Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

142 reviews

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

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

Generally good! I love a canon ace character, and Ellie was fun to follow (plus ghost Kirby was a delight). The integration of Lipan Apache beliefs was really cool, especially how they were used to solve the crime and resolve the conflict at the end! 

It’s definitely YA, and although Ellie is meant to be 17 she feels a little younger than that. The reason I didn’t rate it higher is that I think I’m a little older than the target audience, and portions of the characters and dialogue didn’t really resonate because of that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death and Genocide

poppysoffe7's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Make sure to listen or read the intro because it explains a lot. The book is kind of confusing if you don’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Murder

pobi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

Loved the style and storytelling!! I think it was just slightly too young for me, or maybe I just read it when I was in the wrong mood. The world building and mystery was FABULOUS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The magical realism involving ghosts lent a dreamy quality to this book.  I’d love to read more about this world.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

caitlink's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Murder

sammysammsam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

The mix of Native lore with an alternate United States where magic and the supernatural are even part of the court systems and law enforcement was intriguing for me. Main character was very relatable as a teenager, and her friendship with her friend Jay was heartwarming. Descriptions of the supernatural scenes were great, and the more scary ones were bordering on horrific and scary.

Her entire interaction with the spirit of vengence was very unnerving- I loved it!

Kirby is the best ghost-boy. I loved so many things about this story, but Kirby is probably my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Racism

Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence