Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For is The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard!
Genres: Speculative Fiction
Published on: 7th June 2022
Goodreads
Against the backdrop of a never-colonized North America, a broken Ojibwe detective embarks on an emotional and twisting journey toward solving two murders, rediscovering family, and finding himself.
North America was never colonized. The United States and Canada don’t exist. The Great Lakes are surrounded by an independent Ojibwe nation. And in the village of Baawitigong, a Peacekeeper confronts his devastating past.
Twenty years ago to the day, Chibenashi’s mother was murdered and his father confessed. Ever since, caring for his still-traumatized younger sister has been Chibenashi’s privilege and penance. Now, on the same night of the Manoomin harvest, another woman is slain. His mother’s best friend. This leads to a seemingly impossible connection that takes Chibenashi far from the only world he’s ever known.
The major city of Shikaakwa is home to the victim’s cruelly estranged family—and to two people Chibenashi never wanted to see again: his imprisoned father and the lover who broke his heart. As the questions mount, the answers will change his and his sister’s lives forever. Because Chibenashi is about to discover that everything about their lives has been a lie.
It’s the potential worldbuilding that has me excited for Peacekeeper – I’m intensely interested in what a never-colonised North America might look like! And what it’s relationship with the rest of the world might be.
RE the main plot, I’m curious as to how a Peacekeeper differentiates from a police officer (I’m hoping the answer is, quite a bit). The job title is already a good sign – somehow keeping the peace sounds much more positive than policing the community, you know?
On the other hand, if the emphasis is on keeping things peaceful rather than stirring them up by finding the perpetrator…? That seems an unlikely take, though.
What does justice look like in this world? If Chibenashi finds the killer, what will happen to that person? We know his father, a confessed killer, is imprisoned, but does that prison look anything like the real-world American prison complex??? I hope not!
Guess we’ll find out in June!
I like the title and cover. I hope you enjoy this one when you get a chance to read it.
Thank you, me too!