Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Elatsoe

“Maybe, sometimes, wants felt like needs. Because the alternative hurt too bad.”

“Tradition accommodated the adaptable nature of humankind.”

“It's hard to know that you're flying too high until the feathers start dropping.”

"That's why some stories are particularly important. They're more than entertainment. They're knowledge."

I loved so many things about this book. First off, going in, I felt like the writing was a bit on the younger side of young adult. That didn't necessarily turn me off but middle grade and younger YA can be very hit or miss for me so I was cautiously optimistic. And this book did not disappoint. It handled a lot of heavier topics in a very age appropriate manner. The speculative elements were amazing. I want this novel turned into a movie just so I can have visual imagining of Kirby! He easily became one of my favorite characters. The murder mystery was really intriguing and kept me wanting more and more. I also loved how Ellie's asexuality was stated but not made into the defining feature of her personality. I think that's a great way to create a talking point with kids given the audience. The main character and her family belong to Lipan/Apache culture and I loved how integral their culture was to the story. There are definitely conversations about colonization and the value placed on BIPOC in white, American society. Overall, I would recommend this novel to just about anyone and I will definitely be picking up more from Little Badger!

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starrynight's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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tome_raider's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is a heartfelt, humorous, and sometimes eerie debut set in a unique world where characters travel through fairy circles, drive through corn fields inhabited by animated scarecrows, and raise ghost dogs and woolly mammoths from the dead. I've never read a book quite like this. It happily blends the genres of speculative fiction, creatures traditionally drawn from horror such as vampires and animated scarecrows coexist with characters descended from Oberon the fairy king, and the coyote people of indigenous folklore.

Elatsoe, the title character, is Lipan Apache, and her culture is richly interwoven into the fabric of the story. She inherited the secret of raising the dead from her mother, just as it has been passed along the women of her family for generations stretching back to her Six Great Grandmother and beyond. This book is a celebration of family and community. It refreshingly depicts a family united in trust and purpose - when Elatsoe tells her parents about her vision regarding her cousin's death, they immediately believe her, and they tackle the mystery together.

This book is raw. It is honest. It grapples with the realities of oppression, microaggression, privilege, and grief. I can't wait to read the next novel Darcie Little Badger writes.

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caseythereader's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

📚 I loved the world of this book, an America where the supernatural is a normal and accepted part of everyday life.
📚 Plus, who wouldn't want to keep a ghost version of their favorite pet around?
📚 The central mystery of this book kept me turning pages as fast as I could.
📚 Ellie is lowkey asexual, in a way that's casually dropped into conversation and has no bearing on the story. Love.
📚 ELATSOE also uses the supernatural aspects of its world to talk about colonization and violence against generations of Native peoples. Baked into the story (and the stories of Ellie's Six-Great-Grandmother) are discussions of who has the right to exist and where, and who is allowed to steal what rightfully belongs to others - from land to lives.
📚 ELATSOE falls closer to middle grade than YA. That's not a knock on the book, just something to know going in.

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