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. - (Baker & Taylor)

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 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. - (Grand Central Pub)

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 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. - (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)

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. - (Grand Central Pub)

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. - (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)

Booklist Reviews

Dimaline returns to the postapocalyptic, plague-ridden world she created in The Marrow Thieves (2017), wherein Indigenous Canadians are being harvested by white people for their bone marrow, which is believed to be a cure for the plague. The story opens with French, a Métis 17-year-old imprisoned in one of the area's new residential schools, where bone marrow extraction takes place and the "students" are trained to capture other Native people. Meanwhile, French's love, Rose, has stubbornly left their unofficial Indigenous family to rescue him, only to need rescuing herself after she and her companion, Derrick, are taken prisoner by a cult, whose leader hopes to heal himself and his many "wives" by drinking their blood. Yes, there is a bit of the melodramatic to this complex novel and if it has a fault it is its occasional discursiveness and tendency toward overwritten prose. Nevertheless, Dimaline has created vivid characters who propel a suspenseful and atmospheric story that boldly brings past, and ongoing, darkness to light. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.