The Peacekeeper

A Novel (The Good Lands)

By: B.L. Blanchard

Narrated by: Darrell Dennis

Sidewise Award Winner for Best Long Form.

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.

A Michigan Notable Books selection.

©2022 Brooke Blanchard Tabshouri (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Superbly crafted and deftly narrated… dramatically performed by Darrell Dennis who brings to life author B. L. Blanchard's alternate history based Native American drama. All the more impressive when considering that this is Blanchard's debut as a novelist, The Peacekeeper offers the listener an extraordinary theatre of the mind adventure.”—Midwest Book Review

“An excellent example of an imagined alternative North America where restorative justice is at the forefront, and with characters who are well-developed, this is a great debut from an author to watch.”—Shondaland

Listened this for english!

Best story but the narattor is a bit slow having to pace him at 1.2 haha but the story is so gutt wrentching the first story im actually interested in that was assigned i would read this on my free time 100%

worthwhile premise, mediocre execution

The speculative fiction about what a modern nation state would be like in the Great Lakes region without European colonization is fascinating and thoughtful. The narrator clearly spent time practicing the pronunciation of non-English words because they flow smoothly in the storytelling.

Setting up the modern Native American society as the context for a mystery novel allows an interesting view of restorative justice. Unfortunately, the actual mystery is obvious to the reader for most of the book and it was frustrating how long it took for the characters to figure it out.

Much of the novel is structured as a journey, both externally in the plot and internally in the main character. The story is not very strong; hardly anything happens. Yes, there are events and plot points, but almost the entire book is dialog or internal to the mind of the characters. I was not looking for an "action thriller" at all, far from it, but as I listened and visualized the story, it was almost always just people talking or thinking. No sections or descriptions of people doing things that would engage the reader a lot more. I never felt like I was experiencing the story through the speaker.

Good story

This book was very interesting. I read it for my book club and wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. At first, I was very overwhelmed with all of the things that I didn't understand however, as I continued listening and reading the story I became more engaged. I think the characters were very well written. They were developed in an intriguing way that made it so you could relate to the characters. I also liked the way the story was developing and I wasn't quite sure how things would end until I got pretty close to the end and then I guessed how it would end and ended up being correct. Overall, good and interesting book, I did enjoy it, I actually would rate it a 3.5 stars however, I had to round up. I read the book on Kindle and listened to it on Audible and I felt that the voice actor did a good job with the book.

Interesting Story, Poor Narrator

I ended up being drawn in to the story. But the narrator was so blah.

amazing

The peacekeepers
B.L. Blanchard
What an amazing story? It shows so much of the nature of Ojibwe culture, healing and ideas. An eye opening view of native beliefs. What an convoluted crime, and psychological problems that have been seen. The idea of creation, destruction and recreation.