It’s been a while since I’ve read a graphic novel and I didn’t realize that’s what this was! And so I took out three of them and ended up finishing them in a night.
The story follows Echo, a young girl who drifts off in her history class and finds herself in the midst of the era of the Pemmican Wars, the Red River Resistance, and the Northwest Resistance depending on which book you’re in. While here, she experiences the historical events firsthand, meeting the key players and seeing in graphic detail what the fallout of these instances were for the Métis of the time.
Her home life also exists.
I don’t know what the point of the framing device is. I mean, I know. The idea of this kind of thing is typically that these visions are helping Echo connect to a cultural heritage that she feels disconnected from. But nothing is ultimately done with that aspect of the story, or with her home life in general, and the only real conflict or character building things that happen are relating to what happens in the visions of the past where we’re getting the history.
Overall, it’s interesting and it’s a quick read. And it covers Canadian history from the Métis perspective, which is definitely not the one that we got in school, but is a lot more interesting. If you can get it, check it out.