Anne Ooms

If you know anything about Alaska and *especially* Alaska Native culture, this book is a huge miss. It captures a very white perspective, down to the teacher only teaching about the white history of the great land, the use of the phrase “a native” to describe someone, and even a vague mention of the original tribe on the land with no name given or research into that history. A further race issue was the addition of a large, black woman with an urban, lawyer back story that is *such* a stretch. Her character seems to be a trope of all the stereotypes of wise, black characters who add color and language and keep the book from being all white. Why not a Tlingit or Haida woman? Her character made very little sense in the world that was created. Besides that, no one is worried that “Mount Denali” will blow any time soon. Maybe she meant Redoubt? Otherwise, a pretty bleak picture of domestic violence and a desire to live off the grid. Fine description and characters, well-researched down to “Arctic entries” and “snow machines,” but definitely failed to capture the richness of Alaskan history by remaining myopically white.