tale. I felt like another 100 pages was needed between 2hat became Manerva's ascension and the end.
I have questions about Frenchy and Rose... But maybe their tale lives on in another novel. However, if there is another book that answers my questions of this story, I will be happy and change my rating to 5⭐

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Anti Feminist and poorly written

I am amazed that this book has received such positive reviews. I wanted to like it, I had just come off Moon of the Crusted Snow and was excited to read another in the same vein. This was a poorly executed plot with too many coincidences, too slow a start and too rushed a finish. I love a good metaphor for current world issues and love the idea of using YA novels to reach a younger crowd, but this was far too heavy handed. I wanted to enjoy this book, but the poor execution kept tearing me out of the world.

Worst of all was the terrible treatment of women in this novel. The use of rape and sexual assault for shock value, the relegation of women to the homemaker, beautiful love interest (with no clear reason for interest beyond physical attraction) and "damsel in distress" tropes was horrifying. The "hero" of our story, Frenchie (who only comes off as an annoying, immature boy playing at adult), keeps his love interest "out of harms way" only because she is a woman (and don't get me started on how often the women are called "females"). One of the characters actually, in all seriousness, says "someone has to feed the women". That was the last straw for me. It is amazing to me that a woman wrote this, I would imagine a man suffering from a serious case of toxic masculinity had developed these female characters. I was continually offended, as a woman, that this was a current book being praised all around.

Finally - Meegwun Fairbrother does a decent job of narrating, however he skips multiple key lines and paragraphs, leaving out important context. I was using this audiobook to play the novel to the class as we read along (this was NOT my choice to teach this book to the class), we constantly had to skip to where he was. He would skip important lines that were context for what happens next. With no spoilers included, he skipped the second last line of the novel which is arguably the most important line in the book!

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4 people found this helpful