Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

48 reviews

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I've been wanting to read Elatsoe since it came out in 2020 (a couple of weeks before my own ace book!), and now I finally got around to it thanks to my book club. Even after anticipating the read for so long, it delivered. I really hope this will become a new children's classic, because there is so much in this story that I feel is of great value. The way the prejudice against the Lipan Apache people is touched upon, the way the 17-year-old main character is actually believed by the adults in her life when she tells them she is asexual. Those aren't big elements in this story at all, but they are remarkably well done. And then there's the mystery itself, which maintains its tension throughout and yet doesn't leave you hanging at any point because you're discovering just enough new information at just the right times. It reminded me of some of my favourite (Dutch-language) books of my childhood, but with an extra sparkle of magic and so much more soul. And then there's all the cute animals! The way stories are used to transfer important cultural knowledge! The beautiful illustrations by Rovina Cai that add an entire little story of their own to each chapter!
I'm definitely going to read the prequel too.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Violence, and Alcohol

maecave15's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

raptorq's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Racism, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

nicklybear's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Car accident, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood

erandle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book definitely surprised me! I had heard of it once or twice, but it didn't really catch my eye until I saw it in a bookstore and decided to give it a try. I'm really glad I did, because I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the world it created, and I loved learning about the main character's ability to raise the dead. It was so interesting. I also thought the mystery in this book was really well crafted, and the unnerving vibes you get from it until you find out what is actually happening was really well done. It's such a great exploration of native cultures and how they have been impacted throughout history. I learned a lot reading this book, and I would love to read more like it. It was a great way to bring parts of history to life and to the forefront of discussions. The characters were all great, and I loved following them all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, Racism, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

kfmcf's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This is more magical realism than fantasy - which is absolutely fine, but for folks going into this expecting pure fantasy, they may feel a bit unsatisfied. 

Elatsoe is a great POV character. She's spunky and funny and caring and her relationship with her family is entertaining and charming. She was absolutely my favorite part of the book along with the descriptions of her magic and the world around her. 

Her world is the same as ours but with magic and magic-folk being known entities. I think I was hoping for a little bit more magic and less murder mystery, but that's from going in mostly blind. I think the mystery itself was still handled-well, there were some twists and turns without it being a shock or jump scare

(you know who it is from pretty early on along with Elatsoe's suspicions. But the reveal of the Doctor's secret was interesting without it being a major twist. Not even mystery needs to be mind blowing, just believable and fascinating) 

There were a few pacing issues where I think things could have moved with a bit more agency, and maybe a few questions that never really got answered, but the last half of the book was quite speedy. I hope to see more from this author and more works of fiction from indigenous authors!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Classism

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Car accident, and Colonisation

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a well-crafted, accessible and engaging story. I enjoyed the writing and the way that the tradition of passing knowledge and wisdom from generation to generation through oral storytelling was interwoven into the narrative.

I appreciated the commentary on the lecherous nature of white supremacy and the colonizers who act in service of it.

I had to pace myself and take longer than usual to work through this book only because I don’t naturally gravitate toward stories that center around crime-solving, but I knew that going in, and in spite of it, I can still recognize that this is an incredibly well-written novel. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA thrillers with an element of magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

jae0141's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail