Eagle Drums is a retelling of the origin of the Messenger Feast - a traditional Inupiat gathering. The Inupiat people are indigenous to northern Alaska and the author is a tribally enrolled member.
All of that is really cool. And the story was good. It was well written and descriptive and interesting.
But did the brothers really have to die? Their deaths seemed so pointless. And my pervading question throughout (and the whole purpose of the story is for us to wonder this) was, "What is in it for the Eagles? Why are they teaching him all this? What do they get out of making him a master of dance and song and drums and building?" This, by the way, is actually supposed to be the reader's pervading question, because the big reveal at the end is . . . it makes the Eagles immortal. It's so selfish! Why do we care about the Eagles? They killed his brothers! They're jerks! They steal people from their families! Let them get old and die! Maybe that is Inupiat blasphemy, but it is how I feel.
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