Hunting by Stars (a Marrow Thieves Novel) - (The Marrow Thieves) by Cherie Dimaline (Hardcover)

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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."

A 2022 American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Book

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 reopened--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 newfound 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.

Hunting by Stars is an engrossing, action-packed, deftly drawn novel that 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.

Review Quotes

"A harrowing glimpse into a future all the more chilling because it's rooted in history. Our marrow holds many stories. The best ones are of love, hope, and resistance. Miigwech to Cherie Dimaline for this story! Hunting by Stars is a revelatory must read."
-- "Angeline Boulley, New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter"

"Dimaline has created vivid characters who propel a suspenseful and atmospheric story that boldly brings past, and ongoing, darkness to light." -- "Booklist"

"Lush, devastating, and hope-filled novel. . .The action never lets up and is inextricably intertwined with the personal and community histories of the diverse characters who band together from various nations. Dimaline paints a nightmarish world that is too easy to imagine; it will haunt readers long after they turn the final page." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Spellbinding. Straight from the heart of resilience--Dimaline shows how Indigenous people hold on to dreams even when trapped in nightmares."
-- "Wab Kinew, author of the bestselling The Reason You Walk"

"The brutal realities faced by French in the residential school will leave readers thinking about what Indigenous people endured in the residential schools of the past. The idea of storytelling and the importance of realizing that the past and present are interwoven is beautifully conveyed and will keep readers anxious for what comes next." -- "School Library Journal"

"What a brilliant and utterly gripping book this is. Beautiful on a sentence level, kinetic, and possessed of a deep humanity. Cherie Dimaline is one of the finest worldbuilders working in fiction today, and here she has crafted something truly profound on the nature of survival, community, and the resurrective power of a story carried and told. To live up to the legacy of one of the best dystopian novels in recent memory is no small talk--Hunting by Stars does that and more."
-- "Omar El Akkad, author of the bestselling American War"

About the Author

Cherie Dimaline is an author from the Georgian Bay Metis Community in Canada. Her 2017 book, The Marrow Thieves, won the Governor General's Award and the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers, among others. The Marrow Thieves was named a Book of Year on numerous lists, including the National Public Radio, the School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, and the CBC, has been translated into several languages, and continues to be a Canadian national bestseller years later. Cherie lives in Canada, where she is adapting work for stage and film and working on her new novels.