Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re doing well. Today I’m reviewing Waubgeshig Rice’s novel Moon of the Turning Leaves.

You can read my review of book one: Moon of the Crusted Snow

Moon of the Turning Leaves by: Waubgeshig Rice: Following the story of Evan Whitesky once more, in the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow; this novel takes place years later as his children have grown older and the community has, too. With this growth comes the depletion of resources and they realize they must venture out and find a new place to call home for their expanding close-knit community. Evan, with the help of his daughter, Nangohns, and a few other volunteers set out to make the journey. It’s one that has them going through Northern Ontario and coming across different communities along the way, some more friendly than others. This was a beautiful, yet heartbreaking and harrowing sequel that had the reader in tears by the end, but it was also so well written. For such a short book, it packed a quick punch, but it also took the time to see the everyday life of Indigenous people. It was nice to see some of the quieter sides because Rice painted this beautiful picture, but he was also able to show the flip side and the harsh realities they face too, so it was a good contrast to the two lifestyles. The pacing was really good because it was never slow or boring; everything had a purpose and it all led up to the sad, yet happy ending. Without Evan and his sacrifices their community wouldn’t have the things they set out to find. It was a touching and poignant story. The characters were well thought out and beautifully crafted. We met the majority of them in the first novel, so to see them again and to watch their journey continue was good to see. We met Nangohns in the first novel, but she was only a child then, so it was nice to see her grown and as a fleshed out character. She had to go through so much so this reader really felt for her because Rice was able to put in as much emotion into his writing and we felt it to our core. All of the characters were written with this great care that left it so moving to read. In the end, this sequel was just as good as the first and gave a conclusion to the story and the characters in a way that felt worthy.